‘Beware Macduff,’ an alumnus returning to PlayMakers
After time at Juilliard and on Broadway, actor Allen Tedder ’14 challenges the king in the March production of "Macbeth.”
When Allen Tedder ’14 takes the stage as Macduff in the PlayMakers Repertory Company‘s production of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” it will be his fifth production with PlayMakers and another chapter in his nearly 16-year history with Carolina.
“Having that relationship with a place is very important to me,” Tedder said. “This campus reminds me of the diligence of getting into my passion for acting and the purity of what we’re all trying to do.”
Born in Lexington, North Carolina, Tedder did not always have that passion for dramatic art. He arrived at Carolina with the intention of pursuing a pre-dentistry major, though Tedder admits it wasn’t so much a passion for dentistry that put him on that path.
“I really like to play golf, and my hometown dentist always got Friday off and was able to play golf three days a week,” Tedder said. “I thought that sounded amazing.”
Once he got to Carolina, however, Tedder found himself struggling to find a group that was the right fit.
Then Tedder saw a brochure promoting auditions for PlayMakers’ upcoming production of Mike Wiley’s “The Parchman Hour.” Tedder landed a role in the play and fell in love with the process. By the end of his first year, he had already switched his major to dramatic art.
He continuously found inspiration from different professors on campus. Julie Fishell in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ dramatic art department was particularly instrumental in Tedder’s growth, going as far as writing him a letter of recommendation to Juilliard.
The letter, alongside Tedder’s hard work, did the trick, and he began taking classes at Juilliard in the fall of 2014 to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree.
At Juilliard, Tedder learned to step out of his comfort zone, participating in plays and exercises that he says he might have been too self-conscious to pursue before, whether that was singing a song he didn’t feel was right for him or wearing costumes that made him feel silly. All in all, he says these experiences made him even stronger in his craft.
“I think all performers have a sense of artistic idealism, and I think it can be a detriment,” Tedder said. “I think you need to compromise some of that to be great at what you do.”
After graduation, he began performing at different theater companies across the city. He even found himself on Broadway for 19 months, lending his talents as a guitar player to the Tony Award-winning acoustic score for Aaron Sorkin’s reinterpretation of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” originally starring Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch.
Tedder’s journey back to PlayMakers came when his fiancée decided to pursue a doctorate in education at Carolina. While the couple still owns a home in New York, Tedder decided to return to PlayMakers in the meantime, starting with his performance as Biff Loman in 2025’s “Death of a Salesman” and now in his latest role as Macduff.
Tedder is aware that some audiences might have preconceived notions or opinions of Shakespeare’s work, but he believes that beneath the 17th-century diction is an emotional truth that still resonates.
“You have to be patient with it,” Tedder said. “Because once you let it sink in, you begin to understand it. And once you understand it, you begin to feel it. Shakespeare is one of the very few playwrights who really understands how people feel.”
Even onstage, Tedder says he is still moved by the power of the Bard’s words.
“Ron Menzel plays Macbeth, and every time he does one of the famous monologues, it stops everyone in their tracks,” Tedder said. “That’s really cool to experience.”
