Located at the former Hickory Municipal Building in downtown, Hickory Community Theatre performs live theatre that entertains, inspires, and unites the community. The Hickory Community Theatre had its humble beginning in 1948 when the Hickory Recreation Department employed Kay Johnson to form a theatre group. Her first offering was a series of radio dramas aired on WIRC. In 1949, informal meetings, encouraged by the Kramer family, led to the formation of what was then known as The Hickory Little Theatre. The HLT first production was an evening of one-act plays, so successful that the company presented its first full-length production, YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU in October in the auditorium at City Hall. The building has been the home of HCT ever since.