Well, that's not the only theater in town making a comeback.

As we close tonight, when you think of theater in Charlotte, chances are the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center is the first place that comes to mind with traveling shows coming and going all the time.

But did you know that Charlotte is the largest U.S. city currently without a full-time professional theater?

Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis joins us with the story of one local volunteer theater that's beginning a new resurrection.

- Well, you've got cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Houston.

Just some of the U.S. cities known for their vibrant local theater scenes with local professional actors.

Here in the Carolinas, we have Theater Charlotte, which has been around for decades but is an all-volunteer group.

There's also the Children's Theater, Matthew's Playhouse, the Davidson Community Players.

They're all volunteer organizations.

But as of February 27th, there's another theater group in town, and this one is returning after a decade-long hiatus.

- Do you miss them?

Then pick up the phone.

- I can't.

- Why not?

- It's too hard.

- Harder than death.

You lost a whole family.

- [Jason] Actresses Zoe Matney and Cynthia Farbman-Harris rehearsed their lines for "Alabaster."

Last week when we were talking on the phone, you told me about the accident.

- Accident.

When you say accident, I think maybe we're talking about a fender bender on the bypass.

- [Jason] It's the story of a small Alabama town ravaged by a tornado, with only Matney's character June living to tell the tale.

- Do they all have scars like me?

- [Jason] When a prominent photographer visits to take pictures of June's scars from the tornado, both women are forced to reconcile the pain of loss and recovery.

- That's what's happening to all the characters in the play.

They've all suffered a different kind of a death, whether it's an emotional death or a physical death, and eventually, they work their way through redemption and through forgiveness.

- They reveal themselves as the play moves forward.

- [Jason] The production of "Alabaster" is being produced by CAST, the Carolina Actors Studio Theater.

- The amazing thing about CAST is that we spend so much time preparing for productions.

- We've talked about it being sort of a rebirth, which is really fitting for the rebirth of CAST.

- [Jason] Once prominent on the local theater scene, this is CAST's first production in over a decade.

- It is so wonderful, I can't tell you.

(light music) I get emotional actually because it's been a long time since I've been able to work like this.

- [Jason] The theater company's roots trace back to the early 1990s through the merger of multiple entities.

The independent nonprofit theater was noted for its large-scale productions.

(swords clanging) - They all have their place in my heart.

I think building a 4,000-gallon pool on our theater on Clement Avenue and having actors swim underneath a seven-foot-long by three-foot-wide tunnel and appear before the audience, and then they all drown and they disappear, and the audience never sees them again.

- [Narrator] Metamorphoses, a modern telling of ancient myths in, around, and often underwater.

I thought that was one of our high marks.

- [Narrator 1] The 2009 MTA Theater of the Year, Carolina Actors Studio Theater presents "Marat Sade."

- [Jason] Throughout its initial run, CAST garnered multiple accolades, individually and as a company, with managing artistic director, Michael Simmons, leading the way.

- I liken it to the golden age of theater.

For us, it was the golden age because when we look back on it with nostalgia, how hard we worked, how many times we spent in the theater after rehearsal saying, okay, now I've got an idea, no, I've got an idea.

Well, let's try this, well, let's improve that.

And then it's two o'clock in the morning, and your wife's wanting to know where you really been, so.

- [Jason] Everyone involved with CAST Productions was all in, which may or may not have always been a good thing.

- We had 10 shows a year.

We had two theaters and a dance studio running all at the same time, and I don't believe they thought that that was sustainable, and it required a lot of fundraising, and that wasn't always a big success.

- [Jason] In 2014, after 64 productions, CAST's board of directors, citing sporadic attendance and financial pressures, announced the theater would be no more.

- It was more than disappointing.

It was heartbreaking.

- It was devastating.

- It was really gut-wrenching, actually.

You know, I think I really took it for granted when it was here before, and then when it was gone, there was a real hole.

- And even though there's a lot of wonderful theater that is local theater here, it still doesn't replace the void that was left with CAST leaving.

- And it's only gotten worse because unfortunately, theater companies, many of them have gone under, and then COVID was sort of the final nail in the coffin.

- [Jason] For the next decade, Simmons distanced himself from the theatrical world, focusing his attention on his job as an airline pilot.

- I think flying gives you a whole different perspective on life.

You can see in a 3D version, and you get the big, big picture, and I think that's like directing, too.

You're sitting back here, and you look at everything, and all the moving parts down there, and you've got a little map, and you say, okay, turn right 15 degrees.

- [Jason] But not all that long ago, actress Cynthia Farbman Harris and her husband visited Simmons at his farm in Lancaster, South Carolina, catching up with an old friend.

- And we started talking about theater, reminiscing about CAST, and we said, "Well, what if we do something?"

And when my husband and I left that night, we sort of decided, maybe we should do this.

Maybe we should produce something with CAST.

- [Jason] Seed was planted, and the next call made was to original CAST co-founder, Dee Abdullah.

- He said, "We have this idea on the table.

I want you to be a part of it.

We want CAST."

And so I said, "Okay."

- So, I'm the happiest that I can be when I get to do this work.

- [Jason] Together, they set in motion the process of bringing CAST back and deciding on Alabaster as their premiere production.

- It feels really, really, really amazing, but I told my cousin Michael, you know I'm too old to go through this way we did it before.

- We kind of died, but now we're coming back, and we're gonna redeem ourselves and show us that everything that we did we did in the past was worthwhile.

- She told me you were looking for women.

- Ah, you must have found my ad online.

- I don't do online.

I'm dumb, and I have a dumb phone, and I like it that way.

- I mean, it's great to have these shows come in from Broadway and whatnot, but there are so many talented local artists here who need a chance to do what they do.

- [Jason] Unlike CAST's original run, where they always had a set home-based theater, this time around they're rehearsing at a house and renting the 174-seat circular Van Avery Theater at the Mint for performances.

- So, it feels more intimate than a lot of the other productions I've done.

- You know, it looks like I'm calm on the outside, but on the inside, I'm like, oh my God, we got a tech today.

Oh no, that lights in the, what?

Tomorrow we gotta, you know, but it's fun.

- Okay, as I understand, there's not much time to catch this production.

- This is gonna be a quick production.

It's gonna be in and out really quick.

All right, the production is lasting only two and a half weeks, running from February 27th through March 16th, and it's taking place at the Van Avery Theater at the Mint Museum Randolph location.

Ticket prices range from $23 up to $37, depending where you wanna sit.

And also, CAST already has plans in the works for another show in the fall.

Details on that forthcoming, but they're hoping to really get this thing going again, and they really wanna do it the right way.

But again, all volunteer group, these aren't professionals, and they're not getting paid for it.

- Sounds like an amazing group, and thanks so much for shining the spotlight on them.

So, we can learn a little bit more.