PlayMakers, the professional theater in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will present “The Amish Project” as part of its thought-provoking PRC2 second stage series, in which each performance is followed by artist-audience discussion. The play completes the 2011-2012 lineup, joining two other productions, “A Number” by Caryl Churchill (Sept. 7-11) and Ellen McLaughlin and Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “Penelope” (April 25-29, 2012).
Dickey’s play is a compelling fictionalized account of the 2006 Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting in Pennsylvania Amish country. Five girls were killed in a hostage-taking incident, the kind all too often played out in today’s society from Columbine to this summer’s tragedy in Norway. Told through the voices of seven characters, including the gunman and two of his victims, Ms. Dickey’s performance links their lives together through back stories and side dramas, ultimately framing this devastating tale into a brilliant exploration of compassion and forgiveness.
The New York Times proclaimed “The Amish Project” to be “an extraordinary performance… a remarkable piece of writing.” Time Out New York’s reviewer said “[Dickey’s] craft made me weep. The virtuosic writer-performer acts her bonnet off.”
“The Amish Project” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. nightly and 2 p.m. on Jan. 15. Tickets are currently available as part of the theatre’s 2011-2012 season subscription packages. Single tickets to all shows go on sale August 22. For more information, call the PlayMakers box office at (919) 962-PLAY (7529) or visit www.playmakersrep.org. PRC² shows are presented in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art on Country Club Road.
PlayMakers’ Mainstage Season opens Sept. 21 with Sarah Ruhl’s Tony Award-nominated comedy “In the Next Room (or the vibrator play).”
PlayMakers is based in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences. The Drama League of New York has named PlayMakers one of the best regional theaters in America.
Web site: www.playmakersrep.org
PlayMakers contact: Connie Mahan, (919) 962-5359, cmahan@email.unc.edu