JAN 8–21, 2022 Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art
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919.962.7529
supporting the arts is all part of the plan.
A Life Plan Community cedarsofchapelhill.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 5 8 11 15 28 30 32 41
Letter from Vivienne Support PlayMakers Who We Are Title Page Bios General Information PlayMakers Staff Friends of PlayMakers Corporate and Foundation Partners
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VIVIENNE BENESCH
PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Dear Friends, Hello, and thank you for tuning in! It appears that good things really do come to those who wait. This production of Shakespeare's beautiful pastoral comedy, As You Like It, has been a long time in the coming. Originally scheduled to premiere in PlayMakers' 2020/21 season, as with so many other things, it was rescheduled due to Covid restrictions at the time. Adapting to the moment, we worked with the fabulous director Tia James to reconceive the production for film. In the fall of 2021, we did just that. We are thrilled to offer this new year's treat to all of you: PlayMakers' first film. Filmed entirely in PlayMakers' resident space, the Paul Green Theatre, here on the campus of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the production features beautiful designs by resident company members McKay Coble and Jan Chambers, who co-designed the set and costumes, Latrice Lovett who created the evocative lighting design, and featuring fabulous blues-infused music composed and performed by North Carolina artist Emily Musolino and, many of you will recognize a Triangle favorite, Yolanda Rabun. The cast features the majority of our acting company, from students in our Professional Actor Training Program to some beloved resident veterans and newcomers as well. The entire PlayMakers production company transformed into a film crew for the show with the great addition of guest cinematographer Benjamin Boucvalt and editor Christopher Gerson. In this period of so many unknowns, this story allows us to remember how healing and revivifying it is to get back to nature--and to our own true natures. Taking time and taking stock of all that is important, family, connection, passion, forgiveness, and, of course, love! Love, love, love! Familial, romantic, physical, intellectual, all as you like it. This is the two hour traffic of our screens. So now, enjoy PlayMakers' great experiment. And please, come and see us live and in person for the rest of our season. Warmly,
Vivienne
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SUPPORT US It is my pleasure to serve another year as the chair of the PlayMakers Advisory Council and welcome you back to the Paul Green Theatre stage for our 2021-22 season. Our five-show season was born out of the need to celebrate the healing power of human connection after a year that challenged us all. We believe that the theatre will have an important role to play in making sense of the complex world in which we find ourselves in. When I walk out of PlayMakers after a show, I always say how lucky we are to have a theater with such world-class performances right here in Chapel Hill. This season, I am grateful for the opportunity to experience PlayMakers’ signature variety of shows, live and in person once again! In addition to an impressive lineup of powerful performances, PlayMakers continues its work serving the Triangle community and beyond. We are privileged to provide unique learning opportunities for K–12 classrooms and UNC students, creating new ways to engage with our local artists and advocates, and make the power and joy of theatre accessible to underserved communities. Theatre is and always will be a place for community. And it is up to us—the community—to ensure that PlayMakers continues to thrive. Gifts from patrons like you will be critical to our success as we navigate reopening after more than a year away from producing live theatre with in-person audiences. If you enjoy and believe in the power of the theatre as I do, I invite you to become a Friend of PlayMakers. Please make a tax-deductible contribution to the annual fund, pledge a monthly donation as a Sustainer, or offer a campaign gift to strengthen and sustain PlayMakers’ vision for the future. I truly believe that there has never been a more important time to support the arts. Join me in championing our local theatre—an organization that makes a difference in our community. As Joan Gillings often said, “You will sit a little taller in your theatre seat, knowing you made a difference, too.” Thank you! Warmly, Amy Guskiewicz
ADVISORY COUNCIL Amy Guskiewicz Chair
Betsy Blackwell Vice Chair
Duncan Lascelles Vice Chair
Joanne Garrett Deborah Gerhardt Bobbi Hapgood Janelle Hoskins Betty Kenan, emeritus
Stuart Lascelles Robert Long, emeritus Graig Meyer Julie Morris Florence Peacock
Diane Robertson Wyndham Robertson Carol Smithwick Jackie Tanner 5 Mike Wiley
IN MEMORIAM
WE REMEMBER
PlayMakers Repertory Company and the Department of Dramatic Art mourn the extraordinary loss of our dear friend, Joan H. Gillings, who passed away in February surrounded by family at her home in Wrightsville Beach, NC. Joan was a lover of the arts and her dedication and support of our work was unparalleled. As a member of the PlayMakers Advisory Council for over 10 years, and its chair for 7, she worked closely with our staff on a multitude of projects including serving as chair for our annual PlayMakers Ball for many years, participating in our Producing Artistic Director search in 2015, and building lasting relationships with our students and faculty. Her transformational gift in 2017 has allowed us to 6
JOAN GILLINGS
expand opportunities for our students, support dynamic new work on our stages, and enhance performance and outreach offerings in our community. For Joan, her philanthropy and enthusiasm always came back to one thing – “the kids,” as she liked to call them – and her love for UNC can be felt and seen all over our campus. She brought an unmistakable joy and enthusiasm every time she entered our building and we aspire to carry that spirit forward in everything we do. We are forever grateful to have known Joan and are honored to carry on her transformational legacy through our work in the building that bears her name. She will be sorely missed. 7
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. 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 five seasons have already given life to ten important new American plays.
A Hub of Engagement
PlayMakers seeks to provoke thought, stimulate discussion and push the boundaries of the theatrical form in everything we do. Whether through our intimate @Play series, our mainstage offerings or our virtual line-up, we look for opportunities for direct, dynamic engagement between audiences, artists and thinkers. The Vision Series, post-show discussions and a host of unique engagement opportunities – including the continuation of last season’s online PlayMakers Keeping You Company – enrich our audience's experience of the live arts.
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 of a play each year and take it to schools, transitional housing facilities, and long-term treatment facilities around the Greater Triangle area. And best of all, it’s all free of charge. We look forward to getting back on the road as soon as we can do so safely.
WHO WE ARE
Leaving Eden, 2018. Photo by HuthPhoto Passing the Torch
PlayMakers’award-winning Summer Youth Conservatory is the only professionally supported training program of its kind in the region. The Theatre Quest program provides camps to area middle school students, while the Theatre Intensive and TheatreTech programs allow Triangle high schoolers to apprentice directly with professional directors, choreographers, musical directors, and technicians, culminating in a professional quality production on the PlayMakers mainstage for the whole community to enjoy.
Eliminating Barriers
With a commitment to eliminating barriers for attendance when we host live events, PlayMakers offers All Access performances for our patrons living with disabilities, we offer accessible $20 tickets for all performances, and tickets reduced to just $10 for UNC students and $12 for all other students. Our Spotlight on Service program also offers complimentary tickets to local service organizations. This season, we are proud to offer complimentary tickets to front-line workers in honor of their ongoing service to the community. For more information, please contact prcboxoffice@unc.edu.
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OUR MISSION
As the premiere professional theatre company of North Carolina, PlayMakers Repertory Company strives to produce entertaining, relevant, and courageous work that tells stories from and for a multiplicity of perspectives and creates transformational impact in our immediate and extended communities.
Provoke
OUR VISION Represent
Create
OUR VALUES
Artistic excellence and artistry Education and training Community engagement Access and equity
Financial health Discovery and innovation Collaboration and communication Culture of support
ANTIRACISM ACCOUNTABILITY STATEMENT
At the heart of PlayMakers Repertory Company’s mission is the belief that theater has the power to transform individuals and entire communities. There is no more aspirational or urgent a use of that power than working to dismantle the systems of oppression, white supremacy, and racism that pervade American life and consume the American Theatre. PlayMakers continues to assess and evaluate our own practices in order to embed equitable, antiracist policies into strategic planning, our mission, and our operations. PlayMakers Repertory Company, and those of us who work here, commit to the following: • To work intentionally to create an antiracist culture in our company. • To continually educate ourselves on the ways in which we can combat racism locally and nationally as we move to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable sense of belonging for every one of our constituents. • To demonstrate our values through action in our policies, practices, and procedures. We are grateful to Black, Indigenous and People of Color artists and administrators within our local community as well as the larger theatrical community across the country for the resources they’ve expended, both in time and emotional labor. Their work lays an important foundation for us by articulating some of the harmful practices that must change immediately as well as identifying pathways for the long-term evolution that must follow. In that light, this document is the beginning of a response to the demands for change made by the anti-racist organization #WeSeeYouWhiteAmericanTheater. 10
As a professional theatre company embedded in, and inextricably linked to the Department of Dramatic Art (DDA) at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, the path forward will be complex and singular. We will therefore be updating our action items and commitments continuously as our work evolves. We at PlayMakers understand our responsibility not only to the artists, staff, and audiences with which we engage, but significantly, to the many students training here for a career in the theatre. These are not our first steps, and by no means our last. They are not perfect. And they are not enough. But they are steps forward. We invite you to come back to our website and our theater often and monitor our progress. We take our responsibility to this effort seriously and we welcome your involvement and assessment.
Land Acknowledgement We acknowledge that the Center for Dramatic Art is located on the unceded lands of one or more of Abiayala’s (the Americas’) original sovereign nations, the name(s) of which have not yet been affirmed. The unjust acquisition of these Indigenous lands came about through a history of racism, violence, dispossession, displacement, and erasure of cultures by settlers as part of the larger, land-centered project of settler colonialism. As we look to the future, please join us in acknowledging and learning about the atrocities committed against these Nations and work with us towards inclusion, representation, and a better relationship with citizens of sovereign American Indian and Alaska Native nations. Why is Land Acknowledgement important? This statement is part of the continual interrogation of our own participation and complacency in colonial structures and a call for greater awareness, accountability, and intentionality in the work we do. As storytellers we are committed to learning and telling stories in ways that will have transformational impact in our immediate and extended communities. We are excited by future partnerships with Native Americans and look forward to sharing this journey of knowledge and growth with you. Learn more: UNC American Indian Center https://americanindiancenter.unc.edu/
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Italian Culinary Experience in the Heart of Chapel Hill. THOUGHTFULLY PREPARED. SIMPLY SERVED. DEEPLY CONNECTED.
As You Like It by
William Shakespeare Directed by
Tia James Director of Photography
Editor
Scenic Designer
Benjamin Boucvalt
Christopher Gerson
McKay Coble
Scenic/Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Jan Chambers
Latrice Lovett
Brandon Reed
Composer
Dramaturg
Choreographer
Emily Musolino
Adam Versényi
Tracy Bersley
Vocal Coach
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Gwendolyn Schwinke
Elizabeth Ray*
Charles K. Bayang*
JAN 8–21, 2022 This production is part of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
*Indicates members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The Professional Theatre of the Department of Dramatic Art Adam Versényi, Chair Vivienne Benesch, Producing Artistic Director Nichole Gantshar, Managing Director Produced in association with The College of Arts & Sciences The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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CAST LIST
In alphabetical order
Touchstone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sergio Mauritz Ang* Oliver Silvius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anthony August* Duke Frederick/Corin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeffrey Blair Cornell* LeBeau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ray Dooley* Duke Senior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samuel Ray Gates* Jacques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathryn Hunter-Williams* Celia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tori Jewell* Orlando. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Khalil Lesaldo* Musician . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Emily Musolino Amiens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yolanda Rabun* Adam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gwendolyn Schwinke* Rosalind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AhDream Smith* Audrey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aubrey Snowden Charles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benjamin Tarlton William. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adam Valentine Phoebe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Omolade Wey*
STAGE MANAGERS
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Charles K. Bayang* Elizabeth Ray*
*Indicates members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
CAST BIOS Sergio Mauritz Ang Touchstone
PlayMakers: Company member in the third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program. The Skin of Our Teeth, Julius Caesar, Ragtime. Wilder & Wilder (PlayMakers Mobile); I am Not Batman, Stop Kiss, Mud (PlayMakers Ground Floor). New York: Coleman Domingo’s The Brother[s] (Out of the Box Theatrics); Joker (National Queer Theater); Anna in the Tropics (The Gallery Players); Much Ado About Nothing (Classics in Color); Summertime (Between Two Boroughs); Empress of China (Yangtze Rep). Regional: From Number to Name (East West Players); The Dalai Lama is Not Welcome Here (Arizona Theatre Company); Tomorrow Will Be Sunday (Chautauqua Theatre Company); Peter and the Starcatcher (Kitchen Theatre Company); Bruise and Thorn (PlayPenn); Mañanas de Abril y Mayo (Connecticut Free Shakespeare). Awards: Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, National Commendation for Outstanding Performance in a Play for Boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb. Education: BFA in Acting Brooklyn College; AAS in Early Childhood Education Hostos Community College; Vocal Music Major Fiorello H. LaGuardia High @sergio.m.ang @yoizsergyo School of Music and Arts and Performing Arts, NYC. www.sergiomauritzang.com
Anthony August Oliver Silvius
PlayMakers: Company member in third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program. The Skin of Our Teeth, The Storyteller, Everybody, Ragtime. Wilder & Wilder (PlayMakers Mobile). Regional: The Hunchback of Seville (Mildred’s Umbrella), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (The Ensemble Theater), Fade To Black Festival, This is Modern Art (The Landing Theatre Company), Macbeth (Encore Theatre). University: When the Ancestors Call, Dutchman, A Raisin in the Sun, Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The Mountaintop (Texas Southern University). Education: Texas Southern University, B.A. in Theatre. @kingslick
Jeffrey Blair Cornell Duke Frederick / Corin
PlayMakers: This marks Jeff ’s 27th season with PlayMakers. Recently: Announcer in The Skin of Our Teeth, Brutus in Julius Caesar, Father in Ragtime, Uncle Peck in How I Learned to Drive, Sipos in She Loves Me, and Darren (the Woodchuck) in Bewilderness. Some favorites: Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, Caliban in The Tempest, Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility, Roy Cohn in Angels in America, and Herr Schultz in Cabaret. New York: Two by Two, Down to Earth, Serious Business. Regional: Guthrie Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Paper Mill Playhouse, among others. Education/Other: Carbonell Award nominations for Best Actor – Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me and Falsettoland (Caldwell Theatre – FL). Studied at HB Studios in New York with Uta Hagen, Austin Pendleton, and Elizabeth Wilson. Serves as Teaching Professor/ Associate Chair in UNC’s Department of Dramatic Art.
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Ray Dooley LeBeau
PlayMakers: Company member since 1989. Most recently: The Skin of Our Teeth, The Storyteller, Ragtime, Life of Galileo, Bewilderness, She Loves Me, Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood. Broadway: Macbeth. Off-Broadway: Three seasons with Classic Stage Company (OBIE Award for Distinguished Performance, Peer Gynt). International: European premiere of Doubt (Vienna’s English Theatre); Amadeus, The Lark (Citadel Theatre, Edmonton, Canada). Regional: Folger Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, American Shakespeare Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre Company, among many others. Film/TV: Trainhopper, Changeover, The Trial of Standing Bear, Stonebrook, One Life to Live, Guiding Light. Education/Other: MFA, American Conservatory Theater; BA, Hamilton College (Phi Beta Kappa). Professor Emeritus, UNCChapel Hill Department of Dramatic Art; C. Knox Massey Award for Unusual, Distinguished and Meritorious Service to the University. Member Actors’ Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA.
Samuel Ray Gates Duke Senior
PlayMakers: Company member in his fourth season. Julius Caesar, Life of Galileo, Skeleton Crew, Leaving Eden, Dot. Regional: Fairview (Woolly Mammoth Theater Company); All the Way (Theatre Squared), Between Riverside and Crazy (American Conservatory Theater), Alabama Story (Pinoeer Theatre Company), Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing (Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse), The Muscles in our Toes (Labyrinth Theater Company), Clybourne Park (Cincinnati Playhouse), Trinity River Plays (Dallas Theater Center, Goodman Theatre), In the Red and Brown Water (McCarter Theatre Center), Electra (Classical Theatre of Harlem). Film/Television: Upcoming: DopeSick, Our Kind of People, The Staircase. The Good Fight, NCIS: New Orleans, November Criminals, Wolves, Person of Interest, Veep, Mozart in the Jungle, Two Night Stand, The Blacklist, House of Cards, Queen City, Boardwalk Empire, Unforgettable, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Kings, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Rescue Me. MFA, American Conservatory Theatre.
Kathryn Hunter-Williams Jacques
PlayMakers: Company member for 21 seasons. Recent and highlights include directing No Fear & Blues Long Gone, Count, plus acting in The Skin of Our Teeth, Edges of Time, The Storyteller, Julius Caesar, Everybody, Life of Galileo, Skeleton Crew, Leaving Eden, Tartuffe, Dot, Intimate Apparel, The Crucible, Trouble in Mind, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Metamorphoses, The Tempest, Love Alone, A Raisin in the Sun, Imaginary Invalid, Henry IV & V, The Parchman Hour, Angels in America, Fences, Doubt, Yellowman, among others. New York/Regional: Living Stage, The Negro Ensemble Company, Manhattan Class Company, New Dramatists, Archipelago Theater. Education/Other: BFA, UNC School of the Arts; MFA, UNC-Chapel Hill. Kathryn is on the faculty of the Department of Dramatic Art, UNC-Chapel Hill, Company Artistic Associate for PlayMakers Rep and is Associate Director of HiddenVoices, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing life 17 changing stories into a public forum.
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“PlayMakers has been punching far above its weight class since the moment of its founding. This beautiful, detailed, and comprehensive examination of its remarkable past and current strength, charts the organization’s importance as one of the leading lights in the American Theatre.”
Company: A PlayMakers Repertory fifty years of the History celebrates nearly company founded e theatr sional profes North Carolina at at the University of Building upon a Chapel Hill in 1975. g activity at UNC datin legacy of theatrical appointment the when 1918, to back t rtmen Depa the in of Professor Koch formation of of English led to the akers, Tom Haas the Carolina Playm envisioned a man Hous r Arthu and integrated with professional company at a major an academic department That combination of research university. achievement coupled professional artistic y theatrical training with the highest qualit akers Repertory has characterized PlayM outset. Company from the of the resident Then as now, the core are both teachers company—faculty who ng in tandem with and practitioners worki in the Department the graduate students MFA programs— of Dramatic Arts’ three d by the best mente supple antly is const and performers directors, designers, rgraduates learn from working today. Unde and forth between faculty who move back stage, shops, and the classroom and the ledge gained in know the with workrooms, creativity in another. one realm sparking acting , costume Graduate students in ical production production, and techn training during the receive professional become their day from teachers who s at night, both offartistic collaborator and on-stage. than eighty With six essays, more dices that list images, and four appen MFA recipients, and productions, faculty, ship, this book richly administrative leader ed d and widely admir documents a belove tion. dramatic arts institu
—Joseph Haj, MFA 1988; Artistic Director of The Guthrie Theater 2015-present; and Artistic Director of PlayMakers Repertory Company 2006-2015
Get your copy today at uncpress.org PlayMakers Repertory Company: A History celebrates nearly fifty years of the professional theatre company founded at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1975, building upon a legacy of theatrical activity at UNC dating back to 1918 with the formation of the Carolina Playmakers. Then as now, the core of the resident company—faculty who are both teachers and practitioners working in tandem with the graduate students in the Department of Dramatic Arts' three MFA programs—is constantly supplemented by the best directors, designers, and performers working today. With six essays, more than eighty images, and four appendices that list productions, faculty, MFA recipients, and administrative leadership, this book richly documents a beloved and widely admired dramatic arts institution.
Tori Jewell Celia
PlayMakers: Company member in third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program. The Skin of Our Teeth, Julius Caesar, Ragtime. Wilder & Wilder (PlayMakers Mobile); Stop Kiss. References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot (PlayMakers Ground Floor). Regional: Into the Breeches (Theatre Raleigh). University: Her favorite shows throughout her undergraduate experience were A View From The Bridge (Company Carolina) and Hedda Gabler (Kenan Theatre Company). Other: College Witch (YouTube), To the Girl I Never Kissed (YouTube) Education: B.A. in Anthropology, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2019. @tori.jewell.7 @torijewell_
Khalil LeSaldo Orlando
PlayMakers: Company member in third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program. The Skin of Our Teeth, Julius Caesar, Dairyland. Mud, References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot (PlayMakers Ground Floor). New York: Sing, Care Full, Game Night. Regional: We Can Eat Love, As You Like It, Julius Caesar (Portland Stage); Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar (Tennessee Shakespeare Company); A Manor of Speaking, Deep as Hell, Hell and Other Adventures, Deep as Hell 2: Wide as Hell (2Sheets Theater Company); Bug (60 Grit Theatre); The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Mad Horse Theater Company); Princess Kaguya (Theater at Monmouth); To Kill a Mockingbird (The Theater Project); Hellcab, After (Profiles Theatre); Wait Until Dark ( Jedlicka Performing Arts); Switch Tryptych (Big Picture Group). Film / TV: Defending Jacob with Chris Evans, Chicago PD. Education/Awards/Other: Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Bowdoin College; Alice Merrill Mitchel Prize (2011); The Telling Room Story Slam Champion, Devising and Physical Theater (Celebration Barn).
Emily Musolino Musician
PlayMakers: Debut. Regional: I Love My Hair (Man Bites Dog Theatre). Television: Reel South, Theme Music. Education: Berklee College of Music.
Yolanda Rabun Amiens
PlayMakers: Songs of Holiday Cheer, No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone, Violet. Regional: Newsies, Mary Poppins, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Drowsy Chaperone, Little Shop of Horrors, Beehive, the 60s Musical, Dreamgirls, Ragtime, Big River, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Avenue Q, Violet the Musical, Ain’t Misbehavin’, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Member of the Wedding, Twelfth Night, and I Love My Hair. Studio Recordings: So Real, Christmastime, Hold on to Your Dreams, and the YOLANDA album available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Pandora. BMI (songwriter), BMI and ASCAP 19
(publisher), Voting Member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (the Grammys). Education: BA with Honors, College of the Holy Cross; Juris Doctorate, Boston College Law (New York and Georgia licensed).
Gwendolyn Schwinke Adam
PlayMakers: The Skin of Our Teeth. Company member in her third season, Vocal Coach: Dairyland, Native Son, Julius Caesar, As You Like It. Regional: Voice/ Text/Dialect Coach— Favorites include Merry Wives of Windsor, Taming of the Shrew, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Cymbeline, Intimate Apparel, Merchant of Venice, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Ugly Lies the Bone, Comedy of Errors, Hamlet (Shakespeare & Company); Merry Wives…, Hamlet, The King and I (Oxford Shakespeare Festival); Boeing-Boeing, Lost in Yonkers (Atlantic Stage). Actor— Carlyle Brown & Company, Oxford Shakespeare Festival, Frank Theatre, Red Eye Collaboration, Minnesota Shakespeare Project, Atlantic Stage, Old Creamery Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Playwright— Plays developed and/or produced by Seattle Repertory Company, Cherry Lane Theatre, The Playwrights’ Center, Red Eye Collaboration, Judith Shakespeare Company, Jungle Theatre. Teaching— David G. Frey Fellow/Assistant Professor of Voice & Speech at UNC-Chapel Hill, Company Member at Shakespeare & Company, Designated Linklater Voice Teacher and Teacher Trainer, Guildcertified Feldenkrais Teacher.
AhDream Smith Rosalind
PlayMakers: Company member in third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program. The Skin of Our Teeth, Julius Caesar. Wilder & Wilder (PlayMakers Mobile); References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot (PlayMakers Ground Floor). New York: The Talking Cure (Hudson Guild Theatre); Sistas on Fire (The Duke On 42nd Street); The Trojan Women, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Exception And The Rule (Shapiro Theatre). Television: Silent Killer, The Honeymoon Killers, Death and The Maiden (Investigation Discovery). Education/Awards/Other: Wesleyan University (B.A), William Esper, Stella Adler, Upright Citizens Brigade, Broadway Dance Center.
Aubrey Snowden Audrey
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PlayMakers: Acting debut. Directing: The Skin of Our Teeth (Associate Director); Antigone, References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot, Beast on the Moon (PlayMakers Ground Floor). New York: Sense and Sensibility (Associate, Bedlam); Spill (Associate, Ensemble Studio Theater); Man Solo Festival (Bedlam); Phedra (Access Theatre). Regional Constellations, Betrayal (The Wilbury Group); Sense and Sensibility (Associate, American Repertory Theater); SeaWife (Associate, White Heron Theater). University: Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play, The Wolves, The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Kenan Theatre Company, UNC-Chapel Hill); Green (Manhattanville College); Machinal (Brown Trinity). Education/Training: MFA, Brown University/Trinity Rep; Tectonic Theatre Project; SITI
Company; National Theater Insititute; LaMama International Director’s Symposium. Awards: 2019 Motif Magazine Award for Best Set Design; 2019 Schwab Academic Excellence Award at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. aubreysnowden.com
Benjamin Tarlton Charles
PlayMakers: Debut. Certified Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors.
Adam Valentine William
PlayMakers: The Skin of Our Teeth. Company member in first year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program. Regional: Rodney in Small Mouth Sounds (Cadence Theatre); Chick in Stupid Kid (Firehouse Theatre); Stephano in The Tempest (Quill Theatre); Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Virginia Repertory Theatre); Timothy in Hand To God (TheatreLab/5th Wall); Crispin in The Heir Apparent (Quill Theatre); J.D in Heathers: The Musical (TheatreLab/Firehouse); and Roger in Maple and Vine (Firehouse).
Omolade Wey Phoebe
PlayMakers: Company member in third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program. The Skin of Our Teeth, The Storyteller, Julius Caesar, Everybody. Wilder & Wilder (PlayMakers Mobile); No Child, Stop Kiss, References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot (PlayMakers Ground Floor). University: God & Country, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, Insurrection: Holding History. Education/Awards: Winner of the Director’s Company Next Wave Initiative Hattie McDaniel Acting Scholarship. BSFS in Culture & Politics from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.
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CREATIVE TEAM Tia James Director
PlayMakers: Company member for two seasons. Julius Caesar, Native Son. Vocal coaching includes Sherwood, Skeleton Crew, She Loves Me, Bewilderness, Jump, Life of Galileo, How I Learned to Drive, Your Healing is Killing Me. Director PlayMakers Mobile’s Macbeth and PlayMakers Ground Floor’s Constellations. Broadway: The Merchant of Venice. Off-Broadway/New York: The Winter’s Tale, The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare in the Park). Regional: Richard III (Allentown Shakespeare); Loving and Loving (Stella Adler Studios); Much Ado About Nothing (Two River Theatre); Civilization (all you can eat) (Woolly Mammoth Theater). Television: Nurse Jackie, Treme. Teaching/Coaching/Directing: UNC-Chapel Hill, NYU Graduate Acting, NYU Dance, Atlantic Acting School, Montclair University. Education/Awards: MFA NYU Tisch Graduate Acting Program, BFA Virginia Commonwealth University; Teacher Training under Scott Miller and John Patrick. Recipient of the 2014 NYU Graduate Acting Diversity Mentorship Scholarship, 2003 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship winner for Best Actor; 2019 Michael Chekhov/Zelda Fichandler Scholarship.
Benjamin Boucvalt Director of Photography
PlayMakers: Debut. Regional: Once In A Lifetime, Yentl (Asolo Repertory Theatre); Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, Great Expectations, Cymbeline (Great River Shakespeare Festival); Vanya & Sonya & Masha & Spike (Orlando Shakespeare Theatre) University: MFA, Asolo Conservatory. Film: Dead Still (SyFy)
Christopher Gerson Video Editor PlayMakers: Debut.
McKay Coble Scenic Design
PlayMakers: Company member for over 30 years. The Skin of Our Teeth, Everybody, Bewilderness, Sherwood, Leaving Eden, Dot, My Fair Lady, Peter and the Starcatcher, An Enemy of the People, The Tempest / Metamorphoses, It’s a Wonderful Life, Red, Noises Off, The Parchman Hour, Big River, Nicholas Nickleby, Amadeus, The Little Prince, The Illusion, Cyrano, Not About Heroes, Playboy of the Western World, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Nutcracker, and many others. Broadway: Production Coordinator, Barbara Matera, Ltd.; La Cage Aux Folles; Big River; Sunday in the Park with George; Singin’ in the Rain; Merlin; Private Lives. Regional: Alley Theatre, Clarence Brown Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Hartford Stage, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Virginia Stage Company. Film: The Cotton Club, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Ghostbusters, Silkwood, Places in the Heart. Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829; NYC. 22
Jan Chambers Scenic /Costume Design
PlayMakers: Company member for 16 seasons and professor in the Department of Dramatic Art at UNC-Chapel Hill. Productions include: The Skin of Our Teeth, Julius Caesar, Dairyland, How I Learned to Drive, Skeleton Crew, Leaving Eden, A Christmas Carol, The Cake, The May Queen, Sweeney Todd, 4000 Miles, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Making of a King: Henry IV & V, A Raisin in the Sun, Red, Metamorphoses, The Tempest, Angels in America and Nicholas Nickleby, among others. Regional: Cyrano de Bergerac, Sunday in the Park with George, Pericles (Guthrie Theatre); Asylum (Only Child Aerial Theatre at Circus Now International Contemporary Circus Exposure); Pericles, Hamlet (Folger Theatre); Pericles, Henry V (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Reckoning, It Had Wings, The Narrowing, Out of the Blue (Archipelago Theatre/ Cine). Member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology and of United Scenic Artists, Local 829. https://janchambers.sites.oasis.unc.edu/
Latrice Lovett Lighting Design
PlayMakers: Debut.
Brandon Reed Sound Design
PlayMakers: Edges of Time, No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone. Company member in his second season as Resident Sound Designer/Engineer. Regional: BEAU with Broadway director Michael Wilson, Sequence, The Enlightenment of Percival von Schmootz, Calling All Kates (Adirondack Theatre Festival); The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Sex With Strangers (Cardinal Stage Company); Constellations (Lake Dillion Theatre); Fully Committed, Chapatti, Silent Sky (Bristol Valley Theater); Julius Caesar, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Music Man (Arkansas Shakespeare); Our Town (Chautauqua Theater Company). University: Because I Am Your Queen with Tectonic Theater’s Barbara Pitts McAdams, Twelfth Night, In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), A Funny Thing Happened…, The Light in the Piazza (Illinois Theatre). Other: 2019 USITT Robert E. Cohen Sound Achievement Award. 2016 Joseph Jefferson Nomination for A Small Oak Tree Runs Red. 2015 Sound Design Fellowship from Chautauqua Theater Company. Alumnus of the Steppenwolf Professional Leadership Program. MFA University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, BS Ball State University. @brandonreedsounddesign www.brandonreedsounddesign.com
Emily Musolino Composer See Acting Bio
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Adam Versényi Dramaturg
PlayMakers: Resident Dramaturg, 1988–present. Recent dramaturgy: The Skin of Our Teeth, Julius Caesar, Native Son, Life of Galileo, Skeleton Crew, Tartuffe. Directing: The Nutcracker. Dramaturgy: 7 Stages; NEA Playwrighting Fellows Program; Theatre Previews at Duke; Critics Panel, IV Hispanic Theatre Festival (Teatro Avante); Florida Studio Theatre; Yale Repertory Theatre; La MaMa E.T.C.; Festival Latino (New York Shakespeare Festival). Directing: The Agony of Ecstasy; El Día Que Me Quieras; The Black American Dream; Hughie; The Indians Were Angry; Bitter Blood; The Lesson; No Exit. Publications: Ramón Griffero: Your Desires in Fragments and Other Plays; The Theater of Sabina Berman: The Agony of Ecstasy and Other Plays; El Teatro en América Latina; Theatre in Latin America: Religion, Politics, and Culture from Cortes to the 1980s. Other: Fulbright Senior Lecturer, Colombia, South America. Member, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. Faculty: UNC-Chapel Hill; Deep Springs College; Escuela de Bellas Artes, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia; Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramático, Bogotá, Colombia. Education: DFA, Yale School of Drama.
Tracy Bersley Movement Coach / Choreographer
PlayMakers: Movement coach and resident choreographer in her fourth season. OffBroadway / New York: As director/choreographer— Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), The Lortel Theatre, Primary Stages, and many award-winning Off-Broadway companies, such as The Civilians and Red Bull Theatre. Regional: As director/ choreographer— Carolina Performing Arts, McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival. Education / Other: Served as professor or guest artist at Yale School of Drama, Princeton University, New York University, Purchase College, Columbia University/Barnard College, and The Juilliard School. Tracy received her MFA in Directing from Syracuse University and is currently co-head of the Professional Actor Training Program in the Department of Dramatic Art at UNC-Chapel Hill, a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and a Drama League Fellow
Gwendolyn Schwinke Vocal Coach See Acting Bio
Elizabeth Ray Stage Manager
PlayMakers: Company member in her fifth full season. Love, Loss, and What I Wore, The Storyteller, Everybody, Dairyland, No Fear & Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone, How I Learned to Drive, Jump, Skeleton Crew, Temples of Lung and Air, "A" Train, Tartuffe, Dot, The Cake, Into the
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Woods, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Private Lives. New York: Shows for Days (Lincoln Center Theater), In the Secret Sea (Theatre Row), Wallenberg, Requiem for Mr. B, Presto Change-O (Frankel Green Production Company), and Welcome to Shoofly (Playwrights Horizons). Work at other regional theatres includes productions at North Carolina Theatre, Theatre Raleigh, Palm Beach Dramaworks, and Cape Fear Regional Theatre. Elizabeth is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.
Charles K. Bayang Assistant Stage Manager
Charles is in his fourteenth season with PlayMakers. Work at other regional theatres includes productions at Studio Arena Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theater Center and Dallas Children’s Theatre. Charles holds an MFA from the University of Alabama/Alabama Shakespeare Festival and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.
PLAYMAKERS LEADERSHIP Vivienne Benesch Producing Artistic Director
Vivienne is in her sixth full season as a company member and Producing Artistic Director at PlayMakers, where she has helmed productions of The Skin of Our Teeth, The Storyteller, Dairyland, Life of Galileo, Leaving Eden, The May Queen, Three Sisters, Love Alone, RED, and In The Next Room. In her six seasons with the theatre, she is particularly proud to have produced ten world-premieres and launched PlayMakers Mobile, a touring production aimed at reaching underserved audiences around the Triangle. For 12 seasons, she served as Artistic Director of the renowned Chautauqua Theater Company and Conservatory, presiding over the company’s transformation into one of the best summer theatres and most competitive summer training programs in the country. Vivienne has also directed for the Folger Shakespeare Theatre (Helen Hayes nomination for best direction 2019), The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Trinity Repertory Company, NY Stage & Film, and Red Bull Theatre, among others. In 2018, she directed the world premiere of Noah Haidle’s Birthday Candles for Detroit Public Theatre and will be directing it again on Broadway in 2022, starring Debra Messing. As an actress, Vivienne has worked on and off-Broadway, in film and television, at many of the country’s most celebrated theatres, and received an Obie Award for her performance in Lee Blessing’s Going to St. Ives. Vivienne is a graduate of Brown University and NYU’s Graduate Acting Program. As an educator, she has directed for and served on the faculty of some of the nation’s foremost actor training programs, including The Juilliard School, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Professional Actor Training Program, Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Program, and at her alma mater, NYU’s Graduate 25
Acting Program. She is the 2017 recipient of the Zelda Fichandler Award given by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation.
Nichole Gantshar Managing Director
Nichole Gantshar is a former dramaturg turned arts administrator. Having spent the past two years in interim leadership with Louisville Ballet and Theatre Bay Area, she looks forward to becoming part of the Triangle community. She spent five years as Executive Director of Rochester City Ballet, where she tripled grant revenue, grew audiences by 30 percent, added free (philanthropy supported) sensory-friendly performances, and earned support from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Shubert Foundation. Apart from her career in the arts, Nichole worked as a Legislative Aide in Congress and as a journalist. Regional: Hangar Theatre, Milwaukee Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Richmond Ballet, Syracuse Stage, and Tulsa Ballet. Volunteer: Rotary, treasurer, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), Chair of the National Student Education Fund, treasurer, Syracuse Chapter of Girls Inc. Awards: Nominee, Outstanding Young Woman of America, LMDA Residency Grant. Faculty: Syracuse University, University at Stony Brook, University of Pittsburgh and the Wooster Center for the Arts. Education: MFA, University at Stony Brook.
Michael Rolleri Production Manager
Michael is in his 35th season with PlayMakers Repertory Company. He has been Technical Director, Project Manager, Exhibition Technician, and Lighting Designer for industrial shows in the Southeast region, as well as lead carpenter for films, the U.S. Olympic Festival, and scenic studios. He has also been a rigger in the Southeast region and has served on the executive board and as President of IATSE Local 417. Michael is a 30 year Gold Pin member of IATSE. An active member of United States Institute For Theatre Technology (USITT), he is a three-time winner at USITT's Tech Expo. He is a full Professor/Head of the Technical Production Program at UNC-Chapel Hill and was an instructor at High Point University and Tufts University. Education: MFA in Design and Technical Production, UNC-Greensboro.
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PlayMakers Repertory Company is a program of the Department of Dramatic Art, The College of Arts and Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, recognizes PlayMakers as a professional theatre organization and provides grant assistance to this organization from funds appropriated by the North Carolina General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. PlayMakers is a beneficiary of the Elizabeth Price Kenan Endowment and the Lillian Hughes Prince Endowment. PlayMakers Repertory Company is a Member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre. This Theatre operates under an agreement between the League Of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. The scenic, costume, lighting and sound designers in LORT Theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE. The Director and Choreographer are members of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union. PlayMakers is a proud partner of The Drama League, which advances the American theatre by providing a life-long artistic home for directors and a platform to dialogue with and between audiences.
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GENERAL INFO
Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art CB# 3235, UNC-Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3235 Box Office: 919.962.7529 Website: www.playmakersrep.org facebook.com/playmakersrep
instagram.com/playmakersrep
@playmakersrep
playmakersrep.org/blog
WHAT WILL SHOWS LOOK LIKE THIS YEAR?
The 21/22 season will feature five live, in-person performances featuring works that explore the resilience of family bonds in all their complicated forms, friendships that transcend language, time, and space, and one man’s connection to his community that helps him stand taller than he could alone.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
PlayMakers Repertory Company is committed to the safety and well-being of our patrons, artists and staff. We will be following state, industry and University safety guidelines in the 21/22 season. All patrons are required to wear face coverings at all times while inside the Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art. We have increased sanitation measures throughout the building and put some new protocols in place to improve safety including: • • • • •
Touch free electronic ticketing Hand sanitizers throughout the Center for Dramatic Art More frequent cleaning of high-touch surfaces HEPA filtration units With the exception of onstage performances, artists, crew and staff will be required to wear masks
WHAT IF I HAVE TO MISS MY PERFORMANCE DATE?
For the safety of all our artists, patrons, and staff, if you feel unwell, please stay home. You may call our Box Office and ask to be reseated for another performance, or request a refund up to 48 hour before your ticketed performance.
If you know you will miss a performance date, we can exchange your ticket for you, based on availability. Please call our Box Office at least 48 hours before your scheduled performance, and please be aware that all exchanges are based on availability and a fee or additional cost may apply. Subscribers may exchange their tickets with no additional fee, but additional cost may apply with a change in performance or section.
BOX OFFICE HOURS
Mon, Weds, Fri 12:00 noon-5:00p.m. and 90 minutes prior to each performance.
USE OF CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONICS
Texting and using cell phones, laptops, smart watches, and other devices light- or sound-emitting devices are strictly prohibited during the performance. Please turn all electronic devices to silent, theatre mode, or off during the show.
CAMERAS OR RECORDING DEVICES
Taking photographs or videotaping inside the theatre is strictly prohibited during performances. However, before the show, during intermission, and after the show, you are invited to take and share your photos of the stage and scenery.
PARKING
There are several paid and free parking options available near PlayMakers. We recommend arriving 30 minutes before the show so that you have time to park and pay (Monday-Thursday evenings only) and find your seat. For more information and an interactive map of nearby parking options, please visit www.playmakersrep.org/parking
POLICY ON YOUNG CHILDREN
As a courtesy to our patrons, it is the policy of PlayMakers not to admit children under the age of 5. All of our shows have content ratings for each production (for example: Rated PG-13). If you are considering bringing your child, please refer to website or contact our Box Office for further information. All patrons, regardless of age, must have a ticket.
HEADSETS FOR HEARING IMPAIRED PATRONS
Our theatres are equipped with sound systems that amplify the sound from the stage. Patrons who wish to use the system may obtain headsets on a first-come, first-served basis from the coat check. Headsets must be returned immediately after the performance.
LATE SEATING AND LEAVING YOUR SEAT DURING THE PERFORMANCE
To minimize disruptions to the actors and other patrons, late seating will be provided at the discretion of the house manager at an appropriate break in the action on stage. Patrons who need to be seated late must be escorted by house staff to seats at the rear entrance of the auditorium, which entails climbing a flight of stairs. Patrons can take their regular seat at intermission.
PLAYMAKERS Administration
Vivienne Benesch, Producing Artistic Director Nichole Gantshar, Managing Director
ARTISTIC
MARKETING & AUDIENCE SERVICES
Tracy Bersley, Movement Coach/Choreographer Kathryn Hunter-Williams, Company Artistic Associate Chelsea James, Producing Assistant Tia James, Vocal Coach Gregory Kable, Dramaturg Jacqueline E. Lawton, Dramaturg Jeffrey Meanza, Associate Artistic Director Mark Perry, Dramaturg Gwendolyn Schwinke, Vocal Coach Adam Versényi, Dramaturg
Hannah Hendren, Communications & Advancement Asst Alex James, Audience Services Associate Diana Pineda, Director of Sales & Marketing Thomas Porter, Box Office Manager Rosalie Preston, Associate Director of Marketing Jessie Gleason, Undergraduate Marketing Assistant
ADMINISTRATION Kate Jones, Business Operations Coordinator Lisa Geeslin, Accountant
WORK STUDY STUDENTS Artistic: Josh Wehab Box Office/ Front of House: Aisha Bynum, Charity Cohen, Eli Dietrich, Chloe Jones, Olivia Mahon, Yaeelin Merino-Velasquez, Olivia Morse, Kaitlyn Rivera, Krystal Rivera, Alla Sirelkhatim, Naomi Smith, Lily Vance Development: Mahika Kawale Marketing: Belawal Ahmed
Department of Dramatic Art Adam Versényi, Professor and Chair
FACULTY
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Vivienne Benesch, Professor of the Practice Tracy Bersley, Assistant Professor Pamela Bond, Visiting Teaching Assistant Professor Jan Chambers, Professor McKay Coble, Professor Jeffrey Blair Cornell, Associate Chair, Teaching Prof. Ray Dooley, Professor Samuel Ray Gates, Assistant Professor Julia Gibson, Associate Professor Jennifer Guadagno, Teaching Assistant Professor Kathryn Hunter-Williams, Teaching Associate Professor Tia James, Assistant Professor Gregory Kable, Teaching Professor Jacqueline E. Lawton, Associate Professor Adam Maxfield, Teaching Associate Professor
Triffin Morris, Professor of the Practice David Navalinsky, Associate Professor Bobbi Owen, Distinguished Professor Emerita Mark Perry, Teaching Associate Professor Rachel E. Pollock, Teaching Assistant Professor Michael Rolleri, Professor Gwendolyn Schwinke, Assistant Professor Aubrey Snowden, Teaching Assistant Professor
STAFF Betty Futrell, Student Services Specialist Lisa Geeslin, Accounting Technician Jordan Clodfelter, KTC Technical Director Karen Rolleri, Business Coordinator Jamie Strickland, Business Officer
OUR 21/22 SEASON Production
Michael Rolleri, Production Manager
COSTUMES Jennifer Bayang, Assistant Costume Director Amy Evans, Wardrobe Supervisor Marissa Lupkas, Costume Collection Coordinator Triffin Morris, Costume Director Rachel Pollock, Costume Craftsperson Costume Production Graduate Students: Matty Blatt, Jocelyn Chatman, Alex Hagman, Emma Hoylst, Lou Pires, Athene Wright, Sherry Wu
LIGHTING
SCENIC Noah George, Master Carpenter Adam Maxfield, Technical Director Laura Pates, Assistant Technical Director Jessica Secrest, Scenic Artist Technical Production Graduate Students: Brock Burton, Gregory Condon, Paul Edghill, Patrick Hardison, Kevin Pendergast, Luke Robinson, Garrett Weeda Spencer Ellis, Undergraduate Assistant-Scene Shop Haley Connell, Undergraduate Assistant-Paint
Benjamin Bosch, Head Electrician
WORK STUDY STUDENTS
PROPS Emma Anderson, Props Artisan Andrea Bullock, Properties Master
STAGE MANAGEMENT Charles K. Bayang, Stage Manager Elizabeth Ray, Stage Manager
SOUND
Carpentry: Tygia Drewhowell, Jeffrey Jones, Danielle Mou, Lillyann Nekervis Lighting: Jessica Atkins, Anthony Burch, Jahel Gomes, Sananda Jagannathan, Annabelle Jiang, Alex Mitropoulos Props: Charlotte Allsbrook, Hannah Fatool, Lydia McRoy, Marissa Romano Scenic Painting: Madison Austin, Madeleine Collins, Corinne Laverge, Faith Wang
Mac Cohen, Undergraduate Assistant
Jeffrey Blair Cornell Julia Gibson
PlayMakers’ Resident Acting Company Ray Dooley Kathryn Hunter-Williams Gwendolyn Schwinke
Samuel Ray Gates Tia James
Professional Actor Training Program: Sergio Mauritz Ang, Anthony August, Hayley Cartee, Heinley Gaspard, Tori Jewell, Jamar Jones, Khalil LeSaldo, Saleemah Sharpe, AhDream Smith, Sanjana Taskar, Adam Valentine, Omolade Wey
For this Production Hannah Fatool, Assistant Director Ryan Gentry, Fight Choreographer
Paul Edghill, Assistant Lighting Designer Benjamin Bosch, Assistant Lighting Designer
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THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A MORE IMPORTANT TIME TO SUPPORT PLAYMAKERS AND THE ARTS
WAYS TO GIVE Online
playmakersrep.org/give
Phone or Email
prc_development@unc.edu 919.962.2481
PHOTO OF THE CAST OF TARTUFFE BY HUTHPHOTO
During this period of re-emergence, we are producing a smaller, “capsule” season of only five powerful shows. While this allows us to remain focused on the safety and well-being of our patrons, artists, and staff, it has substantial financial implications. As a nonprofit professional theatre, ticket sales cover only half of our annual operating costs. This year, we cannot count on ticket revenue as we have in the past. We must rely on the generosity of our community to help close the gap and keep our stages alive. You can help support and sustain all our work, both on stage and off, by making a tax-deductible gift which enables us to:
Send your check to: PlayMakers Repertory Company Development Department Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art CB 3235 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3235
• Bring innovative, entertaining, and relevant theatre to the Triangle • Serve students across the state through our award- winning educational programs • Engage with our audiences through artist and community conversations • Remain flexible, safe, and better prepared for the future
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Every gift, big or small, makes a huge difference!
FRIENDS OF PLAYMAKERS PlayMakers is grateful to the members of the Friends of PlayMakers for their generous support. For more information about how to join this dynamic group of supporters, call the PlayMakers Development Office at 919.962.2481 or visit us at playmakersrep.org.
Director’s Circle ($10,000+)
Anonymous The Charles Goren and Hazen Family Foundation, Trustees Tom and Lisa Hazen Brian Hargrove and David Hyde Pierce Mrs. Frank H. Kenan Coleman and Carol Ross Alan H. Weinhouse
Angel ($5,000–9,999)
Anonymous Betsy Blackwell and John Watson Tom and Holly Carr Munroe and Becky Cobey Drucie French and Steve Cumbie Chan and Monie Hardwick Kim Kwok Mr. and Mrs. William O. McCoy Paul and Linda Naylor Bobbi Owen The Prentice Foundation
Investor ($2,500–4,999)
Anonymous Richard and Deirdre Arnold ^ Andrew and Katherine Asaro ^ + Ed and Eleanor Burke Cindy and Thomas Cook Joanne and Peter Garrett Dr. Lyle V. Jones Sandy and Ned McClurg ^ Mark and Julie Morris Nick and Amy Penwarden Jean and Joseph Ritok Dr. and Mrs. Edward Smithwick David and Heather Yeowell
Page to Stage ($1,500–2,499)
David and Judy Adamson Steve Benezra ^ Julie R. Daniels Dustin and Susan Gillings Gross Kevin and Amy Guskiewicz David Howell Hannelore and Konrad Jarausch Joanna Karwowska and Hugon Karwowski ^ Kathryn and Robert Kyle Panter Foundation Rich and Marilyn Jacobs Preyer Dr. and Mrs. William Stewart The Rev. Wendy R. and Mr. W. Riley Waugh Roger and Marlene Werner
Partner ($1,000–1,499)
Anonymous (3) Vivienne Benesch * + Stephen S. Birdsall Jeffrey Blair Cornell and Maria Savage Dede Corvinus Jo Anne and Shelley Earp Dr. and Mrs. John P. Evans John and Diane Formy-Duval Aniko and Imre Gaal Clay and Jane Harrell Carol Hazard and Winston Liao Vikram Rao and Susan Henning Lynn Knauff Jack Knight and Margaret Brown ^ Gary and Carolyn Koch Dr. Catherine Kuhn and Glenn Tortorici Shirley and Tom Kunkel Douglas and Nelda Lay Scott Levitan and Patrick Francisco Mort and Cheryl Malkin Connie and Vernon Matzen Holly and Ross McKinney Alec Rhodes Rif Riddick Carole Shelby David Sontag * Sarah West and Thomas Dominick Jesse L. White, Jr. Paul and Sally Wright
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Backer ($500–999)
Anonymous (3) Anonymous Friends of Ben Kahn, In memory of Charles Kahn Virginia Aldige Howard and Penny Aldrich Pete and Hannah Andrews Evelyn Barrow John W. Becton and Nancy B. Tannenbaum Shula and Steve Bernard Dr. Stanley Warren Black, III Mr. and Mrs. Jackson Breaks Maurice and Mary Hughes Brookhart Keith Burridge and Patricia Saling Ann and John Campbell Philip and Linda Carl Clara Cazzulino Laurence A. Cobb Adrienne and John Cox * Brooks de Wetter-Smith and Mary Lou Leiser Smith Dr. David A. Doll Dr. Carrie Donley Bob and Connie Eby Shayne C. Gad Bill Cobb and Gail Perry W. Patrick Gale ^ Mike and Bonnie Gilliom Ugo Goetzl C. Hawkins ^ Ann Holloman Julie and Robert Keely * Brenda W. Kirby Anand and Sandhya Lagoo Randy and Cathy Lambe Douglas Maclean and Susan Wolf Michael Maness and Lois Knauff Elaine Mangrum Janet McCarthy * Ed and Connie McCraw James and Susan Moeser Cecilia D. Moore ^ Mary Nunn Morrow Jill Muti Stephen Nelson Paul and Sherrie Norton Liz and Dave Nuechterlein
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Lois Oliver Mark and Eugenea Pollock Robert and Joyce Anne Porter Jodi and Glenn Preminger David and Lisa Price Elizabeth Raft Dr. Terry Rhodes Victor and Linda Roggli Jan F. and Anne P. Sassaman Martha Scotford * Kyle and Jenn Smith Jackie Tanner * The Marconi Hoban Tell Fund of Triangle Community Foundation Glen H. and Sandy T. Elder Ernest Thomas Wilkes III Alan Young
Supporter ($250–499)
Anonymous Akin Akinli ^ David Ball and Susan Pochapsky Tony and Susan Barrella Deborah Barrett Reginald M. Barton, Jr. Adam Beck ^ Dr. Katherine L. Bick Julie Blatt and Arthur Greenberg William and Patricia Blau Andrew Borba * Julia Borbely-Brown ^ Ken and Margie Broun Robert and Jen Buckmire David Burr and Rusty Unger Douglas Call and Susan Warwick Lata Chatterjee and Tiruvarur Lakshmanan Dennis Clements and Martha Ann Keels Gary and Dianne Clinton Anne F. Coenen Britta Couris * David DeMarini Nancy and Mark Dewhirst Alec and Georgia Donaldson E.M. Eddy and D.A. O'Brien Jane E. Emeis Mr. and Mrs. Philip W. Ewing
Barbara and Chris Exton Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. Falvo Pat Fischer Jaroslav and Linda Folda Beth Furr Elizabeth Galvin * Linda Grimm Gail and Steve Grossman Albert and Mary Guckes Priscilla Guild Carolyn and Jim Harris Mark Hartman Marianna Matthews Henry David G. Hubby Gerda (Kani) Hurow Lynne and Walter Jacobs ^ Kathleen Johnson Claudia Kadis Jeanette Kimmel Richard and Lynne Kohn Dr. Leonard and Ruth Kreisman ^ Marie E. Kulchinski Dayna Lucas Alice and John May Sharon and Alan McConnell Larry McManus and Pamela Nielsen Rick Muise Pat and Mary Norris Oglesby Glenn O'Neal Heather and Russ Owen Bobbie Owens * Lee and Barbara Pedersen Robert and Marilyn Pinschmidt Gordon and Jo Ann Pitz Stephen and Lyn Pizer Gary and Susie Pratt Andrea Reibel * Sandra and Stephen Rich Linda and Alan Rimer Beth Rosenberg Michael Kerry Salemi Stephanie Schmitt Dr. Caryl Jane Schwartzbach and Alan Bolzan Dr. Robert Sealock and Cecile Skrzynia Wayne Sherrill Dr. and Mrs. Sidney C. Smith
Connie Spooner Carol Stamm, In memory of Dr. John Stamm Elizabeth L. Stanley * Steven and Madeline Sunshine Tim and Judy Taft Monica Taylor * Margaret G. Teasley Hugh and Judy Tilson ^ Bruce Tomason Barrie Trinkle John and Donna van Arnold Carol and Jim Vorhaus Mary Robin Wells and Gary Gambrell Sarah Winkler Jane Pettis Wiseman Jerry Worsley Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP, In memory of Joan H. Gillings
Patron ($100–249)
Anonymous (10) Trudi Abel * Dwight and Robin Allen Mary Altpeter Elizabeth Amend * Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Archie * Matthew and Linda Arnold * Pam and Don Bailey Dan and Susan Barco Cathy Barrett Anne Beaven and Margaret Louey Neal and Jeanette Bench Donna and Daniel Benjamin Kitty Bergel Robert A. and Christine S. Berndt Patricia Beyle * Jim and Martha Bick Justin and Dorothy Biddle Mr. and Mrs. David Birnbaum Peter Bleckner Natalie and Gary Boorman Tony Boothby * Melissa Bostrom and Krisztian Horvath Thomas W. and Vicki V. Boyer Lauren Kennedy Brady and Charlie Brady
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Carol Brainard and Nancy Hardin Philip Breitfeld and Susan Kreissman William Brettmann ^ Eunice Brock and Sam Magill Charles and Renee Brown Lyndon E. Brown, PhD Bates Buckner Edward and Sheila Burgard Charles Burnett and Catherine Forneris Frances D. Burton Thomas Butler Dr. Leigh Fleming Callahan Robert Cameron * Glenn and Patricia Camp Janet F. Campbell Natalie Campbell Donna Carroll and Gale Lackey Virginia Carson * Jean Carter Michael Case and Lewis Dancy Lorna Chafe Dr. Margaret Champion Beverly Long Chapin Mimi Chapman * Nancy N. Chemtob * Gabriella Cila Elizabeth Cisar * Linda G. Clarkson* Ellen Clevenger-Firley Steve Cline * Bill Cobb and Gail Perry Cathy Cole Robert F. Coleman III, In memory of Susan Hurst Rappaport Donald and Eunice Collins Geneva Collins and Theodore Fischer ^ Jeffrey Collins and Rose Mills Jenn Collins and Paul Runkle Sharon Scholl Coop Lee Cope Jan Cope-Kasten Mary Jo and Douglas Coppola John and Belinda Corpening Sarah Clare Corporandy * Georgia Court * Rick and Patty Courtright
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Fred and Jane Dalldorf Mrs. Robert Bigelow DeMaine Todd Dickinson and Helen Kalevas Sheila and Joe Dorey * Scott and Mia Doron Joy and Chet Douglass * Ginny and David Dropkin John F. Duncan, Jr. Anne Dusek * Kathleen DuVal and Martin Smith * Connie Eble The Eckert Family Bobette Eckland and Richard Kamens Barbara Elish Jan Elliott Jerry and Adelia Evans Dagmar and J.C. Fahr * Dr. Richard Fair and M. Clare Fair Robert Farmer Shauna and Tom Farmer Pamela Ferguson * Laurice Ferris ^ Nicole and Bruce Fine * Karen Fink Jon and Sue Fish Sara Franks * Douglas and Judy Frey Bennett Galef Betty and Franklin Garland Ed and Carol Gaunt Nikki and Anthony Giachetti William Glasgow Gunter Glass Debra and Eric Goldberg * Alix Goldschmidt * Eve Benesch Goldschmidt Raymond and Susan Goodmon John and Lucy Grant Grant Thornton LLP, In Memory of Joan H. Gillings Virginia Gray John Graybeal and Laura Heise Bill Green and Brett Bohnn Elizabeth Grey * Jean Gross and Donald Miller Joseph Groves
Kay Gruninger Pickett Guthrie Erin and Evan Gwyn Tim Hackett and James Konold Carol and Nortin Hadler Janet Hadler Todd Haimes * Bruce Hamilton and Jennifer Weiss * Jean Handy * Doranne Hans Joanne Harrell Toby and Cheryl Harrell Lynden Harrisv* Patti Seitz Hartel Jim and Mary Hayes Rachel Heller Richard Hendel * Eric Herget and Sherry Wilner Klaus Hermanns Ellen Herron William Hicks and William Sadler Ann Hillenbrand Margaret R. Hinkle * Marin Hinkle Jennifer Hodgson and Matthew Conley Houston and Joyce Horn Mary Howes, In Memory of Jonathan B. Howes John and Joyce Hren Mary Hulett * Malcolm and Wanda Hunter Leslie Hurtig * Beth H. Isenhour * Abby Jablin Elizabeth W. Jackson Emma Jakoi Champa and David Jarmul Perry Jenkins Susan Joyner Eve and Rudy Juliano Dan and Linda Kaferle Richard and Sally Kahler Cindy Kahler Amy Kane * Lynne Kane Laura Kayser *
Paul and Edith Keene Marie-Beatrice and Robert Keller Arlon Kemple and Karen Long Barbara Keyworth Brian and Moyra Kileff Dr. Harriet King Robert and Mary King, In memory of Charles H. Kahn Ann and Bill Kirkland Rabecca Klemp Joyce Kline Ted and Marilyn Koenig Stephen and Bunny Koff Elizabeth Koonce Helen Kotsher Lloyd Kramer and Gwynne Pomeroy Dave and Doris Krepp Ted and Debbie LaMay Benjamin Landman and Jen Feldman, In honor of Ms. Betty-Ann Landman Gerry and Ray Larson Robert Lauterborn, In memory of Sylvia Lauterborn Carol and Alexander Lawrence Priscilla and Russell Leavitt Judith and Norbert Lechner Philip and Nancy Leinbach David and Carolyn Leith John and Ruth Leopold Arnold and Annette Levine Joy Lewis and Frederick Annand Betty and John Leydon Judi Lilley Erika Lindemann Ginger and Derek Long Carol Lucas John Ludlow and Kathy Davies Virginia Ludwig Mrs. Earl C. Lynch Sara Mack Corey Madden Dr. and Mrs. Donald Madison John Manley Raleigh and Betsy Mann ^ Lee and Elaine Marcus Chris and Caroline Martens
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Extended Stay Suites Chapel Hill
101 Erwin Road, Chapel Hill, NC 919.933.4848 ResidenceInnChapelHill.com
38 SummitHospitality.com
Jeff Mason Shelley J. Masters Leigh Matthews Michael Mayer Dr. and Mrs. Robert N. McCall Meredith McClurg Ann and Webb McCracken Ed and Connie McCraw J.S. McKnight Patrick Joseph Mclane ^ Lee McLean John and Bonnie Medinger Ewa Meehan Larry and Jerri Meisner Cathleen Melton and Larry Greenblatt Joan and Ron Mendelsohn Julia Merricks and Susan Hauser * Molly S. Metzler * Graig Meyer Herbert Miller Erik and Natalia Milz Mark and Alice Mine Dana Mochel Jill Moore * Aela Morgan * Eric Muller and Leslie Branden-Muller Margaret Mullinix Kate Murphy Seth Murray and Jamie Newman Margaret Murray Judy Murray Lee and Ava Nackman Michael Naglich * Diane Nelson, Ph.D. * Barbara Nettesheim Michele and Klaus Nettesheim Betty Nies Linda W. Norris James and Nancy Nutt Drs. Susan and Raphael Orenstein Marilyn and Peter Ornstein Barry and Lois Ostrow Norman Owen ^ In memory of Roberta Yule Owen Michael Patrick Josie Patton
Michael Paul Ron and Julie Paxton Robert and Kay Pearlstein Robert Peet Nancy Pekar Arnold Pender Imara Perera * Carol and Al Perlman Rebecca Perritt Thomas Phillips Meredith Piatt Jim P. Polga * Ted and Peggy Pratt Jane Preyer * Todd and Nicky Purves * Jeffrey Qualls Margaret Quinlan Geraldine and Gary Richards Louise A. Robinson James and Janet Robles Philip and Jo Rodgers * Patricia Roos Joel Rosch and Carol Vatz Philip Rosoff and Dona Shikaraishi Judith L. Ruderman Jennifer Rudinger Laura and Reid Russell Patti and Dan Ryan Sylvia and Norman G. Samet, In memory of Charles H. Kahn Celia Sandford and Stephen Perrin Dale and Robert Sandler Elizabeth Saunders * Allie and Ian Scales ^ Carol Schachner ^ Ernest and Mary Schoenfeld Tanya L. Schreiber Janice and Richard Schulke Dr. Caryl Jane Schwartzbach and Alan Bolzan Gwendolyn Schwinke Rick and Georgie Searles Barbara Sharf William N. Sharpe Jr. Alison Sheehy * Barbara and Jonathan Sheline Stephanie Shipman and Walter Travers *
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Connie Shuping, In memory of Ed and Dot Kennedy Nikki Silver * Bland Simpson * David Singley Jr. Ron and Mary Sinzdak Sim Sitkin and Vivian Olkin Barry Slobin and Carol Land Mike and Kim Slomianyj Leslie Smith Linda Smith Dr. Richard L. Smith and Dr. Amy Grady Rosalyn Smith Dr. and Mrs. Stuart Solomon Ilene Speizer * Marcia Spray, In honor of Laura Carson Spray Kimberly and David Spurr Sally and Jeremy Stander Allen Steckler Susanne Steinmetz * Anne Stephens * Cathy and Sefton Stevens Andy Stewart and Peggy Kinney ^ Dorcas Stolper Leslie and Paul Strohm Mr. Edward Strong * Jeannie Pfister Stroupe ^ Ed and Lynne Sullivan Terrence and Marguerite Sullivan Steven and Madeline Sunshine Jeff Surles Nanette and David Talaski Beverly Taylor David C. Taylor Stephen Tell and Rosemary Hoban Charles Thomas and Suzanne Maupin Janet Thomas Robert and Shirley Thompson David and Kelley Tobin * Beatrice Treat Nancy Trovillion * Nancy Tunnessen Nancy Tusa and Andy Brawn Mary Van Bourgondien * Ted Van Griethuysen
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Barney and Vivian Varner Adam Versenyi Jill Vexler * Robin Visser Deborah and Jonathan Wahl Angela Walter * Helen Warner David and Marsha Warren Tovah Wax and Lucjan Mordzak George Weinhouse Dr. Lynn Wesson Shirley H. White, In honor of Steven H. White Loretta Wile Jane Williams Dr. Nancy E Williamson Richard D. Wilson Joy Wood Nancy Worley Janice and Richard Woychik David and Dee Yoder Marla Yost Justin Yung ^ Rosilene Ziegler and John Steege
^ Sustainers Club Member + Women’s Point of View (WPOV) Supporter * PlayMakers Special Event Supporter ~ Deceased
This list is current as of October 10, 2021. If your name is listed incorrectly or not at all, please contact PlayMakers Development Office at 919.962.2481. We will ensure you are recognized for your thoughtful support.
OUR PARTNERS PlayMakers’ 2021/22 Season is Made Possible in Part by Grants from
Foundation Support National Endowment for the Arts, North Carolina Arts Council, Orange County Arts Commission, The Shubert Foundation, Fidelity Foundation, Truist Foundation, The Educational Foundation of America Additional Funding for Guest Artists is Provided by
Robert Boyer and Margaret Boyer Fund, Louise Lamont Fund, Emeriti Professors Charles and Shirley Weiss Fund
Producing Council
Mebane Lumber, Residence Inn Chapel Hill, Spoonflower, Larry's Coffee, The Siena Hotel/Il Palio Restaurant
Corporate Council
De Maison Selections, Aloft
Associates
Cambria Suites
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WE’RE SAVING A SEAT
FOR YOU!
Photo of Lisa Brescia by Jon Gardiner
JAN 19 – FEB 6
FEB 23 – MAR 13
MAR 30 – APR 17
APR 27 – MAY 15
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