playbill vip

Executive Director - Torin Wright wears many hats and enjoys them all. At West Pine Middle School, Mr. Wright is the director of the chorus and musical theater programs. Throughout his 25 years as a public school music teacher, Mr. Wright  has been committed to bringing the best musical experiences to public schools and their broader communities. This production will be his last as a public school teacher, as he is retiring next month.

Wright earned a Bachelors of Music Education degree from Northern Arizona University (1995), with certification endorsement to teach kindergarten through 12th grade. He first started teaching as a high school choral teacher in Ceres California (1995-1996) and then moved to North Carolina to teach at Pinecrest High School (1996-2004). Since then he has remained teaching in North Carolina and has gained experience teaching all age groups - pre-school, elementary, middle school, high school, college and adults. Beyond serving as a public school teacher Torin served as Director of Choirs at Southern Pines United Methodist Church from 1999-2018. Currently, he is the Worship Choir Director at Pinehurst United Methodist. Throughout his career, Wright's choirs have regularly earned Superior Ratings at Choral Festivals and under his direction, the 1999 Pinecrest Chamber Ensemble, which he founded, was selected to perform at the North Carolina Music Educators Annual Conference.  Having taught choral music K-12, Mr. Wright has had the distinct privilege of watching his students selected to each of the North Carolina Elementary, Middle School and High School Honor Choirs.  In 2019, Wright's West Pine Middle students tied with one other school as having the most students selected to sing in the North Carolina Middle School Honors Choir, with 10 students selected.  This was the third consecutive year that  Mr. Wright had at least the top five highest  number of students in the state selected to the NC Middle School Honors Choir.  In the 2016-2017 school year the WPM Fiddler on the Roof, Jr. Team earned second place at the NCASA State Musical Theater Competition and first place at the NCASA Regional Competition.

Through actively being  involved with his professional affiliations, Torin annually serves as a high school adjudicator for state sanctioned choral festivals and/or guest clinician for regional honor choirs. This honor is one that he will continue as he transitions into retirement.  In addition, he is a frequent freelance performer with a depth of experience in musical theater.  
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Torin and his wife, Susan, have two children: Samara (Chase) (Graduated from Appalachian State University) and Tylor (Sophomore Appalachian State University)