Big Dawg Theatre Company

08/22/2026

Big Dawg Theatre Company is saddened to learn of the passing of Charles Calhoun. Charles was a former board member, and acted in several plays with us. His very first play was with Big Dawg. Charles was a well loved member of the Wilmington theatre community. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. He will be greatly missed.

08/22/2026

We had an extraordinary surprise during Thursday night’s performance... an actual member of The Explorer’s Club, Robert W. White, was in our audience! After the show, he shared a fantastic review along with captivating stories from inside the real Club itself. He also brought a replica of The Explorer's Club flag that you will be able to see on our set!!!

He told us about legendary members like Teddy Roosevelt, the Apollo 11 astronauts, and the astonishing moment when the astronauts signed an Explorer’s Club flag on the surface of the moon. That very flag now hangs proudly in the New England chapter of The Explorer’s Club in NYC. (Buzz Aldrin is currently the Honorary President of the Club)

Hearing these stories straight from someone who lives in that world made our production feel even more magical, more connected, and more alive.

If you haven’t seen our show yet, now is the time as we only have 2 shows remaining!

Come experience the adventure, the history, the hilarity, and the spirit of exploration that inspired generations of real‑life explorers.

Join us as you never know who might be in the audience next.

08/20/2026

🎭 ANOTHER GREAT REVIEW FOR "THE EXPLORERS CLUB"! 🎭

We're delighted to see more kind words for Big Dawg Theatre Company's "The Explorers Club," this time from John Staton of StarNews!

With our second and final weekend beginning tonight, there's still time to see the comedy audiences and critics have been enjoying at Thalian Hall.

Join Phyllida, Percy, Lucius and the rest of this wonderfully eccentric band of explorers for an evening of romance, rivalry, intrepid adventure, Irish assassins, deadly monks, blue tribesmen, and plenty of laughs.

Directed by Holli Saperstein, "The Explorers Club" has just four performances remaining, August 20–23.

🎟️ Tickets:
https://www.thalianhall.org/bdp-explorers-26

📰 Read John Staton's StarNews review:
https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/entertainment/events/2026/08/20/arts-culture-entertainment-and-events-newsletter-for-wilmington-nc-theater-music-food-history/91383839007/

A comedic play makes a plummy splash at Thalian Hall, plus a look at your weekend entertainment options in Wilmington.

08/20/2026

🎭 WE'RE BACK TONIGHT! 🎭

"The Explorers Club" begins its second and final weekend tonight at Thalian Hall, and if you haven't joined the expedition yet, there's still time!

CVNC gave the production a strongly positive review, calling "The Explorers Club" an "excellently comedic feat" by Big Dawg Theatre Company!

Come see what the laughter is about as intrepid adventurers, romantic rivals, Irish assassins, deadly monks, blue tribesmen, and some spectacularly questionable decisions collide in Nell Benjamin's hilarious comedy.

Directed by Holli Saperstein, "The Explorers Club" has just four performances remaining:

August 20–23 at Thalian Hall

Don't miss your chance to join the Club!

🎟️ Tickets:
https://www.thalianhall.org/bdp-explorers-26

📰 Read the CVNC review:
https://cvnc.org/through-8-23-the-explorers-club-is-an-excellently-comedic-feat-by-big-dawg-productions/

08/13/2026

🎭 OPENING NIGHT! 🎭

The expeditions have returned, the drinks are being poured, and the Explorers Club is officially open for business!

Tonight, Big Dawg Theatre Company opens Nell Benjamin's hilarious comedy, "The Explorers Club," at Thalian Hall.

It's 1879 London, and the members of the prestigious Explorers Club are facing a crisis unlike any they've encountered in the world's most dangerous jungles: a woman wants to join their ranks.

What follows is a wonderfully ridiculous adventure filled with intrepid explorers, romantic rivals, Irish assassins, deadly monks, blue tribesmen, questionable science, bruised egos, and plenty of comic chaos.

Directed by Holli Saperstein, "The Explorers Club" runs August 13–16 & 20–23 at Thalian Hall.

Come join the expedition and help us kick off opening weekend with a laugh!

🎟️ Tickets:
https://www.thalianhall.org/bdp-explorers-26

Photo Credits: James Bowling

08/07/2026

If you can, please consider donating or sharing! Blair is currently in our production of The Explorers Club, and is just a wonderful human.

Help Blair Houtz Rebuild After a Devastating House Fire Late Tuesday night,… Caylan Mckay needs your support for Help Blair Rebuild After House Fire

08/03/2026

🎭 MEET THE CAST – Beau Mumford 🎭

Meet Beau Mumford, who returns to "The Explorers Club" after appearing in Big Dawg Theatre Company's 2019 production. This time, he's taking on the role of Lucius Fretway!

A familiar face to Wilmington theater audiences, Beau is both an actor and lighting designer. His recent acting credits include Oz and others in "Come From Away," Billy Foster in "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians," and Schroeder in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown."

As Lucius Fretway, Beau plays a thoughtful botanist whose appreciation for the natural world extends well beyond the plants he loves to study. Sensitive, intelligent, and hopelessly smitten with Phyllida Spotte-Hume, Lucius finds himself in a spirited rivalry with the far more boisterous Sir Harry Percy. While Percy relies on bravado and brawn, Lucius believes there's plenty to be said for kindness, intelligence, and a well-tended greenhouse. Their very different approaches to winning Phyllida's heart make for some of the show's funniest moments.

Directed by Holli Saperstein, "The Explorers Club" runs August 13–16 & 20–23 at Thalian Hall.

🎟️ Get your tickets today:
https://www.thalianhall.org/bdp-explorers-26

08/03/2026

🎭 MEET THE CAST – Neil Henderson 🎭

Meet Neil Henderson, who makes his Big Dawg Theatre Company debut as the thoroughly masculine Sir Harry Percy in "The Explorers Club"!

A newcomer to the Wilmington theater scene, Neil is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theater's Advanced Training Program. His previous stage credits include "The Grapes of Wrath," "Our Town," "Twelfth Night," "Dancing at Lughnasa," and "A Chorus of Disapproval."

After what he describes as "an intermission that ran a few decades longer than planned," Neil is thrilled, and just a little alarmed, to be back onstage.

As Sir Harry Percy, Neil plays a man who prides himself on courage, action, and unquestionable manliness. Thinking? That's best left to someone else. Percy would much rather charge headlong into danger than waste precious time with careful deliberation. It's a philosophy that leads to no shortage of laughs as the adventure spirals delightfully out of control.

Directed by Holli Saperstein, "The Explorers Club" runs August 13–16 & 20–23 at Thalian Hall.

🎟️ Get your tickets today:
https://www.thalianhall.org/bdp-explorers-26

08/02/2026

🎭 MEET THE CAST – Tamica Katzmann 🎭

Say hello to Tamica Katzmann, who stars as Phyllida Spotte-Hume in *The Explorers Club*!

Tamica is positively elated to once again be the only woman surrounded by a jungle of men. Theatergoers may remember that she was also the lone female cast member in "A Few Good Men", a performance that earned her a 2026 Wilmington Theatre Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress.

Now she takes on the fearless, brilliant, and determined Phyllida Spotte-Hume, an accomplished explorer whose quest isn't to discover a lost civilization (she's already done that). Her newest challenge is convincing the famously stuffy Explorers Club that a woman deserves a seat at their table. What follows is a whirlwind of misunderstandings, mayhem, and nonstop laughs.

Directed by Holli Saperstein, "The Explorers Club" runs August 13–16 & 20–23 at Thalian Hall.

🎟️ Get your tickets today:
https://www.thalianhall.org/bdp-explorers-26