Greenville Theatre looks ahead after 100 years of creativity and connection.
Craig Gaulden Davis|PBK presents the Leadership in Arts Award.
For more than a century, Greenville Theatre has done more than stage stories. It has helped shape Greenville’s story.
The Community Foundation is recognizing that legacy with its 2026 Leadership in Arts Award, which honors “an individual or organization that serves the community through outstanding arts leadership and outreach programming, thereby elevating the artistic opportunities available in the community.”
As the Upstate’s oldest and largest locally producing professional theater company, Greenville Theatre has been building community since 1926, when it became the area’s first arts organization. Originally known as Greenville Little Theatre, it held early performances at the Fine Arts Auditorium of Greenville Women’s College, long before it became synonymous with Heritage Green downtown.
As Greenville Theatre opened its 101st season this fall with Titanic the Musical, Board Chairman Carl Sykes was looking beyond the milestone of 100 seasons and toward the organization’s next century. The theater’s 100th season included a structural overhaul of its stage floor and orchestra pit. Its long-range plans call for expanding the building’s footprint to include the lobby and bathrooms, additional office space, and an elevator. Future capital improvements will focus on the “back of the house,” creating more room for storage and for working on sets and costumes without monopolizing the stage.
Leaders in Arts
“We’re excited about everything that’s happening—not just for the theater but for the community—and not just the theater community,” Sykes says. “Greenville Theatre is connected to the story of Greenville, and we’re proud to still be developing along with the Upstate.”
Sykes started as a theater dad, lending his skills to set construction as his daughter performed. For him, the new project is a full-circle experience. His father worked for Daniel Construction and helped create the iconic structure on Greenville’s Heritage Green. The award sponsor, Craig Gaulden Davis|PBK, was part of the original project in the 1960s and will be part of the upcoming renovations.
Throughout its history, in its various locations and forms, Greenville Theatre has integrated itself into the community through what Sykes considers the necessary art of storytelling. “Theater creates moments of redirection and direction in people. It provokes empathy, self-reflection, and inspiration in ways nothing else can,” Sykes says.
Greenville Theatre’s role extends well beyond modernizing and preserving history. As it enters its second century, it will continue to lead by championing the arts and the community it serves.
