History of Rock Rest Amphitheater

The Rock Rest Amphitheater was founded in 1981 by James Carnahan and a group of friends and neighbors in the Rock Rest community in Chatham County. Over the last twenty-five years it has served as the site of theatrical and celebration events for the neighborhood and surrounding community as well as a venue for productions from local theater companies. In the 1980s Word-of-Mouth Productions (also founded by Carnahan) put on several productions while in later years the amphitheater was a site for productions of the theater company Shakespeare & Originals. Productions included “King Lear” (1999), original adaptations of Chekov short stories --“Life, Love & Cows”(2001), “Cymbeline” (2001), and “The Tempest” (2004). The amphitheater was designed by James Carnahan and built by members of the Rock Rest Community. James Carnahan majored in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1960s. He served on the staff at urban designer Paolo Soleri's Arcosanti Project from 1972 to 1977. He founded Matrix Design in Chatham County in 1978, doing architectural design and model making, designing and building furniture, cabinetry, and designing sets for theater. He is currently on the board of directors of the Village Project, Inc. in Carrboro, a non-profit organization whose mission is to facilitate the transition to equitable and ecologically sound land use through advocacy and education.

The amphitheater is now privately owned by a couple of Chatham County music lovers who are continuing to keep the amphitheater as a valuable Chatham resource.