Founded in 1986 around the kitchen table of Terry Bliss, Artistic Director, The North Street Playhouse, Inc. is celebrating 37 years of theatre in Onancock, Virginia. The NSP is the only theatre to produce year round live theatre on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The NSP is a 501c3 non-profit organization.

 

that's a lot

  • Has produced 180 productions of 149 plays/ musicals

  • Performed for more than 40,000 audience members since 2000.

  • Participated in the Commission’s highly-regarded “Minds Wide Open: Women in the Arts” Program in 2010

  • Has performed in multiple venues in Virginia, on and off the Eastern Shore and outside of the Commonwealth

  • Performed in Austria in 2002, as invited participants in an international theatre festival.

cast of characters

  • More than 1000 participants- performers, stage crew, & designers-  since 2000, mostly volunteers.

  • Regularly includes children, youths, seniors, and minorities in all aspects of productions

nuts and bolts

  • Purchased 34 Market Street on September1, 1999, and opened its first production on May 5, 2000.

  • Has an annual budget of between $95 and $100,000, most of which is for spent locally.

  • Has received General Operating and/or project grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts annually since its incorporation.

awards

  • Nominated for and won multiple Portfolio theatre awards in Hampton Roads, as well as various “Best of…” awards for a variety of publications.

camps

  • Has produced an annual two week theatre camp for 13 years, drawing students from  New  York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Washington, Philadelphia, and across Virginia, as well as from the Eastern Shore of Virginia.  

  • Camp sessions culminate with performances such as Music Theatre International’s “Jr.” versions of Mary Poppins, Beauty and The Beast, The Little Mermaid, Shrek The Musical, The Music Man, Once on this Island, Pirates of Penzance, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. 

  • Our 2023 camp with the largest ever enrollment- 46 children – and three sold out performances of  “Disney’s Descendants: The Musical”.