Dear friends,  

Welcome to Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous—and welcome back to the singular voice of Pearl Cleage, a voice many of you may remember from our moving production of Blues for an Alabama Sky in 2022. While this play is in a very different key, you’ll once again encounter Cleage’s extraordinary gift for telling stories about Black women’s lives across generations—with her signature blend of humor, bite, guts, and grace. 

This play has a lot to say about legacy and therefore felt like a particularly perfect choice for our “50th Legacy: Forward” anniversary season. It has also given us the opportunity to bring together artists whose deep roots and friendships have been nurtured through making art together here at PlayMakers. 

Longtime company member Kathryn Hunter-Williams and guest artist Rasool Jahan first collaborated here on the professional premiere of Mike Wiley’s The Parchman Hour in 2011. Since then, the three of them have been making the best kind of trouble together, onstage and off. It is a joy—and an honor—to see Rasool and Kathy now playing Anna and Betty, two “mature” women of the theatre and best friends, and to watch them creatively spar with the fabulous Tia James and Delaney Jackson.  

It is also such a treat to welcome Mike—one of this state’s artistic treasures —back to the director’s chair for this production. He has assembled a first-class creative team, many of whom, like lighting designer Kathy Perkins, have left their significant mark on PlayMakers’ history.

The theatre gives us extraordinary opportunities to explore, celebrate, and interrogate our relationships to home and legacy—and to do so together. One of the most enduring and beloved of those is Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, which is next in our season, just in time for Thanksgiving! 

I look forward to seeing you and your family there, as we continue to celebrate the extraordinary community that is PlayMakers—and the many ways our legacy carries us forward. 

Warmly

Vivienne

Table of Contents

Letter from Vivienne

Support PlayMakers

About the Author

Program Notes

Who We Are

Title Page

Actor Bios

Creative Team Bios

PlayMakers Staff

Friends of PlayMakers

Corporate and Foundation Partners

Desktop Computer Version of playbill available here

Fifty years. Countless stories. One shared experience.

Or is it?

The magic of theatre is that we sit together and experience the very same story, yet each of us walks away with our own version of that experience—a new perspective, a different feeling, a viewpoint that may differ from the person sitting beside us. A single performance can spark countless conversations, perspectives, and interpretations.

Whose experience is valid? Perhaps they all are.

That is the power of theatre. It reminds us that while our viewpoints may differ, our humanity connects us. In a world that often asks us to stand apart, theatre invites us to come together.

As we celebrate this 50th anniversary season, we invite you to continue building this community of shared experience. On behalf of our PlayMakers Advisory Council,  I’d like to challenge you to bring someone with you. Tell a friend. Share our story. Invest in our vision.

The next fifty years of PlayMakers will be shaped by audiences who believe in its power—to bring us together, challenge us, move us, and remind us that even when our perspectives differ, we are all human.

Thank you for being part of this story.

Here’s to the next chapter.

Here’s to the next fifty years.

And here’s to experiencing it together.

Jackie Tanner, Chair

PlayMakers Advisory Council

Jackie Tanner, Chair

Marie Andreasen, Andrea Bates, Betsy Blackwell, Patrick Brennan, Druscilla French, Deborah Gerhardt, Susan Gross, Amy Guskiewicz, C. Hawkins, Zach Howell,
Debra Ives, Lillian Jenks, Diane Robertson Kibbe,
Kim Kwok, Duncan Lascelles, Stuart Lascelles,
Peggy Link-Weil, Graig Meyer, Julie Morris, Paula Noell, Jodi Patalano, Maria Savage, Haley Swindal, Jennifer Werner-Cannizzaro, Mike Wiley, Ford Worthy

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About the Author

Pearl Cleage, is an Atlanta-based playwright currently serving as Distinguished Artist in Residence at The Alliance Theatre. The recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dramatists Guild, she is also Atlanta’s first Poet Laureate. Her plays include Flyin’ West, Blues for an Alabama Sky, The Nacirema Society…, What I Learned in Paris, and Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous. Her work is anthologized in Flyin’ West and Other Plays, published by Theatre Communications Group. In addition to the Alliance, Cleage has been widely produced, including performances at the Goodman Theatre, London’s National Theatre, the McCarter Theatre Center, Penumbra Theatre, Keen Company, Ford’s Theatre, the Huntington Theatre Company, the Guthrie Theater, Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre, Actor’s Express, the Black Repertory Company, the Old Globe, the Negro Ensemble Company, Arena Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Ensemble Theatre, New Federal Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Her work is widely taught and produced at colleges and universities across the country. She is also a performance artist working in collaboration with her husband, writer Zaron W. Burnett, Jr. Their groundbreaking performance work is the subject of a new documentary film Live at Club Zebra! directed by Matthew and David Adeboye. Cleage and Burnett also collaborated on In My Granny’s Garden, a book for young children, which was adapted for the stage by Rosemary Newcott and has been performed in Atlanta, Chicago, and St. Louis. The author of eight novels, including What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, a New York Times bestseller, Cleage also co-authored with Burnett “We Speak Your Names,” a praise poem commissioned by Oprah Winfrey. She is currently at work on Off Day at Chickens, in collaboration with Burnett and a play with music, Letters from Aunt Nina, based on the music and memories of Simone’s niece, actor/singer Crystal Fox.

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Reclaiming the Rage, Rewriting the Canon

By Jacqueline E. Lawton, Dramaturg

Across genres,Pearl Cleage skillfully places Black women at the center of her narratives, portraying them as complex individuals who have been shaped by love, history, and powerful acts of resilience. Her critically acclaimed and widely produced play, Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous, demonstrates her ability to create compelling characters while engaging audiences in conversations about race, gender, age, and social politics.  

At its core is Anna Campbell, a pioneering actress who shocked the theatrical world with Naked Wilson, a radical performance piece in which she delivered August Wilson’s traditionally male monologues completely nude. After years of self-imposed exile in Amsterdam, Anna returns to Atlanta with Betty, her best friend and manager, for a women’s theater festival honoring her legacy. But what should be a celebration quickly turns sour when Anna discovers that she will not perform. Instead, the festival producer, Kate Hughes, has cast Pete Watson, a young exotic dancer and burlesque performer, to re-create the role that made Anna an icon.

In a recent interview with Cultural Attaché, Cleage explains her inspiration for writing the play:

“What made me start writing the play was wanting to look at intergenerational conversation. I wanted to explore how women my age can have meaningful conversations with younger women without trying to tell them what to do or insisting that because we lived our lives a certain way, they should do the same. I was looking for two characters I could bump up against each other and see if I could make them talk.”

With this scenario, Cleage ignites a generational battle over art, ownership, and the fight to be seen. To Anna, Pete’s work threatens to turn hard-won freedom and sacrifice into exploitation. To Pete, Anna’s objections sound like the out-of-touch, small-minded gatekeeping of an older generation. Cleverly, Cleage gives neither woman the comfort of being entirely right.

Additionally, by invoking August Wilson’s prominence on American stages, the play directly challenges the maledominated theatrical canon. Anna’s act of stripping down to perform monologues traditionally reserved for men becomes both a bold provocation and a reclamation of artistic space. She asserts the authority and visibility of a Black woman and forces the theatre industry to confront who is allowed to speak, interpret, and be centered. In that same interview Cultural Attaché, Cleage discusses her decision to address this point in particular:

“What interests me is the idea that once artists become iconic, people can become afraid to engage critically with their work. August Wilson is an extraordinary writer, but no artist should be beyond conversation. I’m a sixties child and a radical feminist. If there’s something people say you can’t talk about, that’s usually exactly what I want to talk about.”

Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous is a fiercely passionate love letter to Black women, artistic resilience, and enduring legacy. The play asks what it truly means to pass the torch without feeling erased, and what it takes to receive that torch without losing sight of the women who first carried and protected the flame. In this PlayMakers Repertory Company production of Cleage’s bold, brilliant, and unruly play, we are reminded that status, success, and liberation are never finish lines. They are relays that require each generation to listen to, learn from, and honor the ones who came before while preparing the way for those still to come.

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Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous

Written by Pearl Cleage

 Directed by Mike Wiley

Scenic Designer
Dahlia Al-Habieli

Costume Designer
Pamela A. Bond

Lighting Designer
Kathy A. Perkins

Sound Designer
Eric Alexander Collins

Vocal Coach
Gwendolyn Schwinke

Dramaturg
Jacqueline E. Lawton

Stage Manager
Devon Currie

Assistant Stage Manager
Aspen Blake Jackson

October 14 – November 1, 2026

Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service. www.concordtheatricals.com

Commissioned by and premiered at Alliance Theatre (Susan V. Booth, Artistic Director; Mike Schleifer, Managing Director), Atlanta, GA

The Professional Theatre of the Department of Dramatic Art Kathryn Hunter-Williams, Chair, Vivienne Benesch, Producing Artistic Director Produced in association with the College of Arts and Sciences The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Actor Bios

in Alphabetical Order

Anna Campbell: Kathryn Hunter-Williams*
Precious “Pete” Watson: Delaney Jackson^
Betty Samson: Rasool Jahan*
Kate Hughes: Tia James*

Stage Managers: Devon Currie*, Aspen Blake Jackson*

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

^Appears by permission of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

UNDERSTUDIES
Understudies never substiture for listed players unless a specific announcement is made for the appearance at the time of performance

Kate Hughes & Precious “Pete” Watson: Asia Mark

Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous will be performed with no intermission.


Setting: Atlanta, Georgia. End of summer 2018.

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Kathryn Hunter-Williams

Anna Campbell

PlayMakers: Company member for 26 seasons. Recent highlights include directing A Good Boy, The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones, They Do Not Know Harlem, Stick Fly, No Fear & Blues Long Gone, Count, plus acting in Steel Magnolias, You Can’t Take It With You, Confederates, The Game, Fat Ham, Hamlet, A Wrinkle in Time, The Skin of Our Teeth, Edges of Time, Julius Caesar, Everybody, Life of Galileo, Skeleton Crew, Leaving Eden, Tartuffe, Dot, Intimate Apparel, The Crucible, Trouble in Mind, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Raisin in the Sun, Imaginary Invalid, The Parchman Hour, Angels in America, Fences, Doubt, among others.

New York/Regional: Living Stage, The Negro Ensemble Company, Manhattan Class Company, New Dramatists, Archipelago Theater.

Education/Other: BFA, UNC School of the Arts; MFA, UNC-Chapel Hill. Kathryn is chair of the Department of Dramatic Art at UNC-Chapel Hill and Associate Director of HiddenVoices, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing life-changing stories into a public forum.

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Delaney Jackson

Chorus (Tyrannos)

PlayMakers: Company member in their 2nd year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program with the Department of Dramatic Art. Macbeth, You Can’t Take It With You, The Wolves.

Regional: Scissoring, Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties (Voices In Alliance); As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing (Old School Shakespeare Omaha); Twelfth Night: Or What You Will (Benson Theatre); King Lear, R3³ (BLUEBARN Theatre); It’s A Wonderful Life (The Rose Theater). 

Film: Wed the Dark (Shoot Montana).

Education: B.A. in Theatre from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. 

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Rasool Jahan

Betty Samson

PlayMakers: Corrina in Primary Trust, Silver Bell Sparkle Dash in The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones, Tedra in Fat Ham, Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, Laertes/Player Queen in Hamlet, Mrs. Weston in Emma, Shelly in Dot, Esther in Intimate Apparel, Jory in Disgraced, MiMi Real in The Parchman Hour. Stage Manager for A Good Boy and Assistant Director forCount.

Regional: Other favorite theatrical roles include Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (WriteAct Rep); Vivian Bearing, Ph.D. in Wit (Justice Theatre Project).

TV/Film: Hallmark’s A Nashville Christmas Carol, The Resident, House of Cards, Cold Mountain, and I Know What You Did Last Summer with Jennifer Love Hewitt. She can also be seen on Hulu’s limited-series, Class of 09′ with Brian Tyree Henry and Kate Mara.

Education/Other: Rasool is a proud graduate of North Carolina’s oldest HBCU. Rasool lives in Durham, serves on the Social Justice Board and Hidden Voices.

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Tia James

Kate Hughes

PlayMakers: Company member since 2018. Actor:
Oedipus: King/Colonus, The Royale, Confederates, Much Ado About Nothing, Clyde’s, Hamlet, Blues for an Alabama Sky, A Wrinkle in Time, Julius Caesar, Native Son. Director: Crumbs from the Table of Joy, How I Learned What I Learned, As You Like It, Macbeth (PlayMakers Mobile), and Constellations (PlayMakers Ground Floor).PlayMakers Resident Vocal Coach.

Broadway: The Merchant of Venice.

Off-Broadway/New York: The Winter’s Tale, The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare in the Park).

Regional: Much Ado About Nothing (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); Richard III (Allentown Shakespeare); Loving and Loving (Stella Adler Studios); Much Ado About Nothing (Two River Theatre); Civilization [All You Can Eat] (Woolly Mammoth Theater).

Television: “Nurse Jackie,” “Treme.”

Education/Awards: MFA NYU Tisch Graduate Acting Program, BFA Virginia Commonwealth University; Miller Voice Method Teacher Certification. Recipient of the 2014 NYU Graduate Acting Diversity Mentorship Scholarship, 2003 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship winner for Best Actor; 2019 Michael Chekhov/Zelda Fichandler Scholarship.

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Mike Wiley

Director

PlayMakers: Director:The Parchman Hour. Playwright: The Parchman Hour, Downrange: Stories from the Homefront, Dar He: The Story of Emmett Till, Blood Done Sign My Name, Leaving Eden.

Regional: The Parchman Hour (Guthrie Theater) and productions with Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Hattiloo Theatre, Virginia Stage, among others. 

Virginia-born, North Carolina-based actor, playwright, and director Mike Wiley has created and performed documentary theatre for more than 20 years. An MFA graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, he is a former Lehman-Brady Visiting Joint Chair Professor at Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies and currently serves as Artist in Residence for the Kenan Institute for Ethics and Stephen and Janet Bear Assistant Research Professor of Arts, Ethics, and Education in Duke’s Program in Education. His honors include the UNC-Chapel Hill Distinguished Alumni Award, the Ann Atwater Award, and the NC Theatre Conference Constance Welsh Award for Theatre for Youth. Wiley tours nationally with eight solo-actor original plays and conducts workshops and educational residencies.

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Dahlia Al-Habieli

Scenic Designer

PlayMakers: Much Ado About Nothing.

Regional: Recent credits include designs for: Dallas Theatre Center, The Rep of St Louis, Gulfshore Playhouse, Virginia Stage Company, Trinity Rep, Muhlenberg College, and Harvard College; her design for The Half God of Rainfall at the Wilma Theater is among the scenographic work representing the United States at the 2027 Prague Quadrennial of Perfomance Design.

Education/Other: Dahlia teaches and designs at Bryn Mawr College. She has previously held faculty appointments at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, Wake Forest University and Albright College. 

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Pamela A. Bond

Costume Designer

PlayMakers: Company member since 2024.The Wolves, Confederates, The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones, The Game, Stick Fly.

Regional: The Color Purple (Raleigh Little Theatre), House of George (National Black Theatre Festival); FENCES (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina); White (Bulldog Theatre); Black Nativity (Justice Theatre Project). She also performed in Dance on Widows Row (Agape Theatre). 

Education/Other: B.A. in Theatre, a B.S. in Textiles & Apparel, and an M.A. in Textiles & Apparel from North Carolina Central University. Ms. Bond is a member of Alpha Psi Omega Honor Society, Gamma Xi Phi Art Society, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She is a native of Durham, North Carolina and is an Assistant Professor of Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Kathy A. Perkins

Lighting Designer

PlayMakers: You Can’t Take It With You, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, They Do Not Know Harlem, Edges of Time, Count, Mr. Joy, Trouble in Mind, Surviving Twin, A Raisin in the Sun, Clybourne Park, The Parchman Hour.

Broadway: Trouble in Mind.

Regional: American Conservatory Theatre, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory, Seattle Repertory, St. Louis Black Repertory, Alliance, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Baltimore Center Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, New Federal Theatre, Mark Taper, Yale Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and People’s Light.

Education: In 2007 she was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. She received her BFA from Howard University and her MFA from the University of Michigan.

Other Credits: Kathy is the editor of seven anthologies focusing on women both nationally and internationally, including Selected Plays: Alice Childress. She is a senior editor of the Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance. Kathy is faculty Emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2022 she received the New York City Henry Hewes Design Award. In 2016 she served as a theatre consultant for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s inaugural exhibition “Taking the Stage”.

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Eric Alexander Collins

Sound Designer

PlayMakers: What the Constitution Means to Me, A Wrinkle in Time, Ragtime, She Loves Me, Temples of Lung and Air, The Crucible, We Are Proud To Present…, Peter and the Starcatcher. Hello, Dolly! (Summer Youth Conservatory).

Regional: Newsies, A Night With Janis Joplin, Gypsy, Jesus Christ Superstar (North Carolina Theatre); Once, Big Fish, Rock of Ages, The Secret Garden (Theatre Raleigh); MacBeth, Lynn Taylor-Corbett’s Dracula and The Little Mermaid (all World Premieres) at Carolina Ballet; The Music Man, Idina Menzel (in concert), Natalie Merchant (in concert) for the North Carolina Symphony; The 39 Steps, Anon(ymous), The (Real) Merry Housewives of Windsor (NC State University Theatre).A 25-year veteran of the pro audio field, Eric Alexander Collins has worked across the U.S, Europe, and Austrailia in venues from Ceasar’s Palace to the iconic Sydney Opera House. A North Carolina native, today Eric is proud to support the rich theatre community we have here.

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Gwendolyn Schwinke

Vocal Coach

PlayMakers: Company member since 2019.Voice/Dialect Coach: Oedipus: King/Colonus,Macbeth, You Can’t Take it With You, The Royale, Confederates, What the Constitution Means to Me, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, The Game, Murder on the Orient Express, Fat Ham, Much Ado About Nothing, Clyde’s, Emma, Native Gardens, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Yoga Play, Dairyland, Native Son, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, The Skin of Our Teeth, A Wrinkle in Time. Actor: You Can’t Take It With You, Murder on the Orient Express, Much Ado About Nothing, The Skin of Our Teeth, As You Like It.

International: Voice/Text/Dialect/Somatic Coach: Macbeth, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Roman Daggers, The Winter’s Tale (Prague Shakespeare Company), Company season training (Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble).

New York & Regional: Voice and Text Coaching for over 50 professional shows, including over 25 Shakespeare productions, and 50-plus different international or regional accents. Utah Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare & Company (seven seasons), Clarence Brown Theatre, Oxford Shakespeare Festival, Frank Theatre, Cheap Theatre, Atlantic Stage. Actor: Carlyle Brown & Company, Oxford Shakespeare Festival, Frank Theatre, Red Eye Collaboration, Minnesota Shakespeare Project, Atlantic Stage, Old Creamery Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival.

Teaching: David G. Frey Scholar/Associate Professor of Voice & Speech at UNC-Chapel Hill, Faculty Member at Shakespeare & Company and Prague Shakespeare Company. Designated Linklater Voice Teacher and Mentor/Trainer, Guild-certified Feldenkrais Teacher, Certified Teacher of Louis Colaianni Approach to Speech & Accents.

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Jacqueline E. Lawton

Dramaturg

PlayMakers: Company member since 2015 and associate professor in the Department of Dramatic Art at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Regional Dramaturgy: Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival of New American Plays, Arden Theater, Arena Stage, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Ensemble Studio Theater, Ford’s Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Horizons Theater, Interact Theatre, Kennedy Center VSA Program, Rorschach Theatre, Round House Theatre, the Stratford Festival, Theater J, Virginia Stage Company and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

Broadway Dramaturgy: Good Night, Oscar (Belasco Theatre).

Playwright: Anna K; Behold, a Negress; Blackbirds; Blood-bound and Tongue-tied; Deep Belly Beautiful; The Devil’s Sweet Water; Diola; Edges of Time; Freedom Hill; The Hampton Years; Hotel Berry, Intelligence; The Inferior Sex; Love Brothers Serenade; Mad Breed; Noms de Guerre; So Goes We; and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Education/ Affiliations: MFA in Playwriting, University of Texas at Austin; James A. Michener Fellow. TCG Young Leaders of Color, National New Play Network (NNPN), Arena Stage’s Playwrights’ Arena, Center Stage’s Playwrights’ Collective, and the Dramatist Guild of America.

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Devon Currie

Stage Manager

PlayMakers: Debut.

Regional: Million Dollar Quartet, Pump Boys & Dinettes, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again], Every Brilliant Thing, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (The Hippodrome State Theatre), Veremonda (Yale Baroque Opera Project), Elixir of Love (Gulfshore Opera), Macbeth, Pericles, and A Flea In Her Ear (Michigan Shakespeare Festival).

Education: BA from UNC Greensboro, MFA in Stage Management from Wayne State University.

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Aspen Blake Jackson

Assistant Stage Manager

PlayMakers: Oedipus: King/Colonus, Steel Magnolias, Primary Trust,The Wolves,Confederates, The Shot, The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Murder on the Orient Express, Much Ado About Nothing, Clyde’s, They Do Not Know Harlem, Native Gardens. Hello, Dolly!, Pippin, The Prom, The Drowsy Chaperone, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Summer Youth Conservatory).Aspen is delighted to be returning for her fifth season with PlayMakers Repertory Company. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Vocal Performance and Dramatic Arts.

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Thank you to all organizations who make our 50th Anniversary Season possible!

Foundation Support

Joan H. Gillings Foundation, Hellendall Family Foundation of North Carolina, Kyser Foundation, Robertson Foundation, Shubert Foundation, The Churchill Group, The Educational Foundation of America 

Corporate Trade Partners

Craven Allen Gallery & House of Frames, Glasshalfull, Larry’s Coffee, Pineapple Sol Catering, University Florist, Vimala’s Curryblossom Café

PlayMakers 50th Anniversary Ball Sponsors

Presenting Sponsor: The Polk Wealth Management Group at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management 

Gold Sponsors: Pyramis Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, Anonymous 

Silver Sponsors: The Arts and Sciences Foundation, Inc., Dwell Real Estate, Rivers Agency 

Sponsors: American Party Rentals, Brown Advisory, The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill Restaurant Group, Erin and Company Real Estate, Glasshalfull, Hart and Jahoo Real Estate Group, HuthPhoto, Pam Heavner Designs, Six Cups of Flowers, University Florist 

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PlayMakers Repertory Company is a Member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre.

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This Theatre operates under an agreement between the League Of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

The scenic, costume, lighting and sound designers in LORT Theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.

The Director and Choreographer are members of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.

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For This Production

Administration

Vivienne Benesch, Producing Artistic Director

Artistic

Jeff Aguiar, Director of Engagement
Brigette Bagley, Assistant to Producing Artistic Director
Tracy Bersley, Movement Coach/Choreographer 
Chelsea James,Associate Producer
Tia James, Vocal Coach
Jacqueline E. Lawton, Dramaturg
Mark Perry, Dramaturg
Gwendolyn Schwinke, Vocal Coach
Lexi Silva, Senior Dramaturg
Georgia Wood, Artistic Assistant Work Study

Management

Lisa Geeslin, Accountant
Amy Evans, General Manager
Zoë Lord, Assistant General Manager
Maura J. Murphy, Director of Operations
Susan Williams, Accounting Technician
Ella Hawn, Administration Work Study

External Relations

Tina CoyneSmith, Director of External Relations
Lenore Field, Special Events Coordinator
Anna Fletcher, Assistant Director of Annual Giving

Marketing & Audience Services

TJ Carr, Graphic Designer and Media Specialist
Alex James, Audience Services Associate
Salem Jones, Audience Services Associate
Nora Kerwin, Audience Services Associate
Hannah LaMarlowe, Associate Director of Marketing
Thomas Porter, Box Office Manager
Rosalie Preston, Director of Marketing and Sales
Ava Wells, Audience Services Associate
Christopher Bailey, Maggie Thornton,
Student House Managers
Micah Kennel, Student Box Office Manager
Alex Lankford, Student Assistant
Lynlee Collins, Ella Flaim, Lindsey Kanipe, Talise Koonce, An Thanh Nguyen, Leah Page, Kas Perez, Mira Teague, Box Office and Front of House Work Study

Department of Dramatic Art

Kathryn Hunter-Williams, Chair and Associate Professor

FACULTY

Judy Adamson, Professor Emerita 
Vivienne Benesch, Professor of the Practice
Tracy Bersley, Associate Professor
Pamela Bond, Assistant Professor
James Bray, Teaching Assistant Professor
Jan Chambers, Professor Emerita
McKay Coble, Professor Emerita
Jeffrey Blair Cornell, Professor Emeritus
Ray Dooley, Professor Emeritus
Samuel Ray Gates, Associate Professor
Julia Gibson, Professor
Douglas Hall, Associate Professor
David Hammond, Professor Emeritus
Rachel Hynes, Teaching Assistant Professor
Letitia James, Associate Professor 
Gregory Kable, Teaching Professor Emeritus
Jacqueline E. Lawton, Professor
Matthew Mallard, Lecturer
Triffin Morris, Professor of the Practice
David Navalinsky, Professor
Bobbi Owen, Distinguished Professor Emerita
Laura Pates, Assistant Professor
Kathy Perkins, Professor Emerita
Mark Perry, Teaching Associate Professor
Rachel E. Pollock, Lecturer
Bonnie Raphael, Professor Emerita
Michael Rolleri, Professor
Gwendolyn Schwinke, Assistant Professor
Aubrey Snowden, Teaching Assistant Professor
Craig Turner, Professor Emeritus
Adam Versényi, Professor Emeritus
Tao Wang, Assistant Professor

Administration

Piper Shipley, Program Specialist
Teresa Greene, KTC Technical Director
Jocelyn Chatman, Costume Inventory Specialist
Lisa Geeslin, Accounting Technician
Taylor McDaniel, Student Services Manager
Kevin Pendergast, Assistant to the Head of the Technical Production MFA Program
Karen Rolleri, Business Coordinator
Sarah Tackett, Director of Business Administration

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Production

Michael Rolleri, Production Manager

Costumes

Jocelyn Chatman, Costume Shop Manager
Matthew Mallard, Assistant Costume Director
Triffin Morris, Costume Director
Janis Nordeen, Wardrobe Supervisor
Rachel Pollock, Costume Craftsperson
Alice Crist, Kris Kingsolver, Bailey Mae Doran, Mackenzie Privett, Aerial Sanders, Brynn Turner, 
Francis Werth, Costume Production Graduate Students
Ellie Steever, First Hand/Stitcher
Saturn Brundick, Ellison Brown, Katherine Craig, Costume Shop Undergraduate Assistants
Ava Kennel, Costume Stock Work Study
Maya Tilson, COSTAR Historic Costume Collection Assistant  Work Study
Naomi Eckhaus, Eva Hoke, Susan Newcomer, Costume Shop Volunteers

Lighting

Benjamin Bosch, Electrics Supervisor
Maize Aubin, Production Swing for Lighting & Sound
Pezhi Li (Kimi), Undergrad Assistant

Props

Eden Clementine, Swing Scenic Artist/Props Artisan
Sam Gainer, Props Artisan
Lauren Reinhartsen, Properties Supervisor
Evan Wilker, Props Undergraduate Assistant
Ava Casey, Work Studies

Stage Management

Aspen Blake Jackson, Stage Manager
Devon Currie, Stage Manager
Emma Clements, Production Assistant

Sound

Nick Rodgers, Sound Supervisor
Jayden Alexander Peszko, Work Studies

Scenic

Brandon “Bruce” Hearrell, Shop Supervisor
Laura Pates, Technical Director
Rachel Van Namen, Associate Technical Director
Diane Zimmerman, Scenic Charge Artist
Lucas Branch, Gibson Cameron, Erica Meece, Kaden Reynard, Josh Zietak, Technical Production Graduate Students
Devon Smith, Diana Lopez Zapata, Scene Shop 
Undergrad Assistant
Eliza Mariano, Scenic Painting Undergrad Assistant
Connor Gould, Eliza Hage, Makaela Mainor, Veta “Koa” Torres, Scenic Painting Work Study

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Friends of PlayMakers

Director’s Circle ($10,000+)

Bill and Andrea Bates

John Watson and Betsy Blackwell

Munroe and Becky Cobey

Chanel and Ford D’Aprix

Kay Kohring-DaSilva and Keith DaSilva

David* and Judith Frey

Alston Gardner and Barb Lee

Joanne and Pete Garrett

Deborah and Michael Gerhardt

Joan Gillings*

Dustin and Susan Gross

Garrett Hall and Zach Howell

Matt and Bobbi Hapgood

Chan and Monie Hardwick

Betty Kenan*

Tom Kenan

Sharon Lawrence

Sylvia Mills*

Paula Noell and Palmer Page

Ariana Pancaldo and Michael Salemi

Roger and Linda Perry

Wyndham Robertson

Coleman Ross

Tim and Jane Sullivan

Cynthia Strickland Graham

Alan Weinhouse

Ford and Allison Worthy

Angel ($5,000–9,999)

Vivienne Benesch

Patrick Brennan and Lillian Jenks

Jan and Steve Capps

Tom and Cindy Cook

Gail Fearing and Guy Crabtree

Shelley Earp

Linda and Jaroslav Folda

Bryan and Emily Hassel

Georga Huba and Abigail Panter

Brad and Debra Ives

Peggy Link-Weil and Michael Weil

Jodi Patalano

Lou Patalano

Amy and Nick Penwarden

Lee and Amy Perry

Phil and Kim Phillips

Karen Popp and M.C. Ragsdale

Alec Rhodes

Brad and Laura Ross

Robert and Tobi Schwartzman

Haley Tantleff Swindal

Elissa and Joe Vona

Katie Woodbury

Phyllis and Edward Wright

Bonnie and Jim Yankaskas

Investor ($2,500–4,999)

David and Judith Adamson

Alicia Allred

Jeff and Jennifer Allred

Deirdre and Richard Arnold

Brad and Cheryl Briner

Andy Church and Joni Walser

Jeffrey Cornell and Maria Savage

Jim and Jan Dean

John and Diane Formy-Duval

Susan Hartley

Jane Preyer and Lark Hayes

Ron Hellendall

Dottie Heninger

David Howell

Brian and Moyra Kileff

Kim Kwok

Stuart and Duncan Lascelles 

Thomas and Earlyn Lawrence

Karen Levine and Andrew Sisson

Winston Liao

Paul and Linda Naylor

Frank and Ellen Proctor

Karen and Michael Rolleri

John and Emily Glenn Ruch 

Sallie Shuping-Russell and Ed Spence

Perry Silver

Trey and Jackie Tanner

Riley and Wendy Waugh

Roger and Marlene Werner

Gerald and Roberta Whittington

Sandy and Jennifer Williams

Heather and David Yeowell

Alan Young

Page to Stage ($1,500–2,499)

Marie and Mike Andreasen

Keith and Iris Archuleta

Katherine and Andrew Asaro

Steve Benezra

Pat Beyle

Kymberly Burkhead-Dalton

Jennifer Cannizzaro

Brian and Julie Daniels

Patrick Gale and Carrie Donley

Evan and Erin Gwyn

Lynne Kane

Cathy Kuhn and Glenn Tortorici

Robert and Kathryn Kyle

Bruce and Marlee Margulies

Holly and Ross McKinney

Mark and Julie Morris

Tina Patterson

John and G. Powell

Derek and Louise Winstanly

Sidney and Sally Wright

Partner ($1,000–1,499)

Howard and Penny Aldrich

Jeremy Arkin and Marian Fragola

Brooke Barnett and Tom Mould

John Becton and Nancy Tannenbaum

Neal and Jeanette Bench

Greg and Megan Blackwell

Fiona Brady and Carl Mehling

Jack Knight and Margaret Brown

Eleanor and Ed Burke Jr.*

Keith Burridge and Patricia Saling

Cliff and Linda Butler

Martha Ann Keels and Dennis Clements

Elizabeth Eagle and David Crews

Joan East

Jack and Pat Evans

James Faber and Mary Musacchia

Carolyn and John Falletta*

Drucie French

Mathew Gerard

Buck and Kay Goldstein

Bob and Dana Greenwood

Julia and Bill Grumbles

Kevin Johnson

Hugon Karwowski and Joanna Karwowska

Thomas and Shirley Kunkel

Anand Lagoo and Sandhya Lagoo-Deenadayalan

Sarah Gray Lamm

Mort and Cheryl Malkin

Lyn Maness

Ed and Connie McCraw

Pam Miller

Kurt Newman

Charles and Sue Plambeck

Mark and Eugenea Pollock

Jodi and Glenn Preminger

David and Jenny Routh

Carole Shelby

Ken Smith

Roger Van Der Horst

Mal and Amanda Watlington

John and Ashley Wilson

* indicates deceased 

The above list represents patrons who have made gifts to PlayMakers between July 1, 2024 and March 1, 2026.

A heartfelt thanks to the Friends of PlayMakers whose generosity makes it possible to produce world-class theatre here in Chapel Hill.  For more information about supporting PlayMakers, or to request request a correction to the listing above, please contact Tina CoyneSmith, director of external relations, at 919.962.4846 or tc@unc.edu.

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Patron Spotlight

Betsy Blackwell and John Watson

When we decided to retire, Chapel Hill felt like coming home. As college sweethearts, we have deep roots here, but we were also drawn back by a community that genuinely values the arts. We feel fortunate to live in a place that is home to one of the nation’s premier professional repertory theatres, where generations of actors, designers, technicians, and artisans have honed their craft while inspiring audiences along the way.

This year PlayMakers celebrates 50 years as a professional theatre!  Supporting the theatre’s 50th anniversary with a gift of $50,000 gift felt both symbolic and necessary. PlayMakers has never thought small. From daring productions with artists from around the world who perform alongside our resident Company, PlayMakers consistently delivers work of a caliber you’d expect in New York or London.  And it is right here in our backyard.  That has always mattered to us. We believe everyone, everywhere, deserves access to world‑class, life-changing theatre.

Giving at this level is our way of saying thank you—and of saying yes to the future. The past 50 years were built by people who believed in the power of art and invested in it. We feel a responsibility to do the same, ensuring that PlayMakers can continue to take creative risks, nurture talent, and welcome new audiences through its doors.

For us, theatre is not passive; it invites conversation, empathy, and connection. Especially now, those experiences feel essential. Our gift is an investment in a shared cultural space that brings people together and reminds us of our common humanity. We hope you will consider joining us in giving 50 for 50!  When you give to PlayMakers, you are sustaining an important local treasure, ensuring its legacy and helping shape the next 50 years of storytelling in our community.

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Some of the best scenes happen around a table.

Pineapple Sol builds charcuterie boards and grazing tables for the gatherings that matter: opening nights and cast parties, showers, milestone birthdays, and holidays. Charcuterie Boards serve 15 to 30. Grazing tables start at 50 guests and run past 300, delivered and styled on site by our team. We also cater breakfast, brunch, and lunch across the Triangle, all from our all-day café at Waverly Place in Cary.

pineapplesol.com/charcuterie 
(919) 746-0888

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