  Hosting a variety of outdoor events, including weddings and dramatic performances, Forest Theater
is located on the southeastern side of the UNC Campus. The theatre, originally constructed on what was once Battle
Park, was rebuilt with WPA funds in about 1940, with improvements in 1948. The location was first used for dramatic
purposes in 1916 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. The Forest Theatre is dedicated to
Frederick Koch, a widely recognized father American folk drama and the founder of the Carolina Playmakers. A marker
at the theatre entrance states: "For here now under the greenwood tree in a new-world forest of Arden, through love
and admiration of thousands of students, is dedicated . . . this open air palace of light and sound, haunt of birds
and breezes and human voices, home of natural beauty, poetry and drama, set upon the warm earth, in enduring stone,
to commemorate an ardent genius who inspired and fostered the American folk play and, like another Johnny Appleseed,
sowed the creative seeds of communal authorship throughout the American continent." [28].
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