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.