PlayMakers awarded major grants to support new season

PlayMakers Repertory Company has received several significant national grants in support of upcoming projects and productions.

PlayMakers is the professional theater company in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A $250,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City will allow three more theater ensembles to develop new works through residencies in Chapel Hill over the next three years, with PlayMakers providing artistic, technical and administrative support.

In 2010, the Mellon Foundation first recognized PlayMakers with a $200,000 grant to underwrite a program of three annual residencies. The ensembles Pig Iron Theatre Company (Philadelphia) and SITI Company and The TEAM (both New York City) have since taken their creations, incubated at PlayMakers, to performances around the world.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has recognized PlayMakers with two grants.

The first, a $45,000 “Art Works” grant, will support the theater’s 2013-2014 main stage finale, the Stephen Sondheim musical “Assassins,” and accompanying community outreach activities. “Art Works” grants support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement, lifelong learning and the strengthening of communities through the arts. The PlayMakers production will be performed April 2-20.

The second $25,000 grant from the NEA in partnership with Arts Midwest will support production and educational programs for “The Tempest.” The award is part of the “Shakespeare for a New Generation” program, which supports Shakespeare productions and related educational activities by professional theater companies. PlayMakers will present the drama Nov. 2-Dec. 8 in rotating repertory with “Metamorphoses,” Mary Zimmerman’s modern reimagining of Ovid’s classic myths.

For information on PlayMakers’ 2013-2014 season, visit www.playmakersrep.org or call (919) 962-PLAY (7529).  Subscription packages and tickets to individual productions are now on sale.