The Weekender: Local Theater Without A Theater

Good Morning, Clayton!

Last week’s story about Clayton Fitness was, by far, the most-read thing we’ve published since starting The Dispatch. And I don’t think that’s because everybody suddenly developed a burning interest in municipal recreation facilities.

People care about Clayton’s seniors.

After the story went out, I heard from Rebecca Freeman, a former director of the Clayton Senior Center, who sent me a news story from 2013 describing essentially the same problems we’re talking about today: not enough room, overcrowded programs, and a growing need for more space.

Except there were fewer seniors using the center then.

That was 13 years ago.

Clayton has changed enormously since 2013. On this particular issue, apparently not much has.

We're going to keep digging into this, and soon we'll have some actions that you can take to help, but this week we’re changing gears.

Our lead story is about the Unsanctioned Rehearsal Society, a group of local theater heads who decided Clayton didn’t need an actual theater to start making theater. We’ve also got another round of Town Hall Watch, a century-old mule barn full of local produce, some downtown news, and plenty to do this weekend.

Let’s get into it.

The Dispatch Lead: Theater, Without the Theater

The Unsanctioned Rehearsal Society doesn’t have a permanent stage, a big building or much interest in following the traditional rules of community theater. That seems to be working out pretty well.

For a town with nearly 30,000 people, Clayton has a pretty impressive collection of places where you can watch somebody play a guitar.

Theater has been a little harder to come by.

When Nicki Medford moved to Clayton in 2023, she noticed pretty much the same thing.

“I did a quick search to see if the town had a community theater, couldn’t find one, and posted in a local Facebook group asking if anyone would be interested in starting one,” Medford said.

Turns out, quite a few people were.

The post took off, and within a few months the group had organized Clayton Community Theatre and produced its first full show.

Then they learned something else pretty quickly. Traditional theater is pretty cost-prohibitive.

We’re talking scenery, equipment, rehearsal space, storage, performance space, and a whole bunch of other things that are considerably easier to come by when you have money and, you know, an actual theater.

After that first production, Clayton Community Theatre disbanded. But a handful of the people involved weren’t quite ready to give up.

“We started asking: What if we brought theater to the community instead of expecting the community to come to the theater?” Medford said.

And that’s how Clayton ended up with the Unsanctioned Rehearsal Society.

A Little Unsanctioned

Yes, the name has a story. No, Medford isn’t telling all of it.

“I’ll be real with you, the phrase ‘unsanctioned rehearsals’ was a product of some chaos that occurred during our first production as Clayton Community Theatre,” she said. “I won’t go into details...but it became a sort of inside joke with the founding members.”

Which, frankly, makes the name better. But it also fit what the new group wanted to become.

“We don’t follow the rules of traditional theater,” Medford said. “We put on shows in bars and hotels, we make up scripts as we go, we follow our own rules.”

Instead of trying to recreate a traditional community theater without the money or space necessary to operate one, the Society began experimenting.

Minimal sets. Pop-up performances. Immersive shows. Local businesses as venues. Sometimes they find a space that fits the production. Other times, they create the production around whatever space they can find.

“It means we not only get to be creative — we have to be,” Medford said.

And rather than treating that as something they need to escape as quickly as possible, they’ve made it part of the identity.

“I think pop-ups will always be a part of what we do with Unsanctioned,” she said.

Giving the People What They Want

The experiment seems to be working.

Unsanctioned has now produced six shows, and Medford says nearly every one of them has sold out. That surprised her.

Not necessarily because people in Clayton were willing to see theater, but because of the particular kind of theater they were willing to gamble on.

“Our audience has no idea what they’re getting into,” Medford said. “These shows aren’t household names; they’re on unconventional stages, yet people buy tickets. They show up.”

That may say something larger about Clayton right now.

We talk a lot around here about what happens when a town grows as quickly as this one has. 

Usually that conversation involves subdivisions, traffic, schools, water, sewer, and wondering how many additional chicken restaurants can possibly fit along one stretch of Highway 70. (You can’t make me call it “Clayton Blvd”)

But growth changes a place culturally, too.

At some point, enough artists, actors, musicians, filmmakers, makers, and assorted creatives live in the same place that people stop waiting for Raleigh to provide every interesting thing they want to do.

They start making their own.

Medford has only lived here since 2023, so she’s careful about making sweeping declarations about how much Clayton has changed. But she has noticed something.

“I think there are many people here — old and new — that want connection and experiences, want to get out of the house, and want to experience community,” she said.

That might be the important part. There doesn’t appear to be a shortage of people willing to perform, either.

The Unsanctioned leadership team now includes Kelly Phillips, Sarah Chera, Andy Goldman and April Bernier, alongside Medford, and the Society has grown to around 30 active members who regularly audition, volunteer, attend meetings and help put shows together.

“The amount of talent we have in Clayton is incredible,” Medford said.

Membership is open to anyone, and the Society holds an information meeting on the third Sunday of every month at Old Mill Realty on Second Street.

The Problem Is the Same One Everyone Has

Of course, being scrappy doesn’t make everything free.

When I asked Medford what the biggest obstacle to growing Unsanctioned was, she didn’t say performers. She didn’t say audiences. She said space and money.

“People want to perform,” she said. “People want to see shows. But we need resources to keep putting on shows, and space to store our supplies and equipment as we grow.”

The lack of a permanent home has helped shape the group, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t take one. Quite the opposite.

“If I’m dreaming big, a few years from now we have an adorable space downtown, with a marquee out front announcing the season,” Medford said.

The dream isn’t to turn Unsanctioned into a completely conventional theater company once that happens. She wants both. A permanent home. Regular productions. And the ability to keep showing up in places where nobody expects to find theater.

“I want us to stay weird, experimental, and a little unpredictable,” Medford said, “but also established, sustainable, and growing.”

That sounds about right.

The Villains Are Coming

For now, Unsanctioned is still doing things its own way. And the next production is probably the clearest example yet. The Society is currently putting together Villains of Broadway: A Musical Revue, a dinner theater production coming to Brick & Mortar on Main Street this fall.

The show will pull together songs from some of musical theater’s best bad guys, including numbers from Little Shop of Horrors, Sweeney Todd and Mean Girls, along with plenty more.

There will be two performances, October 15 and 16, with a VIP afterparty featuring the cast following the October 16 show.

Medford says the performers selected during the Society’s recent auditions are going to “knock it out of the park.”

And once again, there will be no traditional theater involved. Just a Main Street business, a bunch of performers, an audience willing to see what happens and a theater company that apparently never got the memo about how theater companies are supposed to work.

Maybe that’s why it works.

If you want to find out more about

Click here to find out more about The Unsanctioned Rehearsals Society.

Town Hall Watch

August 17 Council Meeting Rundown

The Corbett/Jack Road rezoning is done. Council unanimously rezoned the town-owned parcels to Public Facilities, despite resident Jason Meadows arguing that the town still doesn’t have a firm plan for the land. Staff reiterated that the park concept is only conceptual, the Corbett Road extension is not committed, and a major utility such as a wastewater treatment plant is technically a permitted use under PUB zoning. Council’s response was essentially that the town owns the property, a park remains the intent, and future spending/development would still come through a public process. This is the natural conclusion to the story from the last meeting. 

Clayton is setting the table for a lot of borrowing. Council approved a General Fund CIP reimbursement resolution of up to $70 million. Robert McKie said Davenport’s affordability analysis anticipates about $65.8 million in new debt issuance from 2027–2031; the $70 million ceiling gives the town room for inflation and lets it reimburse itself for early engineering/design expenses after financing is issued. The CIP itself will use a mix of debt, grants/contributions and fund balance. I’d tease this rather than fully unpack it this week if we’re saving the deep dive. 

East Main Street sidewalks are finally moving forward. Fred Smith Company won the bid at $1,194,900 for sidewalks on both sides of East Main from Second Street to Durham Street, plus $222,200 for the new public parking lot. Clayton is asking CAMPO for another $1.394 million in federal funding; the sidewalk contract depends on that approval, while the parking lot can proceed with local money. Staff said the parking lot will be built first so existing spaces aren’t removed until replacements are ready. 

Clayton Boulevard traffic is turning into a real policy conversation. Mike Edwards-Twining returned to council and asked the town to formally petition NCDOT to add another travel lane in each direction before Target, Costco and additional development make congestion worse. Town Manager Rich Cappola said an older NCDOT concept instead envisioned a reduced-conflict intersection corridor, while council members talked about improving Old 70 as an alternate route rather than simply turning Clayton Boulevard into a six-lane highway. 

And, quietly, council formally backed studying Bus Rapid Transit into Clayton. This was buried on the consent agenda. CAMPO’s study contemplates extending BRT from Garner along Clayton Boulevard with a turnaround at Powhatan Road, and council adopted a resolution supporting the study and its recommended concept of operations. That’s probably worth at least a paragraph because almost nobody watching the meeting would have heard a word about it. 

Carolina Overlook got a follow-up. Cappola said town staff have made repeated visits after residents raised concerns about stormwater runoff, erosion and retaining walls. Pulte has added check dams, additional silt fencing and other erosion-control measures, and engineers are continuing to monitor the retaining walls. Council members said they’ve also been meeting with residents and believe the developer has been responding quickly.

Robert McKie retired. Clayton’s finance director since 2009 received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine during his final council meeting. The consent agenda also formally appointed Town Manager Rich Cappola as interim finance director. 

Robertson Mule Company: Council established the capital budget for the restoration project — $2 million, consisting of $1.3 million in town funds and the $700,000 state grant — and announced a September 14 public event at The Clayton Center featuring the building documentary, Jacobs’ adaptive-reuse presentation and public feedback.

The Planning Board's Monday, August 24, 2026, meeting has been canceled.

Downtown Dispatch

If you’ve been wondering what all the dirt-moving is about behind the Barbour Building at 401 E. Main Street, here you go: the building is getting a new parking lot, scheduled to be completed within the next week or so.

And, believe it or not, it will be the first time the lot has been paved in the building’s history.

The Barbour Building dates back to the early 1900s and was originally home to J.G. Barbour & Sons Hardware. One historic survey singles it out as having some of the most elaborate brickwork in Downtown Clayton, including the curved parapet and decorative brickwork that still make the building easy to spot at the corner of Main and Lombard streets.

More than a century later, the building now houses a collection of restaurants, bars, a hair salon and offices — and, soon, an actual paved parking lot.

Friday

Artmosphere Community Arts Center | 3919 Raleigh Road

Teen Summer Art Class | 2–4pm
Teens ages 13–18 can get one more art fix Friday afternoon with a two-hour, project-based class at Artmosphere. Each session focuses on a different technique, including drawing, painting or mixed media, with all materials provided and no experience required. The class is open to all skill levels and gives teens plenty of room to take the project as far as they want. Cost is $50. Dress for mess.

First Street Tavern | 115 E. First Street

Aliyah Daughtry | 7pm
Local up-and-comer Aliyah Daughtry takes over First Street Tavern Friday night for three hours of live music. The show runs outdoors from 7–10pm, weather permitting; if things move inside, music shifts to 8–11pm. The Tavern opens at 3pm.

Elixir VI | 425 E Main St

Summer’s Twilight: A Drag Affair | 8pm
Ruby Liqueur, Kara Bao and Franny Starlight take over Elixir VI Friday night for Summer’s Twilight: A Drag Affair, an exclusive two-hour drag show running from 8–10pm. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door.

Get Tickets

Saturday

The Market at Three Little Birds | 225 E. Main Street

Fall Open House | 10am
The Market at Three Little Birds reopens Thursday after a three-day fall flip with a shop full of new arrivals, seasonal goods and plenty of autumn stuff. Doors open at 10am.

Deep River Brewing Company | 700 W. Main Street, Suite 102

Pop-Up Market | 12–4pm
Deep River Brewing hosts a Saturday afternoon pop-up market with local vendors including The Sticker Society, LilyyRo Permanent Jewelry, Carl’s Crafts, Little Farmhouse Tallow Co. and Cakes by KRiSTiN. Presti Pizza will be serving wood-fired pies from noon–4pm, with Deep River’s lineup of house-brewed beers on draft. Admission is free.

Sunday

Pottery Camp | 12973 Clayton Boulevard

Blown Glass Garden Orbs & Ornaments
Try your hand at glassblowing with a guided workshop where participants create three blown-glass ornaments, garden orbs or a mix of both. Choose from hundreds of color combinations while instructors walk you through shaping, heating and blowing the glass, with no previous experience required. All materials and firing are included, and class sizes are kept small for hands-on instruction. Closed-toe shoes are required, and long hair must be tied back.

The Barn House

There are plenty of places around Clayton where you can buy produce.

There are considerably fewer places where the person selling it to you can probably tell you what farm it came from, when it was picked and who grew it.

That’s more or less the idea behind The Barn House, the little roadside market on Barber Mill Road run by Alison Mitchiner Kilpatrick and her family.

And the “barn” part isn’t branding.

The building was originally constructed in the early 1920s as the horse and mule barn for Alison’s great-grandfather, Henry Herman Vinson. More than a century later, the original brick walls and wood beams are still there.

So is the family.

Alison’s generation is the 11th generation to work and farm the family’s land. The Vinson farm has traditionally grown tobacco and soybeans, along with watermelons in the summer and pecans harvested from trees on the property.

The idea behind The Barn House? Make it easier for people around Clayton to buy genuinely local food directly from the people growing it.

“We started with a vision to bring only local, fresh produce from local farmers to our community,” Alison told me. “We work direct with the farmers to bring seasonal, nutrient-dense produce to our area.”

And they take the “local” part pretty seriously.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays, much of the day is spent driving around eastern and central North Carolina picking up what will be sold that weekend: apples and peaches from Eagle Springs, green peanuts from Pinetops, field peas and butter beans from Lucama, corn from Clayton, Kenly and Lucama, and okra and potatoes from Benson.

The difference, Alison says, is that local produce gets the opportunity to actually ripen before it’s picked.

“That’s why strawberries and watermelons, tomatoes, etc. are so much better local,” she said. “They have time to ripen naturally.”

Produce is only part of what has gradually filled the shelves.

The Barn House also carries sourdough products made by Alison’s aunt, Valerie Dupree, seasonal cobblers, pimento cheese, pickles, local honey, Vinson Farm eggs and products from Clayton Peanut Company, a business started by Alison’s sons. That includes praline pecans, blistered salted peanuts and chocolate-covered peanuts.

And on Saturdays, there are fresh boiled peanuts.

The Barn House is still, as Alison describes it, a small roadside market.

But she sees a bigger purpose for it.

“Farmers are struggling right now,” she said. “We want to show them support. We want people to be able to buy direct from a farmer. Most people just don’t know how. We are trying to make that possible.”

The market will add local pumpkins beginning around September 10, followed by North Carolina Christmas trees toward the end of November.

For now, The Barn House is open Fridays and Saturdays from 9am–5pm.

It’s a hundred-year-old mule barn, sitting on land the same family has farmed for generations, now being used to connect a rapidly growing Clayton with the farms that have been here all along.

The Barn House is located at 3268 Barber Mill Road, just a few minutes south of Downtown Clayton. The market is open Fridays and Saturdays from 9am–5pm. Follow along on Facebook for updates and events.

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