The Taylor Building, usually called “Taylor Theatre,” was designed by J. Hyatt Hammond of Greensboro, North Carolina, and was opened in 1967. On February 27, 1967, the building was named in honor of William Raymond Taylor, the University’s “Father of Drama,” who founded the Play-Likers drama troupe in 1925 and the Burnsville School of Fine Arts (now known as Parkway Playhouse) in Burnsville, North Carolina, in 1947.