All eyes were looking upward Thursday as the huge crane lifted the final beam for the modernization of the Cape Fear Regional Theatre on Haymount Hill.
We only can imagine the late Bo Thorp was looking down from heaven.
“None of us would be here today, were it not for the intrepid Bo Thorp,” Mary Kate Burke, the theater’s artistic director, emotionally reminded the estimated 100 people in attendance about the theatre’s late founder and artistic director. “Bo didn’t just start a theater. She ignited a movement. She created a relentlessly joyful, boisterous place where a child realizes, for the first time, that their voice matters, and where hope is a tangible thing you can feel from the front row. And in the decades to come, her legacy, alongside your incredible support and efforts, will be etched into these walls.”
The theatre has been a work in progress since breaking ground for expansion in April 2025, and Burke and managing director Ella Wrenn, along with the theater’s board of directors and so many in this community, have raised all but $1.5 million for the $23 million to $25 million project, which is scheduled for completion at the end of 2026.
The expansion will enhance the theater’s ability to meet a growing demand by modernizing facilities, increasing capacity, and improving accessibility for artists and audiences alike, according to a news release. Among improvements are additions to teaching and learning studios and a rooftop to accommodate 80 people who can enjoy live music and other social events.
‘Heartbeat of a Dream’
“There’s a hum in the air today,” Burke said Thursday, “and it’s not just the construction equipment.”
It’s the feeling you have, she said, just before the curtain rises on a theatre performance. It’s the excitement, she said, when something good is coming a community’s way.
“They say a city is more than its roads and its buildings,” Burke said. “A city is defined by its heartbeat. For decades, the Cape Fear Regional Theatre (CFRT) has been that heartbeat. But today, as we ‘top off’ this project, we are doing more than finishing a frame. We are stepping into the future. We are looking at 1,622 pieces of steel holding this vision together. It weighs nearly 400,000 pounds. That is a massive, literal weight. But it is nothing compared to the weight of the dreams that have been carried within these walls for decades.
“Today, we are the witnesses to something ephemeral, becoming tangible, and proving that the power of a dream, when combined with the tenacity of action, is exactly what changes lives and shapes cities.
“You are people who provided that tenacity,” Burke said. “Right now, in this group. I am looking at the people who took the phone call when they had a million other things to do. I’m looking at the hosts who opened their homes for parties to share this vision, and those of you who spent your dinners talking up this project until your friends knew the blueprints as well as you did.”
Mary Kate Burke was looking into the faces of board members and CFRT supporters, who believed in the vision of what the theater has meant to this community since 1962, where theatre folks like to say, “Great Stories Told Here.” She was looking out on those who have written checks and committed their dollars for the best in what Fayetteville can be.
“You became the heartbeat of this project,” she said. “You gave your feedback on branding, design iterations, and furniture, and the long nights of planning. You didn’t just write checks, though those checks were the lifeblood of this moment. You gave your most precious commodity … your time and your reputation. You staked your name on this steel, and today, that steel is standing tall.”
Among those who have buoyed the project with $1 million commitments are the City of Fayetteville, Cumberland County, the state, Linda and Ralph Huff, and Will Gillis. Holden and Patti Thorp and Clay and Laura Frances Thorp donated $500,000 each in memory of Herb and Bo Thorp. Holden Thorp and Clay Thorp are the sons of Herb and Bob Thorp.
More than 250 others from the community pledged financial commitments ranging from $250,000 to $2,500, according to CFRT.
Mary Kate Burke, who only is the third artistic director for the theatre, is something of an everywoman when it comes to the CFRT.
She can act.
She can sing.
She can choreograph and direct a play.
With her passion for all of what CFRT’s future could be, Mary Kate Burke was Bo Thorp’s hands-down choice to become artistic director, and on Thursday, you can be assured Bo Thorp would have been looking down with pride.
‘Y’all Keep Coming Back’
“Bo Thorp would have expressed her admiration for the current CFRT leadership team of Mary Kate and Ella Wrenn, and thanked them for continuing her vision to bring live entertainment and arts education to our community while recognizing that this vision was being constrained by a facility that could no longer keep up with the demand,” said Zach Pritchett, president of the CFRT board. “I also think she would have expressed her gratitude for the overwhelming financial support our community has contributed to make this amazing facility a reality, something that I think we are all grateful for. I also think it goes without saying that I’m sure Bo would have shouted her famous line, ‘Y’all keep coming back!’
“The modernization of the theatre is a shining example of what we can accomplish when public and private funding joins together to support a nonprofit on a mission to bring exceptional experiences to our community.
“There are great things happening in Fayetteville,” Pritchett said, “and I’m very thankful that the revitalized ‘stage for all’ at the top of Haymount Hill is part of the positive changes that we should all be very excited about.”
John Holmes is the CFRT board’s vice president.
“Bo would be absolutely thrilled at what went on Thursday,” he said. “It’s going to be incredible. It’s going to transform Haymount.”
It will transform the theatre.
‘Well Done … What’s Next?’
Mayon Weeks was among those in this community who worked with Herb and Bo Thorp to bring what then was known as the Fayetteville Little Theatre to life at the old movie house on the hill.
“When we were young and literally had very few resources for FLT, Bo always had a forward view,” said Weeks, who was a part of the theater’s inner circle from late 1964 to the early 2000s. “She not only worked to ensure the immediate needs were met, but she was also always looking ahead for a bigger future for our theater. From folding chairs, a movie house stage, tin can lights, no dressing rooms or bathrooms, and no money, she was always thinking about the next big step.
“In the ’70s, this required adding small improvements when money was scarce, but passion, tenacity, and love were in abundance. In the 1980s, when Sen. Tony Rand (of Cumberland County) offered the opportunity to receive state funds for major renovations and additions to FLT and conditioned it on the theater becoming more of a regional presence, it was Bo that championed the name change to Cape Fear Regional Theater, and it was not an easy sell.
“She had a bigger vision.
“In the ’90s, we faced another difficult challenge of renovating the existing lobby, completing our floor space to Highland Avenue, and adding a new shop to the rear of the building. This time, there was no state money, and it was expensive. With her leadership, we accomplished the goal. In the 2000s, as she was nearing a time to consider retirement, she was an advocate for new, fresh leadership and was a willing partner and mentor for Tom Quantinance, and now Mary Kate.”
Weeks was among those Thursday to sign the final beam, and he could see Bo Thorp in his mind’s eye.
“I believe she would be the loudest cheerleader and most excited advocate for the vision and its execution that is taking place,” he said. “With her captivating smile and a twinkle in her bright eyes, she might say, ‘Well done…what’s next?’”
Epilogue
Mary Kate Burke reminded us Thursday that every great work of art starts in the same way.
“It starts with a blank sheet of music,” she said. “A blank canvas. A quiet, empty stage. And then, an idea forged in inspiration comes along. But as any artist will tell you, the ‘idea’ is only the beginning. It is the time, the love, and the thousands of hours poured into the work that turn it from a thought into a thing.
“To our elected representatives, those who voted for the funding and those currently serving, you didn’t just support a building. You built a landmark of opportunity. You didn’t just support a building. You built a landmark of opportunity. This is where possibility lives. This is where we show the world that Fayetteville doesn’t just work hard—we dream big.
“Today, the dream is no longer just an idea on a piece of paper or a slide in a presentation,” she said. “It is steel, it is sweat, and it is soul.”
Mary Kate Burke couldn’t help but take pause as she thought of Olga Lucia Bernardin “Bo” Thorp, who died at age 89 on October 14, 2022.
“I always get a little emotional,” she said when thinking about the Cape Fear Regional Theatre’s founder. “She put 50 years of sweat equity into this place.”
Bo Thorp was the CFRT.
She was the cantankerous Miss Daisy, Carrie in The Trip to Bountiful, Willie Loman’s devoted wife in Death of a Salesman, and Ethel in On Golden Pond.
And Mary Kate Burke could feel Bo Thorp smiling Thursday from heaven above on what the old theatre is about to become.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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