PlayMakers is... “One of America’s Best Regional Theatres” (American Theatre Magazine), PlayMakers Repertory Company is North Carolina’s premier professional theatre company, proudly in residence on the dynamic campus of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The professional company was founded in 1976, growing out of a storied 100 year tradition of playmaking at Carolina. Our mission is to produce relevant, courageous work that tells stories from and for a multiplicity of perspectives. We believe that theatre can have a transformational impact on individuals and entire communities, and we are committed to the work of becoming an anti-racist organization whose work is accessible to all. For the past several years, PlayMakers has produced ten shows on two stages each year in our home venue, the Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art, bringing the transformative power of theatre to more than 50,000 audience members annually, from over 50 counties. At the very heart of the PlayMakers experience is one of the nation’s last remaining resident theatre companies, made up of accomplished performers, directors, designers, artisans, and technicians, and supported by exceptional graduate students in UNC’s Department of Dramatic Art. Our company works side by side with guest artists from all over the world and our alumni include Pulitzer Prize, Tony®, Emmy®, and Grammy Award® winners.
Creating Tomorrow’s Classics, Today
Producing Artistic Director Vivienne Benesch is continuing PlayMakers’ tradition of producing vibrantly reimagined classics, large-scale musical theatre, and significant contemporary work, but is also broadening the company’s reach to become a home for new play development and a true hub of social and civic discourse in the region. Her first four seasons have already given life to eight important new American plays.
Provoking Conversation
PlayMakers seeks to provoke thought, stimulate discussion and push the boundaries of the theatrical form in everything we do. Whether through our intimate PRC2 series, our mainstage offerings or i our virtual line-up, we look for opportunities for direct, dynamic engagement between audiences, artists and subject matter experts.
Theatre for the People
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PlayMakers Mobile is an initiative that seeks to contribute positively to the civic and social life of our region by taking world-class theatre out of our building and into the community. We create a streamlined production a play each year and take it to schools, transitional housing facilities, and long-term treatment facilities around the Greater Triangle area. It’s all free of charge, since too often the people who can benefit from theatre the most are the ones who don’t have access to it.
