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(09/08/10 10:41pm)
Deep Dish Theater Company
“Mi Vida Loca” (Ongoing, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday)
Deep Dish Theater, Chapel Hill Mall
201 S Estes Dr, Chapel Hill
$12 students, $19 general public
(09/08/10 2:42am)
Winnie is stuck in more ways than one.
(08/23/10 4:08am)
For its 35th anniversary season, PlayMakers Repertory Company has laid out an artistically ambitious challenge, including its first musical in more than a decade.
(04/19/10 2:29am)
Many people dream of being chased by paparazzi and having their names in flashing lights. But the reality of success in show business requires a little more than just talent.Hannah Grannemann, the managing director for PlayMakers Repertory Company, said it also takes persistence, bravery and entrepreneurship.“You have to be willing to make it happen on your own,” she said. “If you sit back and wait for someone to knock on your door, you won’t get anywhere. You make your own opportunities.”For many, the first step is honing their acting skills through groups on UNC’s campus.The Lab! Theatre Company, the musical theater group Pauper Players, Ebony Readers/Onyx Theatre and Student Television are a few outlets at UNC through which students can gain acting experience.Sophomore Ramey Mize, who is involved in Lab! and STV, said it is important to take every opportunity to improve one’s own talents.Other students are finding experience outside of campus groups.A year ago, sophomore Astin Barnes said she started working with a production company in Greensboro to produce a web drama titled “The Hive.”Barnes said she ultimately wants to attend medical school, but acting is something she enjoys outside of school.She said she got involved with the web drama when searching for local acting jobs.She said no one involved with the drama had experience, but the show has provided that opportunity.UNC alumna Julia Yarwood graduated in 2008 with a B.A. in dramatic arts. She is currently on tour with Periwinkle Theatre for Youth, a theater group designed to educate youth about pertinent issues. She plays an addict in “Halfway There.”She moved to New York City after graduation, and said she faced a number of struggles trying to get exposure.She did acting jobs for free, took lower-paying acting jobs and even picked up other jobs outside the entertainment industry to help with her acting career.Even with setbacks, she said she kept pushing and kept auditioning.“Nobody is going to make your career for you when you are actor. It’s all in your own hands,” she said.Yarwood said it is also important to build contacts. Half of her jobs, she said, were a result of maintaining relationships with people she had previously worked with.Sarah Berk, a senior double majoring in English and dramatic arts, said she is moving to New York City after graduation to work with a company she interned with last summer.She said meeting people face-to-face is more beneficial than connecting with people in less personal fashions, such as calling a company or sending a head shot.While interning with an off-Broadway company last summer, Berk said she showed her coworkers that she was reliable and easy to work with by completing office work and transporting set pieces across the city.But knowing people and being persistent aren’t the only things needed to break into the drama business.Auditions are still a necessary part, and actors must express themselves well, Berk said.Grannemann said actors must have an accurate knowledge of the type of actor they are so they don’t misplace their energy into a role they aren’t suited for.“If you know this is what you want to do, you need to go into it with no reservations. You take the plunge, basically,” Mize said. “Just give everything of yourself and be very willing to fail over and over again until you succeed.”Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(03/26/10 2:35am)
Playmakers Repertory Company squeezes exploding emotion and brutal life experiences into a compact production of “I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me By a Young Lady From Rwanda.”A strong Rwandan refugee and blundering British writer’s bleak and polar opposite worlds clash and ultimately are uplifted by friendship and a mutual passion for writing.In this love story without kissing, actors Joy Jones and Garth Petal portray the characters of Juliette and Simon with palpable chemistry.It’s an old story of writer’s block: Simon has misplaced his narrative gift and cannot muster a single line of poetry. Instead, he helps Juliette with her own autobiographical novel.
(03/03/10 5:37am)
In 1983 actor Ray Dooley played protagonist Jack Worthing in a production of “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
(02/25/10 5:16am)
Seated in front a chic Victorian-inspired set, the director of the upcoming “The Importance of Being Earnest,” discussed his vision for the approaching show.The public had the opportunity to converse with director Matthew Arbour through PlayMakers Repertory Company’s Vision Series event.Oscar Wilde famously said, “The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.”Arbour, however, boasts an optimistic outlook about his cast presenting the playwright’s infamously witty script.“‘It is full of enthusiasm for love, scrapes, things going wrong, getting in and out of trouble. The characters live in the world where the air is full of possibilities,” Arbour said about the play.Though emphasis was placed on deep tones of layered meanings, Arbour made clear his intention to promote Wilde’s unavoidable humor.“This play is about how scary girls are,” Arbour said.“Oscar Wilde gets more delicious information into a scene than some get into a play.”Further staying true to Wilde’s style and times, performers will be garmented in traditional English Victorian-era costumes, and Ray Dooley, a male actor, will be undertaking the role of Lady Bracknell, a woman.“My notion about it is that it is a part of the English-speaking theater tradition,” Arbour said about the switching of gender roles.Many questions posed by Vision Series attendees related to Arbour’s previous experience with “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Arbour directed the show eight years ago but still showed eagerness and expressed an artistic growth since his last stab.“I have a more emotional response to the play than I did,” Arbour said of his current work compared to years ago.The Vision Series audience, raising a plethora of shrewd questions, also seemed eager about the upcoming experience.Allison De Marco, a long-time PlayMakers subscriber but first-time Vision Series attendee said of the play, “I listened to it on a book on tape years ago. I’m excited about this production.”The show opens on Wednesday and runs through March 21.The PlayMakers fans at Vision Series and the director alike appreciated the task of creating a show with numerous components, delicate staging and a well-established, rich history.“We worked quickly and in broad strokes. We are chasing our way into performance,” Arbour said.“I don’t think it’s all that importance to be earnest. But having said that, I think it’s important to be earnest about this play.”Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(02/25/10 4:55am)
Six actors will try to remind audiences what matters most in life by illustrating what they learned in kindergarten while honoring the memory of a beloved professor.The cast and crew said they hope to honor the memory of UNC professor and PlayMakers Repertory Company’s Kenneth Strong, who died Jan. 12 after a long battle with cancer.The production, “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten,” is sponsored by Carolina Cancer Focus and based on the book by Robert Fulghum. All proceeds from the play go directly to the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Fund for Brain Tumor Research.
(02/19/10 4:51am)
Continuing its critically acclaimed 2009-10 season, the PlayMakers Repertory Company has unveiled its next season, beginning on Sept. 22 with William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” There is a little something for everybody, with plays ranging from the heavy drama “Fences” by August Wilson to the family comedy “Shipwrecked! An Entertainment” by Donald Margulies.“In selecting next year’s list of plays we pushed ourselves with challenges,” said Joseph Haj, the artistic director of PlayMakers. “We couldn’t have dreamt of a more ambitious season.”PlayMakers is welcoming change, as next season’s list of plays is greatly different from the current season’s lineup.“Next season’s plays are just as grand in scope as far as the amount of work, but I think this season has a lot more social awareness,” said Marianne Miller, a graduate student and actress for PlayMakers.Derrick Ledbetter, a graduate student and PlayMakers actor, described the next set of plays as more varied, ambitious and provocative.“Theater is lacking ambition lately, so it is refreshing to see a local company willing to be so ambitious, take so many chances and try new things,” he said.
(02/08/10 4:20am)
In difficult economic times, arts organizations have had to find innovative productions or learn to make do with less.In response to cuts in state funding, organizations like Carolina Performing Arts and PlayMakers Repertory Company have had to focus more effort on other sources of revenue and strategic spending.“It’s a challenging year to hit all of our goals, but we’re not going to go down without trying,” said Priscilla Bratcher, director of development for CPA.CPA has increased its fundraising efforts this year to include more mailing campaigns, personal appeals to contributors and special events.“We’re trying every possible creative thing to raise money,” Bratcher said. “We’re in the crazy idea business.”Though many CPA shows have sold out, ticket sales do not recover all the costs of bringing performers.“It’s hard to break even — even in the best of times,” Bratcher said. “A sellout show rarely makes money. We start with a deficit and have to make money elsewhere.”Ticket sales account for 42 percent of CPA’s revenue. Contributions make up 26 percent, while student fees and University contributions account for 32 percent.More than 80 percent of CPA’s budget is spent on programming costs, including performances, marketing and academic integration. This means most of the money goes into the shows instead of paying for employee salaries.“We spend our money for art. We create efficiency so money is for programs and not overhead,” said Emil Kang, executive director for the arts at UNC and director of CPA.This year’s budget is comparable to CPA’s usual budget. Last year, it had a larger budget to bring in the Bolshoi Ballet, but that was a temporary spike and not indicative of the usual budget, Kang said.Despite two years of reduced University contributions to CPA, the many sources of revenue have allowed it to keep a steady budget, Kang said.Similarly, PlayMakers receives funding from ticket sales, contributions and the state, through the University.This year, PlayMakers’ budget was reduced from $2.2 million to $2.1 million in response to state cuts.“We have to cut back or find another source of revenue,” said Hannah Grannemann, managing director for PlayMakers.PlayMakers did not reduce its staff, but this year’s season had fewer production weeks than last year’s.Neither PlayMakers nor CPA has raised student ticket prices to increase revenue.“It’s important to keep prices low to stay accessible,” Grannemann said.CPA offers student tickets for $10 and PlayMakers has reduced tickets that vary in price depending on the show.“We’ve sold more student tickets so far this year than all of last year. We see this as a good thing, even though we lose revenue on student tickets,” Kang said. “It’s part of our mission to provide access.”This year CPA launched new, less costly programs like the “Loading Dock” series. In these performances, which have included “the break/s: a mixtape for stage” by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Memorial Hall is re-purposed to allow the audience and performer to share the stage.“We make sure our community sees we’re healthy and vibrant, but it’s heavy lifting, especially in light of state funding cuts,” Kang said. “Even in the down times, we still have to grow.”Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(01/27/10 6:36am)
Correction (Jan. 28 12:45 a.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story listed an incorrect date for the post-performance discussion with Jules Odendahl-James as Sunday, Jan. 31. The actual discussion will be held Feb. 7. The story has been updated to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
(01/21/10 5:26am)
Wine tasting, quiche, hors d’oeuvres including spanakopita, a Greek spinach pastry and intimate live piano playing in a lobby.This was the inviting atmosphere welcoming visitors to the Vision Series, a new program from PlayMakers Repertory Company.This series invites all to come to the Paul Green Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art to talk to directors about productions in progress while “enjoying flavors of the Triangle.”Wednesday’s discussion, the third in the series, focused on “All My Sons,” a play written by renowned playwright Arthur Miller and directed by Davis McCallum.The mainstage PlayMakers show opens on Jan. 27 and runs through Feb. 14.The play, written and set in 1947, takes place in the backyard of a middle-class family in a middle-class American town in the postwar era.“It is a blue-collar situation, but the stakes are high,” said McCallum, who said his approach as a director to this play came from the perspective of Greek tragedies.“All My Sons” focuses on the Keller family and their two sons, who have gone to war. The play opens with one son still gone — his whereabouts unknown — and the other having returned home.The stage, serving as the Kellers’ backyard, is covered in artificial turf, or AstroTurf, and offset by a black-and-white backdrop of a house with windows and yellow paneling.The setting is meant to evoke a sense of everyday life in which the audience can see into these windows and feel as if they are walking down the neighborhood street.Not only is it important for the stage to evoke the mood of the play, but everyone in the cast has to buy into the play as well, McCallum said. It is up to the actors to come together in a human way over common feelings and translate that from the stage to the audience.“You have to start from you and imagine something else. That’s what drama does,” he said.McCallum said he feels a deep connection to this play. He was familiar with the play before directing it, but he was still moved when rereading it in preparation. McCallum said he performed in the play in college, but now, as a father, he sees it from a different perspective. He said the hairs stood up on his neck, which doesn’t happen too often to him.Alexander and Carol Lawrence, who drove in from Cary to attend the event, have been subscribing to PlayMakers for 19 years.Alexander Lawrence said they have attended the previous two Vision Series events also. “It is a different perspective to start with the director telling you about the challenges of the play,” Carol Lawrence said.Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(01/13/10 4:56am)
Correction( Jan. 14 12:39 a.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story misstated the amount PlayMakers Repertory Company received for replacement lights. They were awarded $67,500. The story has been changed to reflect the correciton.
(11/11/09 6:15am)
Tonight 25 actors will assume the roles of more than 150 characters to perform one of Charles Dickens’ longest masterpieces.
(10/08/09 3:38am)
Thirty years ago, David Edgar adapted an 800-plus page novel into a two-part, six-and-a-half-hour play for the Royal Shakespeare Company.Tonight he will come to the Paul Green Theatre to talk about this process with the PlayMakers Repertory Company, who are performing the play, based on Charles Dickens’ “Nicholas Nickleby,” this fall.“An Evening with David Edgar,” will provide the inside scoop on PlayMakers’ production of “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” which opens in November.Edgar and Joseph Haj, the producing artistic director of PlayMakers’ production, will both talk about the work.With Edgar’s experience and expertise, the cast said they are excited to hear his insight and receive his feedback.“The greatest gift is having him in the room and being able to talk to him about these characters with whom he knows so closely,” said cast member Jeff Meanza.Working with the actors through the rehearsal process, Edgar created the script over time, rather than completing it before rehearsals began.Tonight’s discussion will also touch on challenges of the production, such as its length, preservation of the story and use of set.“The set has to be very versatile because we have to take the audience to so many locations,” said Hannah Grannemann, managing director of PlayMakers.The production will have 25 actors portraying 150 characters.The cast is learning the dialects, backgrounds and relationships of each character, as Nickleby’s travels takes him to different parts of England.This humorous story was only Dickens’ third novel.The story captures the struggles of its picaresque hero, Nickleby, and coverts his transformation from a naïve boy into a mature man.Focusing on particular portraits of characters, the piece differs from Dickens’ other work, which usually include an overarching theme that unites the story.“I’m sure there is a lot of stuff they can pull out of the book that would make great theater,” said English professor John McGowan.Nickleby encounters many eccentric characters doing wild and crazy things throughout his adventures, McGowan said.This is the Dickens Initiative’s first event. The Initiative seeks to include the community around it in the intricate, artistic process that goes into adapting Dickens’ classic novels.Marc Napolitano, an English department lecturer who will be working with the cast and crew of the play, said he thinks the biggest challenge for the cast will be preserving Dickens’ narrative style in a play format.Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(09/28/09 3:29am)
OpusPlaymakers Repertory Company