![\"Poster](\"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2024\/07\/PlayMakers-Leaving-Eden_Apr-4-to-22.jpg\")
PlayMakers Repertory Company presents the world premiere of \u201cLeaving Eden,\u201d a play with music, script by North Carolina playwright and UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus Mike Wiley, and music and lyrics by North Carolina singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett. The production, the first fully commissioned work by the theater, is directed by PlayMakers\u2019 Producing Artistic Director, Vivienne Benesch, and runs from April 4 to 22.<\/p>\n
Two of North Carolina\u2019s most vibrant, award-winning artists team up to bring us a searing new work that unearths the cycles of history in a small town where cotton is king in the 1930s, and pork processing keeps the town alive in 2016. Its black and Latino citizens are the backbone of the town’s economy past and present, so why are they also its most vulnerable to violence and hatred? As high-stakes elections loom during both time periods, the young, as ever, have a lot to fight for and a lot to learn.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeaving Eden\u201d is an exciting new work that is part folk musical and part oral history fable in the tradition of the North Carolina theatrical style, the folk play, which originated at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1918 with the Carolina Playmakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cStaging a new work, like \u2018Leaving Eden,\u2019 and releasing it into the world is an amazing act of transition from my very personal journey of inspiration and interviews with several generations of North Carolinians over the past two years, to a shared vision with Laurelyn, Vivienne and the company at PlayMakers,\u201d says playwright Mike Wiley. \u201cAs I\u2019ve worked on \u2018Leaving Eden,\u2019 the common thing I\u2019ve observed is a restlessness, a searching, we all have, for a place to call home. There\u2019s a restlessness in these characters, and in this town, as they all go through that struggle to find home. How can they keep that place they live, that place they love? I hope this play helps people through their own search for home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I wrote the music for this play, I really wanted to evoke the sounds, the heart of North Carolina,\u201d states songwriter Laurelyn Dossett. \u201cOf course, the challenge was to capture the sounds of each era, from both 1933 and 2016, but in the process we unearthed this deep rumble that comes out of the river, out of the ground, and tells the history of time upon time on the same ground as it shifts and changes, and as its people shift and change.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been an absolute joy taking on PlayMakers\u2019 first full commission, an over two year journey that every corner of our company has invested in to create a work that speaks directly to our home, North Carolina, here and now,\u201d says Vivienne Benesch. \u201cThis story evokes the cyclical nature of our often troubled relationship with immigration, otherness and the dehumanization that takes place when you\u2019re needed but not wanted. The brilliance of Mike and Laurelyn\u2019s work is that it serves up an unapologetic and complex view of history \u2014 full of love, violence, and racial tensions. Through its music and poetry, it makes space for us to see some truths and recognize the cycles of our behavior, offering a hymn of hopefulness for the future to break that cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLeaving Eden\u201d features Tangela Large as Selah (\u201cDetroit \u201867,\u201d \u201cMr. Joy\u201d), Sarita Oc\u00f3n as Maria (\u201cThe Crucible\u201d and \u201cPLACAS: The Most Dangerous Tattoo\u201d with Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre), Rebecca Guy as Ms. Maggie (\u201cRomeo and Juliet\u201d at Chautauqua Theater Company), Jonathan Varillas as Miguel (\u201cThe Lost Colony\u201d at Waterside Theatre), and Trevor Johnson as Reverend Jackson\/Ben Mason (\u201cThe Miraculous and the Mundane\u201d at Manbites Dog). Also featured are PlayMakers company members David Adamson as Earl\/Thomas (\u201cMy Fair Lady,\u201d \u201cThree Sisters\u201d), Jeffrey B. Cornell as Roy\/Jacob (\u201cCount,\u201d \u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d), Ray Dooley (\u201cA Christmas Carol,\u201d \u201cTartuffe\u201d), Kathryn Hunter-Williams as Cheryl\/Eve (\u201cDot,\u201d \u201cIntimate Apparel\u201d) Samuel Ray Gates as David\/Adam (\u201cDot,\u201d \u201cBetween Riverside and Crazy\u201d at American Conservatory Theater), Rishan Dhamija as Taj (\u201cTartuffe\u201d and \u201cThe May Queen\u201d), Alex Givens as Andre\/Seth (\u201cThe Christians,\u201d \u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d) , Sarah Elizabeth Keyes as Jillian\/Young Maggie (\u201cSense and Sensibility,\u201d \u201cThe Skin of Our Teeth\u201d at Theatre for a New Audience), Tristan Parks as Tuan\/Moses (\u201cMy Fair Lady,\u201d\u201cTwelfth Night\u201d), Daniel Toot as Foreman (\u201cSense and Sensibility,\u201d \u201cThe Tempest\u201d at Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival), Carlos Alcala as Javier (\u201cTartuffe\u201d), and Peyton Furtado (PlayMakers debut).The Creative Team of \u201cLeaving Eden\u201d includes: Vivienne Benesch (Director), Laurelyn Dossett (Music Director), Jan Chambers (Scenic Designer), McKay Coble (Costume Designer), Tracy Bersley (Choreographer), John Patrick (Vocal Coach), ML Geiger (Lighting Designer), Adam Bintz (Sound Designer), JaMeeka Holloway (Assistant Director), Matt Dickson (Assistant Director), Adam Versenyi (Dramaturg), Charles Bayang (Stage Manager) and Liz Ray (Assistant Stage Manager).<\/p>\n \u201cLeaving Eden\u201d is recommended for audiences 13 and older. For information and to purchase tickets, call 919.962.7529 or visit www.playmakersrep.org<\/a>. Individual ticket prices for \u201cLeaving Eden\u201d start at $15.<\/p>\n Performance and Special Event Schedule : <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PlayMakers Repertory Company presents the world premiere of \u201cLeaving Eden,\u201d a play with music, script by North Carolina playwright and UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus Mike WIley, and music and lyrics by North Carolina![\"L](\"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2018\/03\/EDEN-PROMO-01-copy.jpg\")
\n\u25cf March 14, 7:00 p.m. The Hayti Heritage Center, Durham \u2014 \u201cBlood, Soil and the Stage: Meet the Playwrights\u201d a sneak peek with behind the scenes insights and special performance from two world premieres by Mike Wiley. Co-hosted with Raleigh Little Theatre. Free and open to the public.
\n\u25cf March 19, 7:00 p.m. Durham South Regional Library \u2014 \u201cIn the Wings,\u201d a series of conversations in partnership with the Durham County Library. Free and open to the public.
\n\u25cf March 29, 6:30 p.m. \u2014 \u201cThe Vision Series\u2014Directors in Conversation,\u201d a behind-the-scenes preview with members of the creative team, moderated by Producing Artistic Director, Vivienne Benesch, at the Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art. Free and open to the public.
\n\u25cf April 4 – 6, 7:30 p.m. \u2014 Preview performances
\n\u25cf April 7, 7:30 p.m. \u2014 Opening Performance & Press Opening
\n\u25cf April 10, 7:30 p.m. \u2014 All-access performance for attendees with special needs, with sign language interpretation and audio description
\n\u25cf April 10, 7:30 p.m. \u2014 Community Night. General admission seating, with all tickets $15
\n\u25cf April 11 & 15 \u2014 Free post-show discussions with members of the creative team, cast and community members
\n\u25cf April 14, 2:00 p.m. \u2014 Open captioned performance, with dialog, stage direction, and sound effects communicated on a \u201cuniversal access\u201d live caption unit
\n\u25cf April 16th, 7:00 p.m. \u2014 \u201cBreaking the Cycles of History,\u201d an event with Carolina Public Humanities, UNC General Alumni Association and Institute for the Arts and Humanities. Free, reservations requested at humanities.unc.edu<\/a>
\n\u25cf April 22 \u2014 \u201cMindplay,\u201d a free post-show psychoanalytic reading of our production in partnership with the North Carolina Psychoanalytic Society<\/p>\n
\nsinger-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett, April 4-22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":24183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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