North Coast Theatre provides an innovative local theatre experience.  

Written for the stage, most live theatre productions require lights, microphones, and actors and actresses with layers of stage make-up. But that is not the case for North Coast Theatre (NCT) — a local community theatre group bringing experimental theatre to Toledo.
Artistic Director and playwright Christine Child explains the creation of NCT scripts. “I write plays for a work of art, or for a certain event,” Child said. “What I do is not for just any stage performance, [these productions] are meant to be performed in a different place.”
Formed in 1994, NCT first found a home at the Toledo Museum of Art’s “First Friday!” program, staging readings of original work. In 1996, Child wrote “A World in Bronze” to complement the “Fires of Hephaistos” exhibit, then on loan from Harvard’s Fogg Museum. Additional plays were written for other visiting exhibits including “Michaelangelo: Treasures from the Casa Buonarroti” and “Van Gogh: Fields.”
“We use theatre to make a bridge between the audience and the visual arts,” Child said. According to Child, the performances helped viewers connect to a piece on a whole different level.
As the years progressed, so did the experimental theatre group. Taking the “bridge concept” to other non-traditional local venues, NCT began creating scripts for the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, the Toledo Metroparks and the University of Toledo, where they continue to promote important life messages to students of all ages.
“While the works are primarily comical, we do focus on serious things like reading and the environment,” Child said. “All of our plays are original and unique performances for Toledo, and their primary goal is to entertain the audience.”
When it comes to full-scale productions (not event-specific) NCT remains loyal to their non-traditional theatre habits. Performing on their main stage, which spans two gallery rooms in the South Wing of the Oliver House, cast members are accustomed to natural lighting with minimal costumes and stage make-up.
Catch the North Coast Theatre in action Wednesday, April 22, performing “Erie Invaders” at the University of Toledo’s EarthFest. Performances of “Murders at Little Wotting” and “The Strange Behavior of Serena Blithely” — both written by Child — start in May on alternating Friday and Saturday nights at the Oliver House. 419-255-0416/
www.northcoasttheatre.org.