Meet Bo Thorp

Cape Fear Regional Theatre has been presenting professional stage productions in North Carolina for nearly 50 years. The not-for-profit Fayetteville-based theatre company operates with help from the community and under the leadership of Bo Thorp, its artistic director. Thorp, the daughter of Italian-Austrian immigrants, has been devoted to theatre since her childhood in Columbia, South Carolina. When she lost her parents at an early age, plays offered her a sense of family and kinship – something she carried with her to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she continued to appear on stage and behind-the-scenes of theatrical productions on campus. When she arrived with her husband in Fayetteville in 1960, Thorp noticed that the community was lacking a cultural scene, so she co-founded the company that evolved into Cape Fear Regional Theatre. Just before celebrating the organization’s 50th anniversary, Thorp joins host Frank Stasio to talk about her passion for fine arts, her family and her experience as a leader in Fayetteville’s creative community.