Theater ensemble finishes PlayMakers residency

Mandarin, banjo and other lessons taught at UNC are influencing a New York-based theater ensemble’s next project.

The TEAM — the theater ensemble that has spent the last six days at PlayMakers Repertory Company — kick-started an exploration this week of the difference between drive and discipline for a new show it’s developing.

As a part of its residency here, the ensemble has been utilizing PlayMakers’ professional staff and performance spaces, along with UNC’s research resources, to further its project’s development.

The residency, which ends today, included a work-in-progress show Wednesday.

Jake Margolin, a performer for The TEAM, said group discussions play an essential part in the ensemble’s creative process.

“We start with a nugget of something, whether it’s a source material, like a book or a historical figure, or in this scenario, this concept of drive and discipline,” he said.

“We’re all attacking different facets of it.”

The ensemble is the last of three theater groups to participate in PlayMakers’ residency program, which is supported by a $200,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which funds annual residencies by theater ensembles.

Previous participants have been Philadelphia’s Pig Iron Theatre Company and SITI Company of New York.

Jeffrey Meanza, PlayMakers’ associate artistic director, said this ensemble was chosen because it has a completely different structure from the other two groups.

“The SITI Company has a full administrative staff, while The TEAM is much more collaborative and they have one full-time administrative person,” he said.

“And they’re incredibly cool. It’s one of the most innovative works in the city.”

As part of their exploration of the difference between drive and discipline, each member is taking up a new skill — such as playing the banjo or writing a novel.

Each person dedicates an hour a day to practicing his or her skill, and they all gather afterwards to discuss what they learned during their individual explorations and to figure out how to mold their new piece around what they have learned.

The entire ensemble is also learning Mandarin together, with hour-long lessons every day from Carrboro teacher Kim Satterfield.

“This is not the language I would pick if I were to pick the language,” said Kristen Sieh, a member of The TEAM.

“But the project has to deal with the act of discipline in the face of what isn’t what you would be doing anyway.”

Taylor Mac, who played the emcee in PlayMakers’ “Cabaret” in April, will also be working with The TEAM in the creative process.

He said the idea for this project came when he was thinking about his childhood upbringing.

“No one I know from my childhood is particularly disciplined,” Mac said.

Rachel Chavkin, The TEAM’s artistic director, said it is too early to tell how the project will be interpreted.

“There will be some element of wanting the audience to think about personal change or change on a larger level,” she said. “But it’s all guesses at this point.”

Matt Hubbs, sound designer for The TEAM, said each individual exploration of a new skill will bring the group to a common idea.

“While any one of our individual disciplines may not show up dramatically on the stage, our experience of undertaking it for this period of time is a commonality that will allow us to hopefully build something with,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.