FEATURE
MEET RHINOLEAP by Jordan Willis
M
eet RhinoLeap: one of Asheboro’s premiere theatre companies that has been creating a remarkable social impact in our community for over four years. RhinoLeap was officially founded by father-and-son duo Tom Osteen and Patrick Osteen as a non-profit theatre in April 2017, though the company produced shows two summers prior at the North Carolina School for the Arts. “We talk about the previous two summers in terms of our history, but we really began when we decided to root ourselves in Asheboro,” explained Jeremy. Education is at the heart of RhinoLeap’s mission. When in-person gatherings were forbidden last year due to COVID-19, the company created online education for local high schoolers. Before the pandemic, RhinoLeap held residencies at Asheboro High School and Randolph Community College. During this time, they would go into the schools and perform alongside professional actors and teach master classes in student-generated projects. “So much of what we do is capture the curious,” said Jeremy. “If a student is curious about what we’re doing when they
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see us after school, they don’t have to go anywhere or pay anything: they simply need to walk over and we’ll invite them in to learn and create with us.” While RhinoLeap teaches standard theatre classes like movement, puppetry, and music, they also structure their classes around the desire to build communication and
