Overview
Join us for an immersive evening where frames dissolve and the galleries become a living theatrical canvas. Audiences move from space to space as four North Carolina theater companies premiere four original ten-minute plays written by four NC–based playwrights inspired by four works on view.
Blending visual art and performance, Unframed Voices invites audiences to experience the Museum in motion—where painting, sculpture, and installation become catalysts for storytelling, imagination, and live performance. Theater without walls, stories without limits, art without boundaries.
Featured playwrights include Aurelia Belfield, Ian Finley, Tamara Kissane, and Brook North. Participating theater companies include RedBird Theater, Honest Pint Theatre, Justice Theater Project, and North Carolina Central University. The artworks inspiring the playwrights are Out of the Box by Patrick Dougherty, Water Jar by Joanna Underwood Blackburn, Sunflower II by Joan Mitchell, and Isla (Tierra Prometida) by Yoan Capote.
Please arrive by 7 pm to have time to travel to the first performance, which begins at 7:10 pm.
Tamara Kissane is a theater maker leading production studio Artist Soapbox. Her plays have been presented throughout the Triangle and Triad. Sea Change was selected for development at the 2024 Carolina Playwrights Lab and featured in the 2025 Second Stage season at Burning Coal Theatre. Kissane was inspired by Sunflower II.
Aurelia Belfield is a storyteller and founder of 163 Creative. Her award-winning work as a producer, music supervisor, writer, and director has been featured on stages in the Triangle and abroad, reaching global audiences via platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Audible. Belfield was inspired by Water Jar.
Ian Finley served as resident playwright for Burning Coal Theatre Company from 2004 to 2012. In 2012 he was named the Piedmont Laureate in the field of playwriting and screenwriting. His full-length play Native was recently adapted as the film The Problem of the Hero. Finley was inspired by Out of the Box.
Brook North is an actor/producer/writer/director (more or less in that order) based in Raleigh. His short plays have been produced locally, nationally, and internationally. He is the co-founder and artistic director of South Stream Productions. North was inspired by Isla (Tierra Prometida).