Angie Hays, NCTC Executive Director
Angie Hays (she/her) is passionate about inspiring a love of theatre in students, hopeful they will grow up to be arts patrons and advocates, regardless of the career path they choose. Her advocacy work brings critical support to professional and community theatres and helps elected officials understand the important role the arts play in our communities. One of Angie’s favorite NCTC programs is Theatre Admin Intensive, where she introduces college students and emerging leaders to the arts management field. She also finds great joy in the coaching work she does with nonprofit theatre boards, helping dedicated volunteers better serve the organizations they love. Angie has been the leader of NCTC since 2007. In this time, she has also served as an adjunct professor of Arts Administration at Greensboro College and Elon University, and as a guest lecturer at several colleges including UNC Greensboro, UNC School of the Arts, Wake Forest University, Salem College, and Appalachian State University. She currently serves on the Arts Advisory Councils for Greensboro College and Hocking College and is a past board member of ArtsNC. She has been a grant panelist for the North Carolina Arts Council, Arts Greensboro and the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. She regularly acts as a consultant with NC theatre companies and colleges, primarily focusing on board training, strategic planning, leadership transitions, and recruitment strategies. Prior to her career at NCTC, Angie worked as the Audience Development and Communications Manager at Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, Fundraising Campaign Coordinator for the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, Associate General Manager for the UNCSA Summer Performance Festival, and Director of the Children’s and Promotional Divisions at the Docherty Agency in Pittsburgh. Angie earned a BA in Theatre from Kent State University and a MFA in Performing Arts Management from the UNC School of the Arts (where she was presented with an Alumni Achievement Award in 2010). In her free time, Angie enjoys points travel, being the unofficial Disney trip planner for her friends, and spoiling her cats.

Tami Kress, Studio 1 Executive Director
Tami Kress has her Master’s Degree in Theatre from Idaho State University. Tami is the Executive Director of Studio 1 which includes the Holly Hill Mall location and Snow Camp Outdoor Theatre. Tami started Studio 1 from the ground up when she moved to North Carolina in 2006. She is honored that Studio 1 received The Outstanding Community Theatre Award from NCTC for 2021. Her greatest accomplishment are her two daughters.

Khalisa Thompson, North Carolina Arts Council Theater and Literature Director
Khalisa Rae Thompson (she/her) joined the Arts Council staff on September 19 as our new theater and literature director. Khalisa Rae is an award-winning storyteller and poet, and an activist. She is the author of the acclaimed poetry collection, Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat; the chapbook, Real Girls Have Real Problems; and the play, 7+ Deadly Sins of Being a Woman. As an arts and humanities historian and lover of Black Southern narratives, Khalisa has been featured by the Cameron Art Museum, the Southern Humanities Review, the N.C. Literary Review, the N.C. Museum of History, and more. We’re so glad to have her on our team. 

Tiffany Albright, NCTC Director of Communications and Operations
Tiffany Albright (she/her) is a passionate nonprofit administrator and artist. In the past decade, she’s worked with organizations like National AMBUCS, Triad Stage, Communities in Schools, WorldTeach, and Film at Lincoln Center. She holds a Master of Public Affairs from UNC-Greensboro and a B.A. in Film Studies from UNC-Wilmington. Her primary interests are in expanding access to the arts and finding ways to more closely align nonprofit organizations with the needs of their communities. She’s an award-winning film director, producer, and screenwriter, and the founder of Queer Fear Film Festival and Lunar Kitchen Films. She lives in Greensboro with her active teenage and two rescue dogs.