{"id":28707,"date":"2019-03-21T12:32:21","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T16:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=28707"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:10:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:10:47","slug":"playmakers-2019-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=28707","title":{"rendered":"PlayMakers Repertory Company announces 2019-2020 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PlayMakersThe celebration of UNC-Chapel Hill\u2019s 100-year history of playmaking continues with fresh perspectives, new works and relevant classics from the theater company based in the College of Arts & Sciences.<\/em><\/p>\n

PlayMakers Repertory Company in the College of Arts & Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill announced its 2019-2020 season, \u201cLegacy | NOW.\u201d The season will present world premieres, new interpretations and classic plays with the goal of opening hearts and minds to new perspectives. Each show will challenge audiences to explore diverse ways of analyzing and telling history.<\/p>\n

The main stage season will welcome one of the Bard\u2019s best tales of political intrigue; a sweeping Tony Award-winning musical; a seminal American novel in a theatrical re-imagining; a comedy about why fences make terrible neighbors; a fresh take on the age-old morality play; and a world-premiere comedy about a farm-to-table food fight. The PRC2<\/sup> Kenan Stage series, curated to spark conversation, employs the voices of two North Carolina writers who explore two vastly different women of substantial legacy. A third story will examine a community\u2019s path to forgiveness after unthinkable tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t be more excited about the lineup for our \u2018Legacy | NOW\u2019 season as an opportunity to celebrate, interrogate and renew the legacies that make us who we are,\u201d said Producing Artistic Director Vivienne Benesch. \u201cSome of the brightest and most thought-provoking theatre-makers of today like Karen Zacar\u00edas, Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, Jacqueline E. Lawton and Heidi Armbruster will engage and collide with some foundational stories and storytellers. This season includes two world premieres by astonishing female writers alongside PlayMakers\u2019 first production of Julius Caesar in its history. 2019-2020 will be full to the brim with great theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n

2019-2020 Main Stage Productions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNative Son\u201d by Nambi E. Kelley, Sept. 11-29, 2019
\n<\/strong>The season opens with an American literature classic, adapted by Nambi E. Kelly into a theatrical and psychological kaleidoscope for a new generation. The first adaptation of Richard Wright\u2019s \u201cNative Son\u201d was written at UNC-Chapel Hill as a collaboration between Wright and Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Green. In Kelley\u2019s searing new adaptation, Bigger Thomas still struggles to find his place in a world whose prejudice has shut him out. Is Bigger\u2019s slide into violence an inevitable outcome of the racism and poverty that surrounds him?<\/p>\n

\u201cDairyland\u201d by Heidi Armbruster, Oct. 16-Nov. 3, 2019
\n<\/strong>A world premiere comedy invites audiences to experience an epic farm-to-table food fight. Allie, a food writer in New York City, is raw from a failed office romance, journalistic rivalry and baby shower crafts. When she finds herself on the wrong side of the food scene, will her father\u2019s dairy farm and Patches the cow show her the way home?<\/p>\n

\u201cRagtime\u201d book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynne Ahrens, Nov. 20-Dec. 15, 2019
\n<\/strong>Based on the novel of the same name by E.L. Doctrow, the Tony Award-winning musical about the American experience and the volatile \u201cmelting pot\u201d in turn of the 20th century New York weaves a tale that is as relevant today as ever. Sweeping melodies tell three distinctly American stories: a determined Jewish immigrant and his motherless daughter; a daring Harlem musician; and a well-off white family from New Rochelle. \u201cRagtime\u201d paints a powerful picture of the American Dream as \u201csome of the most breathtaking musical theatre writing of the last 25 years\u201d (Los Angeles Times<\/a>). This production will feature the long-anticipated PlayMakers debut of Lauren Kennedy as Mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u201d by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, Jan. 22-Feb. 9, 2020
\n<\/strong>This existential comedy updates the medieval morality play \u201cEveryman\u201d to take audiences on a life-affirming journey of love. Hounded by Death, the character of Everybody desperately searches everything and everyone in life with the hope of finding something to take to the grave. Five brave actors will be assigned their roles by lottery each night\u2014120 possible combinations\u2014as they fight to cheat Death.<\/p>\n

\u201cJulius Caesar\u201d by William Shakespeare, March 4-22, 2020
\n<\/strong>The Bard\u2019s classic play of politics and power hits the stage at PlayMakers for the first time ever. When Julius Caesar\u2019s heroic magnetism tips the scale and threatens to undo four centuries of republican rule in Rome, a small band of patriots are determined to put things right. But is their concept of right any better?<\/p>\n

\u201cNative Gardens\u201d by Karen Zacar\u00edas, April 8-26, 2020
\n<\/strong>This comedy underscores why good fences don\u2019t always make great neighbors. An attorney on the rise and his very pregnant wife could not feel more welcomed by their new neighbors. But a friendly disagreement about the lay of the land quickly spirals into a war of taste, class and entitlement.<\/p>\n

2019\/20 PRC2<\/sup> Kenan Stage Productions:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Every PRC2<\/sup> performance is followed by a \u201csecond act\u201d of discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Fear & Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone\u201d by Howard L. Craft, Aug. 22-25, 2020
\n<\/strong>Our PRC2<\/sup> series opens with Howard Craft\u2019s tale of storytelling and song that celebrates the music, loves and losses of legendary North Carolina singer Nina Simone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Amish Project\u201d by Jessica Dickey, Jan. 8-12, 2020
\n<\/strong>This timely drama is a fictionalized exploration of an all too real scenario today: a schoolhouse shooting. When an Amish community is shaken by violence, the community finds a path of forgiveness and compassion in its wake. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cEdges of Time\u201d by Jacqueline E. Lawton, April 29-May 3, 2020
\n<\/strong>PlayMakers\u2019 company member Jacqueline Lawton premieres her dramedy about the life and times of Marvel Cooke, pioneering journalist and activist who was the first African-American female writer to work for a mainstream newspaper. Company favorite Kathryn Hunter Williams takes on the title role.<\/p>\n

All performances will be presented in the Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art in Chapel Hill. Main stage productions will be in the Paul Green Theatre. PRC2<\/sup> shows will be in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre.<\/p>\n

Subscription packages are now available for purchase and renewing subscribers can secure current seats for the new season through May 1. Single tickets go on sale July 1. Call 919-962-7529 or visit www.playmakersrep.org for information.<\/p>\n

About PlayMakers
\n<\/strong>PlayMakers Repertory Company, based in the College of Arts & Sciences, is North Carolina\u2019s premier professional theater company. For more than 40 years, the company has produced relevant and courageous work that tells stories from and for a multiplicity of perspectives to creates transformational impact in our immediate and extended communities. PlayMakers is proud to be part of a 100-year tradition of playmaking at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. PlayMakers has been named one of the best regional theaters in America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The celebration of UNC-Chapel Hill\u2019s 100-year history of playmaking continues with fresh perspectives, new works and relevant classics from the theater company based in the College of Arts & 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