The name PlayMakers continues the proud tradition of the Carolina Playmakers, a campus-based theatre group that originated in 1918. Founded by Frederick Koch, the Carolina Playmakers became a nationally recognized ensemble with the purpose of developing new playwriting talent. The company played an important role in the development of American folk drama and provided a training ground for generations of theatre artists.
The term playmaker has roots in Elizabethan England, but it came into popular usage in the United States with the emergence, early in the twentieth century, of the American folk drama a theatre that sprang from and spoke directly to the lives of its audience. This movement achieved its most influential voice with the founding of the Carolina Playmakers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. PlayMakers Repertory Company, the Department of Dramatic Art's professional theatre, has embraced this legacy from its inception in 1975. Our purpose is to provide a top-quality public arena for the professional implementation of the philosophy and aesthetics explored in the Department. Through the collaboration of guest artists, resident professionals, students and audiences, we examine the theatrical event and the methods used for its realization in contemporary performance. We explore playmaking in our time.
As theatre practitioners and as educators, we are engaged in the ongoing investigation of several key questions: what is theatre? what is its function in the modern world? who are the audience? what makes a community assemble in a playhouse, and what happens there? what are the varieties of experience that can constitute theatre? are these changing? can we create new forms? can we vivify traditional forms? what is the relationship of text to performance? what are the possibilities to be explored in achieving the realization of each piece, and how do we discover the methods that are effective for a specific audience at a given time and place?
To address these questions we produce a broad variety of material, both classic and contemporary. We try to compose seasons that place interesting and challenging theatre events in meaningful and revealing juxtaposition. We engage outstanding guest directors, designers, and actors to lead the exploration of each piece, individuals with unique gifts and experience who can enrich our ongoing work. The Department's students, both graduate and undergraduate, work with the Company's professionals in all areas: acting, directing, design, technical production, costuming, stage management and theatre management. Each student's involvement in the Company progresses through carefully mentored stages. Student assignments are challenging, but we make sure that every student is ready and prepared to assume any professional responsibility he or she is given. Advanced students in the final stages of their studies handle significant duties.
They are a professional company with an educational mission involving both artists and audience. We believe that continuous investigation is a healthy artistic policy and that the interaction of professionals and students is beneficial to all. We believe in ongoing relationships with guest artists who embrace and contribute to our mission, because we know that they will grow here and will stimulate all of us to grow as well.
PlayMakers is a member of the League of Resident Theatres, the national organization for full-season, not-for-profit professional theatres. PlayMakers employs members of Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers and members of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. PlayMakers is a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group and the North Carolina Theatre Conference.
As part of its educational mission, PlayMakers offers the Educational Matinee Series, sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline. The Educational Matinee Series offers weekday performances followed by discussions with the cast members, director, dramaturgs and technical staff and is attended by middle and secondary school students from throughout North Carolina. Audience Discussion Wednesdays is a pre-performance discussion series offered to audiences following selected Wednesday performances throughout the season. Backstage tours, available to groups at no charge by advance reservation, offer an exciting and informative look behind the scenes at PlayMakers.
During each season, which runs from October through April, PlayMakers presents five plays in the Paul Green Theatre, a 500-seat facility completed in 1978 on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1998, the 55,000 square-foot Center for Dramatic Art opened adjacent to the Paul Green Theatre and includes the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre, a 280-seat flexible space. The Center is the home for the Department of Dramatic Art, housing both undergraduate and graduate programs.