- It's that time of year when people love going to the theater, especially Christmas shows.

And in Sanford, there's a historic theater that's been entertaining audiences for generations; it's called the Temple Theater, and we sent May Proctor there to bring us their story.

[audience applauding] [tense orchestral music] - The Temple Theater is celebrating its centennial this year, so we've been in Historic Downtown Sanford for the last 100 years.

We are professional, regional theater, and about a third of our efforts also go into our youth programs.

- The Temple Theater is the thing people know most about Sanford, North Carolina.

People come to visit Sanford, they're coming usually to the Temple Theater.

For the people who live in Sanford, it's a gathering place, it's a place for us to enjoy the arts, it's a place that our children can learn.

- You know, I spent my whole life at the Temple, so I always love coming back and being able to sit in the audience and enjoy the shows.

- That's a place that brings people together, both within our community, but also from outside.

So we have tons of people from around the state that come to Temple to see the shows here.

And I think it's great for our little downtown, it's great, you know, for the city of Sanford.

And so, it's a gem in the community.

- The Temple Theater opened on March 2nd, 1925, as a vaudeville house, and its proximity to the railroad allowed all of these traveling road shows to come in from the train.

It remained a vaudeville house until 1938 where it then became a full-time movie theater, and it remained a full-time movie theater until 1965 before it closed its doors.

The tin ceiling is original to the building, and it provides excellent acoustics.

I heard a story one time that in 1980 when they were considering whether or not to knock down the building, they brought a sound engineer in, and he stood on the stage and just talked, and he said he would let them tear down this theater over his dead body.

♪ Oh, we're the lion that splits the sheep ♪ - But the biggest event in Temple Theater's history that happened was when Peggy Taphorn got hired in 2007, 'cause this theater was on the brink, and she pulled it out, and it is today the regional playhouse for Central North Carolina.

Peggy is a force of nature, we really are lucky that she's here in Downtown Sanford.

She does incredible work.

Someone of her caliber and experience and talent being in a town like Sanford is huge for this organization, working with her is phenomenal.

- I was in six Broadway shows, I did about a dozen national tours, I moved from being an actor, actress, singer-dancer into management roles, I was the dance captain and a standby.

And, in fact, I left the national tour of "Sweet Charity" starring Molly Ringwald to helm the Temple Theater, and I just started my 19th season here in Sanford.

We've seen tremendous growth in the last 19 years.

When I got here in 2007, it was just a different time, Sanford was a different community, and the theater needed a lot of work.

So I set about that task right away.

We started using more union performers, we not only cast local performers, but we started bringing in performers from New York, from LA, from Chicago, and really added to the professionalism of the overall quality of the programs.

Started our Temple Teen Ensemble, which now is a touring troop that does events throughout the community and throughout the region, really.

- Temple Theater's a great place, and more than that, it's a great place for children and teens to learn and to grow.

I think one of the things to remember in particular is how much it benefits them, not just as artists, but as people.

- I come from a private school with little to no theater education, any theater education, I had to find on my own.

And so, Temple Theater has been my like lifeline.

I have been in several main stage productions, mostly as an ensemble member.

But most recently, I was given the opportunity to play one of the brothers, Naphtali, in the production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

And that was probably one of the best educational experiences I've gotten in a long time, being able to work alongside Temple staff and Temple actors as an equal, it was really great.

And they were also talented and so kind and so supporting, and I wouldn't have traded it for the world.

It's just a community where you feel loved and you feel uplifted and you feel like you're given the opportunity to express yourself.

- Temple Theater is like my second home.

Temple has given me so many different opportunities to explore my craft; one of the biggest being Temple Teens, and that's taught me a lot of life skills and allowed me to be at Temple every week, which is really great.

- The theater is the heart of our community.

It's our hidden jewel in Downtown Sanford.

And it doesn't matter if it's a educational show with children in it, or one of their six performances throughout the year, they're all fantastic, and we don't miss any of 'em.

[audience cheering and applauding] - The Temple Theater is at 120 Carthage Street in Sanford.

Their production of "A Christmas Carol" runs through December 22nd, but they have productions all year.

For more information, give them a call at 919-774-4155, or go online to templeshows.org.