News Release

Art: For logo art about each play, see end of story.

Note: Plays, dates, are listed below.

PlayMakers' new season to explore
bravery, betrayal, beauty and more

CHAPEL HILL - From Steve Martin's hilarious adaptation of "The Underpants" to a dramatization of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Bluest Eye," PlayMakers Repertory Company will present a variety of offerings in 2006-2007.

Rounding out the five-play season will be Mitch Albom's "Tuesdays with Morrie," the comedy "Stones in His Pockets" and an adaptation of the French classic "The Illusion," by Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner.

Before the official season opener on Oct. 4, PlayMakers will perform a special engagement in September of "I Am My Own Wife," a Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The story represents playwright Doug Wright's attempt to understand the bravery, spirit, manipulation and forgiveness necessary for self-preservation.

This year will mark the 31st season of the nonprofit professional theater company of the dramatic art department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Resident professionals, guest artists and students collaborate through PlayMakers to bring top-quality professional theater to the community - while implementing themes explored and techniques taught in the department.

"I am so excited about this coming season, as it truly offers something for everyone," said Joseph Haj, PlayMakers' new producing artistic director. "This slate is a wonderful sampling of some of the most vibrant plays written in recent years. I look forward to seeing everyone at the theater."

PlayMakers was recognized in 2003 as one of "America's 50 best regional theatres" by the Drama League and one of "America's leading theatre companies" by American Theatre magazine.

Subscriptions for the 2006-2007 season are on sale now. Priced from $45 to $150, the subscriptions offer a 20 percent savings over single ticket prices, priority seats, discounts for friends, a flexible exchange and walk-in policy, ticket insurance and free tickets to dramatic art department productions. Discounts are available for seniors, students and youth.

Another option, FlexTix at $128, allows season subscribers to attend each play on the day of their choice. New this season is the Pick 3 subscription of $54 to $99, for tickets to any three of the season's five plays.

The Incredible Student Pass, a five-show subscription for $45, is offered to any college, university, or community college student with a valid student ID. The price translates to $9 per show; holders receive five vouchers for any performance during the run except opening Saturdays.

For tickets and more information, call (919) 962-PLAY (7529), visit www.playmakersrep.org or stop by the box office in UNC's Center for Dramatic

Art on Country Club Road. Summer box office hours are noon to 6 p.m. Mondays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.
Plays and dates for PlayMakers' 2006-2007 season will be:

Special pre-season presentation

Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre, UNC Center for Dramatic Art

Sept. 13-16: "I Am My Own Wife," by Doug Wright; directed by Julie Fishell, PlayMakers member and UNC adjunct assistant professor of dramatic art, featuring PlayMakers' John Feltch. Subscribers to the 2006-2007 season may purchase discounted single tickets or choose this play as part of the new "Pick 3" subscription option.

Charlotte von Mahlsdorf is a survivor - a transvestite who navigated life in East Germany under the kaiser, the Nazis and the communists - but at what cost? A collector of antiques, Charlotte herself is a museum piece, a link to a history both fascinating and frightening. This Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play represents Wright's exploration of the qualities needed for self-preservation. Scott Vogel of the Washington Post called the play and Charlotte "a fantastic story and a fantastic character."

PlayMakers' 2006-2007 Season
Paul Green Theatre, UNC Center for Dramatic Art

Oct. 4-29: "The Underpants," by Carl Sternheim, adapted by Steve Martin.

When his young wife's underpants fall around her ankles during a public parade, Theo Maske anticipates scandal. Instead, the spectacle stirs the passions and devotion of two onlookers, who become his new lodgers. The comic tale that follows tests the limits of propriety and explores the draw of overnight celebrity … for as long as it lasts.

Nov. 15 - Dec. 10: "Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie," by Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom, based on Albom's best-selling book "Tuesdays With Morrie."

What begins as a brief visit becomes an extraordinary journey for Mitch Albom. He is reunited with an old college professor whose last lesson teaches him the value of life - every moment of it. Based on the best-selling autobiographical story of a sports reporter and the mentor who changed his life, this play and its lessons are not to be missed. "No matter how well you know this story, the play will make it more vivid, more shattering, more humorous for you …. " John Simon wrote in New York magazine. "This piece of theater strikes me as indelible, unforgettable … "

Jan. 17 - Feb. 11, 2007: "Stones In His Pockets" by Marie Jones.

Does life imitate art? Can cinema shape a society's image of itself? Can hope survive in the absence of social opportunity? These questions are explored in Jones' play about an Irish community altered when a Hollywood production team comes to town. A comical clash of cultures ensues when the unrealistic views of Tinseltown collide with the actuality of rural Irish life.

Feb. 28-March 25, 2007: "Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye," adapted for the stage by Lydia R. Diamond.

Pecola Breedlove, 11, is not too young to recognize the correlation between skin color and the world's narrow definition of beauty. She idolizes the blonde-haired, blue-eyed white girls adored by everyone, including her mother. If only she could have blue eyes, Pecola believes, she would be beautiful and good enough, and her world would be beautiful, too. Set in 1940s Ohio, Diamond's adaptation of Morrison's Pulitzer-winning novel is an emotional tale of racism, betrayal, love and beauty.

April 11 - May 6, 2007: "The Illusion," By Pierre Corneille, adapted by Tony Kushner.

In Kushner's fantastical adaptation of Corneille's classic fable, a prideful man, sensing the nearness of death, seeks out a magician to help him find his estranged son. Through the magician's conjuring, we get a glimpse of passion, competition, loss, rejection and injustice that prompts us to contemplate the extraordinary power of art.

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Art: To download original logo art representing each production, visit:
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/playmakers/Stoneslow.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/playmakers/bluesteyelow.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/playmakers/illusionlow.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/playmakers/morrielow.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/playmakers/underpantslow.jpg

Credit Kevin Peddicord, Raleigh artist and graphic designer.

For more information about PlayMakers, visit http://www.playmakersrep.org
For the UNC news release on the appointment of Haj, visit http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun06/PlayMdirect060706.htm

PlayMakers contact: Pam O'Connor, (919) 621-1230, pamo@nc.rr.com
College of Arts and Sciences contact: Kim Spurr, (919) 962-4093, spurrk@email.unc.edu