Life is a balancing act, which is a concept that members of PlayMakers Repertory Company know all too well.
“Every week is something new,” said acting teacher and PlayMakers company member Samuel Ray Gates. “I remind myself to take it one day at a time, doing what needs to be done every day. It’s important to take care of yourself.”
Every member of PlayMakers has a different, but equally busy, schedule. Some teach, some advise and others work with costumes or sets.
“For years I’ve been thinking about how to teach acting, thinking about things I wish I had learned," Gates said. "I make it a point to incorporate things I wish I had learned into what I teach."
Balancing being a member of a professional company along with having a personal life is not easy, but they manage to do it. Kathy Perkins, a professor and set designer for PlayMakers, has been designing sets since she was an undergraduate at Howard University. She finds both professions give her a sense of satisfaction.
“I enjoy what I do,” Perkins said. “I get to travel and do shows so it compensates. I don’t see it as a job, I see it as an adventure."
A special aspect of PlayMakers is the M.F.A. Acting program, which allows graduate students to be members of the company right alongside their professional counterparts. David Adamson, director of undergraduate studies, said the apprenticeship is a unique part of UNC's program.
“Our graduate students are actual members of the company,” said Adamson. ”You as a student here could see 24 plays, and you would see in those 24 plays a lot of the same actors many times. You would begin to get a feel for them, and that’s something that isn’t done in United States theater very much. The resident theater companies do not exist so much anymore, and we are one.”
While all members of PlayMakers have busy schedules, it is not something they regret or wish to change.
