Playmakers Repertory Company: A History

PlayMakers Repertory Company: A History celebrates nearly fifty years of the professional theatre company founded at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1975. Building upon a legacy of theatrical activity at UNC dating back to 1918, when the appointment of Professor Koch in the Department of English led to the formation of the Carolina Playmakers, Tom Haas and Arthur Housman envisioned a professional company integrated with an academic department at a major research university. That combination of professional artistic achievement coupled with the highest quality theatrical training has characterized PlayMakers Repertory Company from the outset.

Then as now, the core of the resident company--faculty who are both teachers and practitioners working in tandem with the graduate students in the Department of Dramatic Arts' three MFA programs--is constantly supplemented by the best directors, designers, and performers working today. Undergraduates learn from faculty who move back and forth between the classroom and the stage, shops, and workrooms, with the knowledge gained in one realm sparking creativity in another. Graduate students in acting, costume production, and technical production receive professional training during the day from teachers who become their artistic collaborators at night, both off- and on-stage.

With six essays, more than eighty images, and four appendices that list productions, faculty, MFA recipients, and administrative leadership, this book richly documents a beloved and widely admired dramatic arts institution.


About the Author
Bobbi Owen is the Michael R. McVaugh Distinguished Professor of Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been the resident costume designer for PlayMakers Repertory Company since its inception and has also designed for many regional theatres, including Charleston Stage and the Indiana Repertory Theatre. She has written several books and hundreds of articles about theatrical designers while teaching costume history and costume design.

Adam Versenyi, a dramaturg, theatre scholar, and translator, is the founder and editor of the online journal, The Mercurian. He joined the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty in 1988, has been chair of the Department of Dramatic Art since 2014, and is senior dramaturg for PlayMakers Repertory Company. He teaches theatre history and literature including Latin American and Latino/a/x Theatre and Performance.