PlayMakers is the professional theatre company in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Joseph Haj, the company's producing artistic director, announced the mainstage and second stage seasons Feb. 22. Both seasons are performed in UNC's Center for Dramatic Art — in the mainstage Paul Green Theatre and in the second stage Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre.
The troupe is currently securing rights to another play in the mainstage season. Dates for that production will be Jan. 26- Feb. 29, 2008.
The mainstage season includes:
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, directed by Jon Jory, formerly of Actors Theatre of Louisville, Sept. 26-Oct. 14.Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart, the Southern gothic comedy about three sisters, Oct. 24-Nov. 11.The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, adapted by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar, Nov. 28-Dec. 16. Billed as a "faithful adaptation of Saint-Exupéry's magical classic [that] is holiday entertainment for the family. When an aviator crashes in the Sahara, an ethereal Little Prince from another planet helps him see his world through the wonder of childlike eyes."A play to be announced, Jan. 26-Feb. 29, 2008, in rotating rep with Pulitzer Prize winner Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, Jan. 27-March 2, 2008.Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, the fictional tale of Mozart's rise and fall, directed by PlayMakers producing artistic director Joseph Haj, April 2-20, 2008. The second stage season includes:
When The Bulbul Stopped Singing, the one-man play by David Grieg, directed by JoAnne Akalaitis and featuring Joseph Haj, Sept. 12-16. "Based on the diaries of Palestinian human-rights lawyer Raja Shehadeh, Bulbul is a window into the experience of a Palestinian man living in Ramallah during the Israeli siege of 2002." Akalaitis recently directed Haj in a staged reading of the play at The Public Theater in New York. Former artistic director of The Public Theater and the New York Shakespeare Festival, Akalaitis is co-founder and former artistic director of the avant-garde theatre troupe Mabou Mines.
2.5 Minute Ride, written by and starring Lisa Kron, Jan. 9-13, 2008. A "celebrated one-woman show, a wry and humorous account of her trip with her father to Auschwitz, where his parents had lost their lives."Witness to an Execution, by Mike Wiley, April 23-27, 2008. "PlayMakers commissioned Witness following UNC's choice of "The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions," by Sister Helen Prejean, as the summer reading book for new students enrolling next fall. Company member Kathy Hunter-Williams will direct the production. For more information about PlayMakers, call (919) 962-PLAY (7529) or visit http://www.playmakersrep.org.
