About
We create meaningful theatrical experiences that entertain, inspire, and educate. As the professional theatre of Virginia's blue Ridge we produce compelling live performances and provide enriching arts education that strengthens our community and nurtures the next generation of artists and audiences.
We create meaningful theatrical experiences that entertain, inspire, and educate. As the professional theatre of Virginia's blue Ridge we produce compelling live performances and provide enriching arts education that strengthens our community and nurtures the next generation of artists and audiences.
Community
We celebrate Southwest Virginia's unique character and build partnerships that make theatre relevant, impactful, and inclusive. We exist for and with our community.
Curiosity
We are committed to honoring the craft of meaningful storytelling, fostering a sense of belonging, and continually striving for creative growth. We champion the power of live theatre to evoke emotion, cultivate curiosity, and form bonds of shared human connection.
Learning
We empower learners of all ages to discover confidence, practice empathy, and find their creative voice through education, training, and mentorship. We believe theatre changes lives.
Accessiblility
We work to ensure our stages, classrooms, audiences, and the stories we share welcome the community around us. We work to remove barriers to participation.
Belonging
We believe that fostering a culture of inclusion means recognizing and embracing the unique perspectives and experiences of all individuals. We aim to build a community where all voices are heard.
Integrity
We act with transparency, responsibility, and care, honoring the trust of our artists, audiences, supporters, and partners.
This acknowledgment draws upon language originally developed by the Hollins Playwright’s Lab for their Conference on Applied Theatre in 2020.
In the spirit of truth and reconciliation, we acknowledge the Tutelo/Monacan people, as well as other Indigenous peoples, whose land on which Mill Mountain Theatre now resides. We recognize their historical and ongoing connection to this land, this water, and this air. We do this to pay respect to the Tutelo/Monacan Nations, and to their elders past, present, and emerging. We hope to inspire greater curiosity among non-Native peoples about the land on which they live, to halt the erasure of Indigenous history, and to encourage support of Indigenous communities both locally and globally.
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Meet The Team
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Current Board Members
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Artistic/Education
Development
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Nominations / Governance
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Awards & Recognitions
A Brief History
In 1964, two New York producers established a summer stock theatre in a vacant resort inn on the highest point in Roanoke, Virginia. Soon dubbed Mill Mountain Playhouse, the company underwent a series of institutional changes, finally incorporating as a not-for-profit, non-Equity resident stock theatre. When the original playhouse burned down in 1976, the company moved to the recently re-opened Grandin Theatre, an old movie house in an established neighborhood. With the opening of Center in the Square in 1983 came a year-round class schedule and a new name—Mill Mountain Theatre. The growing company’s ever-increasing quality and scope was a major force in the renaissance of downtown Roanoke.
From these modest beginnings grew one of the most respected regional theatres in the US. Mill Mountain Theatre now presents world premieres, dramatic classics, full-scale musicals, youth-oriented classes and educational classes for all ages—on its two stages in Roanoke, and touring productions that travel throughout Virginia.
Within its shops and offices spread across the Center in the Square complex, Mill Mountain Theatre has created more than 400 productions, including world and regional premieres; the national hit All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten; and the American premiere of Children of Eden.
The Norfolk Southern Festival of New Works served as an annual home for the winners of the Mill Mountain Theatre New Play Competition (no longer running), and now showcases other notable playwrights like Sherry Kramer (Partial Objects); Jeffrey Stanley (Tesla’s Letters and Medicine, Man); Julie Jensen (Tenderhooks, Last Lists of My Mad Mother); Tom Ziegler (Grace and Glorie); Jim Henry (Angels of Lemnos); and Robert Caisley (The 22-Day Adagio).
As a professional, year-round, regional theatre with roots in its community and excellence as its primary objective, Mill Mountain Theatre has proudly served the region and the industry for more than 50 years.
1 Market Square SE | Roanoke, VA 24011 © Mill Mountain Theatre 2026. All rights reserved.
Mill Mountain Theatre is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization EIN # 54-0792067
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