Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art | playmakersrep.org | 919.962.7529

Letter from Viv. Vivienne Benesch, Producing Artistic Director

Welcome to PlayMakers and Shakespeare’s Macbeth! Or, as many thespians prefer to call it: The Scottish Play.

It’s safe to say this play has a reputation. Long spoken about in whispers and surrounded by superstition, artists and audiences alike are drawn to its refusal to behave. Macbeth entices us with its electric theatricality, brilliant poetry, and dangerously identifiable psychology.

The renowned theatre critic, Harold Bloom, called Macbeth “a tragedy of the imagination.” I’d posit that it also provides buoyant opportunities to every theatre imaginer, whether artist or audience member. I have had the great privilege to witness firsthand what our extraordinary creative team and community of artisans and actors have imagined and turned into substance for this production, which we hope will now spark your own imagination.

Macbeth marks my return to the stage as an actor after a ten-year hiatus as well as my PlayMakers stage debut! Taking on Lady Macbeth has been both humbling and illuminating. It’s been an honor to work with Ron Menzel in the title role-himself back on our stage for the first time since his tour de force as Galileo in 2019. Under Tracy Bersley’s probing and kinesthetic direction, I’ve had the joy of working alongside guest and resident company veteran actors, Professional Actor Training Program graduate students, undergraduate students, and very young performers just discovering the power of the stage. That intergenerational mix is truly one of the great assets of this company– and that’s been true for nearly 50 years!!!

With my Artistic Director hat on my head once again, I’m so proud to share with you the line-up for our upcoming Anniversary Season (see in the pages ahead!) and look forward to celebrating and deepening PlayMakers’ Legacy Forward into the future as the premier regional theatre of the Carolinas.

In the meantime, whether this is your first encounter with Macbeth, or your fifteenth, I hope the short hours ahead fuel the fires of your imagination…

Warmly

Vivienne

Friends of PlayMakers

Corporate and Foundation Partners

Desktop Computer Version of playbill available he re

The new year is off and running, and already tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow seem to be flying by! As the season continues to unfold, we find ourselves deeply moved—by the stories on our stage, by the artists who bring them to life, and by the audiences who gather with us.

There is still so much ahead. Two remarkable productions remain, each offering its own kind of magic. We will be reminded of the enduring power and poetry of Shakespeare and then turn toward a cherished Southern classic—a fitting and celebratory beginning to our 50th Anniversary.

These works invite us to reflect, to laugh, to feel, and to see ourselves and our world anew. Live theatre continues to matter-especially in moments when time feels like it’s moving just a little too fast.

As we look ahead, we do so with gratitude and anticipation. Thank you for being part of this journey, for supporting the art, and for sharing these moments with us. We hope you’ll stay through the season’s final curtain call and beyond, and we warmly invite you to celebrate with us at the PlayMakers Ball on May 2nd—an evening sure to be one to remember.

Peace,

Jackie Tanner, Chair

Donate

PlayMakers Advisory Council

Jackie Tanner, Chair

Marie Andreasen, Andrea Bates, Betsy Blackwell, Patrick Brennan, Jennifer Werner Cannizzaro, Deborah Gerhardt, Susan Gross, Amy Guskiewicz, C. Hawkins, Zach Howell, Lillian Jenks, Diane Robertson Kibbe, Duncan Lascelles, Stuart Lascelles, Robert Long, emeritus, Graig Meyer, Julie Morris, Paula Noell, Jodi Patalano, Haley Swindal, Mike Wiley, Ford Worthy

About the Author

William Shakespeare’s origins are obscure but the little evidence that we have suggests that he was christened in Stratford-on-Avon, April 26, 1564. He is traditionally assumed to have been born on April 23rd. The eldest of six children, Shakespeare came from the merchant class. His father was a tradesman who was elected Bailiff, or Mayor, of Stratford in 1568, his mother from a small landowning family. His father’s position afforded the young Shakespeare the possibility of a formal education in the town school. By 1582, Shakespeare has married Anne Hataway, and by 1585 fathered three children. Shakespeare’s family having fallen upon hard times, he was forced to seek employment outside of Stratford.

While it is quite possible that Shakespeare saw medieval pageants and traveling players as a boy in Stratford, only in the years after he left his hometown did he immerse himself in the theatre, becoming both an actor and a playwright. By 1592 he was established in London, and by 1594 had joined the prominent company the Chamberlain’s Men (which in 1603 changed its name to the King’s Men), linked in most people’s minds to the Globe Theatre built on the banks of the Thames in 1599. Shakespeare was a joint owner of the Globe and as such shared in its profits and losses. One of his great strengths as a writer came from his ability to gain both popular and critical praise. He wrote his plays considering every aspect of them through the eyes of an actor, a playwright, a businessman, a tradesman’s son, and possibly an ex-soldier, evaluating their success or failure utilizing all the facets of his professional life as well. By 1611 Shakespeare had become prosperous enough to retire to Stratford. He died in 1616 on the date of his birth, April 23. He was buried in the same Stratford church where he had been christened.

By Adam Versényi, Dramaturg

The William Shakespeare’s portrait, an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist in the old book the Great Authors, by W. Dalgleish, 1891, London

Program Notes

By Adam Versényi, Dramaturg

Since its performance before King James I at Hampton Court in 1606, Macbeth has been one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. Constantly re-written, revised, and adapted to fit the tastes or the political circumstances of the day, Macbeth has appeared in the operatic versions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that freely introduce new speeches, lavish costuming, and elaborate sets into Shakespeare’s play. Twentieth and twenty-first century productions have often been based on the 1623 Folio script of the play but have used locales as diverse as nineteenth-century Cuba, Hitler’s Germany, or the Great War of 1914-1918. Macbeth has been adapted into classical opera by Verdi and the 1992 rock opera From a Jack to a King. Several films have been made of the play, including Akira Kurosawa’s powerful Throne of Blood and Roman Polanski’s Macbeth, along with Billy Morrisette’s not so successful Scotland, PA set in a fast-food outlet. Numerous productions, including Trevor Nunn’s bare stage Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1976, have illuminated the immense ritual power at the play’s base.

The world of Macbeth, drawn by Shakespeare from Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1587), is the violent and troubled landscape of eleventh century Scotland, peopled by families and clans divided by factional feuding and internecine strife, where rival warlords (thanes) jealously guard their individual power bases. Political assassination and murders of revenge are the norm, not the exception, and foreign forces composed of marauding Vikings and Norsemen constantly stage hit-and-run raids into Scottish territory. It is, in short, a world quite familiar to those of us who watch or listen to nightly reports from the factional feuding and internecine strife in Yemen, Sudan, Nigeria, or the Middle East. Shakespeare is, yet again, our contemporary.

Macbeth is set in a particular historical moment but carries many echoes of its time of composition. Shakespeare probably wrote the play in 1606 to be performed for King James, who had recently survived the Gunpowder Plot to destroy Parliament and the Monarchy, and was a vigorous prosecutor of the witches and Jesuits he felt certain were undermining his regime from within. Rather than writing a play historically bound by these two time periods, however, Shakespeare has drawn upon the various elements of those historical moments to create in Macbeth a world that operates upon the power of suggestion. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth follow a progression of steps that, not unlike many today basing their actions on social media, is spurred by a constant source of untruth, yet acted upon as truth. In both Shakespeare’s play and our present moment our personal moral fiber is confronted by the evil within us we generally try to repress. Macbeth confronts us with our own nightmares, the perverse parts of ourselves that we would like to excise but that constitute a cancer the scalpel never quite cuts away. The third shortest play in the Shakespearean canon—only Comedy of Errors and The Tempest have fewer lines—Macbeth also moves at speed with barely any pause to catch our breath or allow the characters space to consider their actions.

The word “blood” appears over one hundred times in Macbeth even as Shakespeare gives us some of his most startling images regarding the vulnerability and innocence of babies and children. Blood in all its guise, in birth and death, in healing surgery and murderous revenge is the play’s central image and essential to any understanding of its content. For Macbeth is a play ruled to a large extent by its witches. The witches’ art is necromancy—the use of dead body parts to prophesy the future—and from their cauldron figures of children and bloody apparitions emerge to spur Macbeth’s ambition. By means of the dead the witches alter Macbeth’s idea of the world around him, giving birth to a chaotic world in which Macbeth must ultimately confront his own actions. The witches are also of the earth, the natural world, not the constructed world of humanity. While perhaps the most prominent image is of a wood that moves, Macbeth is full of instances where the man-made world and the natural world collide to ill effect. Much of Macbeth occurs in darkness, with night as an agent as well as setting for the play—an enabling force for evil.

For all of these reasons Shakespeare’s play is much more of a morality than a history play. As Stanley Cavell has written, Macbeth teaches us “that history is not of the past, but for example is in our sleep-watching of this play; so that you need not become a horror-dealing, horror-dealt tyrant in order to recognize what is worth doing and worth having. And might you learn how not to become the victim of a tyrant? But what if, after the passing of tyrants, you yourself play the confiner?” While the medieval morality play was designed to teach directly the distinction between virtuous and vice-ridden behavior, Macbeth conjures up a world wherein our individual concepts of morality are laid bare and tested, and we must decide for ourselves where virtue lies.

Macbeth

by William Shakespeare

Directed by Tracy Bersley

Scenic Designer
Alexis Distler

Costume Designer
Olivera Gajic

Lighting Designer
Amith Chandrashaker

Sound Designer & Composer
Lindsay Jones

Fight Choreographer
Dale Girard

Vocal Coach
Gwendolyn Schwinke

Dramaturg
Adam Versényi

Stage Manager
Sarah Smiley

Assistant Stage Manager
Aspen Blake Jackson

Production Technical Director
Benjamin Fink

March 4 – 22, 2026

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium is strictly prohibited.

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

Actor Bios

in Alphabetical Order

Malcolm: Reez Bailey
Lady Macbeth: Vivienne Benesch*
Seyton/Murderer 3: Dawson Boudreaux
Witch 1: Jim Bray*
Duncan/Siward: Jeffrey Blair Cornell*
Sgt./Porter/Murderer 1: Matthew Donahue
Donalbain/Young Siward: Rafael Edgerton
Lady Macduff: Delaney Jackson
Ross: Tia James*
Witch 2: Jadah Johnson
Banquo: Nate John Mark
Macbeth: Ron Menzel*
Doctor/Murderer 2/Soldier: Trevele Morgan
Lennox: Adam Moskowitz^
Witch 3: Celeste Pelletier
Ensemble: Jayden Peszko
Macduff: Allen Tedder*
Gentlewoman/Fleance: Mengwe Wapimewah
Ensemble: Laura Westray
Macduff Children: Bodhi Pruitt / Bennett Vick

Stage Managers: Sarah Smiley*, Aspen Blake Jackson*

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

UNDERSTUDIES

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

DUNCAN/SIWARD: Jeff Aguiar*

MACDUFF: Dawson Boudreaux

MACBETH: Matthew Donahue

LADY MACBETH: Elizabeth Dye

MALCOLM/SGT./MUREDER 1: Rafael Edgerton

LADY MACDUFF/PORTER: Caroline Marques

WITCH 1/ROSS: Trevele Morgan

BANQUO: Adam Moskowitz^

LENNOX/SEYTON/MURDERER 2 & 3/DOCTOR/SOLDIER/FLEANCE: Jayden Peszko

WITCH 2 & 3/DONALBAIN/YOUNG SIWARD/GENTLEWOMAN: Laura Westray

Macbeth will be performed with a 15 minute intermission.

Reez Bailey

Malcolm

PlayMakers: Company member in their third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program with the Department of Dramatic Art. You Can’t Take It With You, King James (PlayMakers Mobile), Death of a Salesman, The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones, Murder on the Orient Express, Much Ado About Nothing. Stupid F**king Bird, The Lifespan Of A Fact, The Lonesome West (PlayMakers/DDA Ground Floor). Little House On The Prairie (Frosted Glass Collective).

University: Ordinary Days (InterMission Theatre); Peter and the Starcatcher, God of Carnage (University Theatre).

Film: The Thing, Dream Killers (Student Film), Rapid Eye Movement (2022).

Education: BS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Vivienne Benesch

Lady Macbeth

See Playmakers Leadership Bio

Dawson Boudreaux

Seyton/Murderer 3 (u/s: Macduff)

PlayMakers: Company member in their first year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program with the Department of Dramatic Art. You Can’t Take It With You. The Flick, Back Back Back (PlayMakers/DDA Ground Floor)

University: Friends, Three Sisters, Long Day’s Journey Into Night with Emily Scott Banks, The Comedy of Errors, The Laramie Project, Airness (Baylor University).

Education: BFA Theatre Performance and BA Mathematics at Baylor University.

Jim Bray

Witch 1

PlayMakers: Company member in their 2nd season. You Can’t Take It With You, Little Shop of Horrors, Death of a Salesman.

New York/International: Workshop Theatre Company, New Light Theatre Project, Dixon Place. Sympathy Jones (NY Studio Cast Album), Grease (European Tour), among others.

Regional: Curse of the Starving Class (Theatre Raleigh); Elf (NC Theatre); A New Brain (Jennie T. Anderson Theatre); 33 1/3 (Dobama Theatre); The Music Man (Cain Park); Barrington Stage; Bay Street Theatre; The Musical Theatre Project; Forestburgh Playhouse; Porthouse Theatre.

Film/TV: “A Good Fight,” Born This Way,” “Mona Lisa Smile,” “CAMP,” “Strangers with Candy.”

Directing: The Flick (PlayMakers/DDA Ground Floor),Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike, Cinderella, You Can’t Take it With You, The Stonewater Rapture, Dream With Me (film), Kinky Boots (assoc. dir.).

Education: MFA in Acting from Kent State University, Maggie Flanigan Studio, Anne Bogart/SITI Company, Atlantic Acting Company in NYC. Jim has served as a faculty member at University of Northern Iowa, Stephens College, and East Carolina University. He is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Theatre in the Department of Dramatic Art at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Jeffrey Blair Cornell

Duncan/Siward

PlayMakers: Jeff is celebrating his 31st consecutive season acting with PlayMakers. Recently:Primary Trust, You Can’t Take It With You, A Good Boy (with Hidden Voices), Little Shop of Horrors, Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Murder on the Orient Express, Much Ado About Nothing, The Legend of Georgia McBride, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Ragtime, How I Learned to Drive, She Loves Me, Bewilderness. Some favorites: My Fair Lady, The Tempest, Private Lives, Doubt, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, The Illusion, Angels in America, Vanya, Sonya, Masha and Spike, Cabaret.

New York: Two by Two, Down to Earth, Serious Business.

Regional: Guthrie Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Paper Mill Playhouse, Geva Theatre Center, among others.

Education/Other: Carbonell Award nominations for Best Actor – Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me and Falsettoland (Caldwell Theatre – FL). Studied at HB Studios in New York with Uta Hagen, Austin Pendleton, and Elizabeth Wilson and received his MFA from the PATP/UNC-Chapel Hill. Recently retired from UNC’s Department of Dramatic Art, he currently serves as Visiting Lecturer. 

Matthew Donahue

Sgt./Porter/Murderer 1 (u/s: Macbeth)

PlayMakers: Company member in their third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program with the Department of Dramatic Art. You Can’t Take It With You, The Royale, Little Shop of Horrors, Death of a Salesman, The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones, Murder on the Orient Express, Every Brilliant Thing, Much Ado About Nothing. The Flick, The Lonesome West, Stupid F**king Bird (PlayMakers/DDA Ground Floor).

Regional: Little Shop of Horrors (Virginia Theatre Festival); The Fox; Peter and the Starcatcher (The Commonweal Theatre Co.); Gypsy, Oklahoma! (The Prizery).

Education: BFA Acting, East Carolina University.

Rafael Edgerton

Donalbain/Young Siward (u/s: Malcolm/Sgt./Murderer 1)

Playmakers: Debut.

University: Big Love (Kenan Theatre Company), Antigone 89 (Spotlights Theatre), 12 Steps (Spotlights Theatre), Putting up the Fence (Dramsoc), Crossing the Line (New Writing Festival).

Film: Pres (Student Film).

Other: Member of England’s National Youth Theatre.

Delaney Jackson

Lady Macduff

PlayMakers: Company member in their first year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program with the Department of Dramatic Art. 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.

Tia James

Ross

PlayMakers: Company member since 2018. Actor: 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.

Jadah Johnson

Witch 2

PlayMakers: Company member in their third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program with the Department of Dramatic Art. You Can’t Take It With You, The Wolves, Death of a Salesman, The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, The Game (u/s perf.), Much Ado About Nothing. Stupid F**king Bird (PlayMakers/DDA Ground Floor).

Regional: Too Heavy For Your Pocket (New Horizon Theatre)

Education: B.A Theatre Arts Performance and Practices at Point Park University.

Nate John Mark

Banquo

PlayMakers: Company member in their third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program with the Department of Dramatic Art. Primary Trust, You Can’t Take It With You, King James (PlayMakers Mobile), Death of a Salesman, The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Fat Ham, Much Ado About Nothing. Stupid F**king Bird, The Lifespan Of A Fact (PlayMakers/DDA Ground Floor).

Regional: Party People (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Nollywood Dreams (Open Book Theatre); Head Over Heels (Ringwald Theatre); Taming of the Shrew (Idaho Shakespeare Festival); Othello (The Acting Company/NY); Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in Detroit).

Ron Menzel

Macbeth

PlayMakers: Life of Galileo.

Broadway: Les Liaisons Dangereueses (Booth Theatre), Parisian Woman (Hudson Theatre).

Regional: Guthrie Theatre:10 productions, including Pericles/Pericles and Vito Marcantonio/The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures (World Premiere), Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle: A Soldier’s Tale, Letters from Mozart, Opera FM, and Hamlet/Death of the Maiden, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, South Coast Rep, Geva Theatre, City Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Mixed Blood Theatre, Ten Thousand Things, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Huldufolk Theatre.

Film/TV: NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Hawaii, Follow Me, Switch & Bait, Harvest, Imprisoned, Cryptos, Anonymous Content, Vernie, Fall into Me, Elementary, Blindspot, Numb3rs.

Trevele Morgan

Doctor/Murderer 2/Soldier (u/s: Witch 1/Ross)

Regional: Kill Move Paradise (Playhouse on the Park); Pericles, Prince of Tyre (Connecticut Repertory Theatre); The Flick (Jobsite Theatre); Voodoo Macbeth (Studio 620); As You Like It (Jobsite Theatre); William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead (Hat Trick Theatre).

Education: B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from the University of South Florida.

Adam Moskowitz

Lennox (u/s: Banquo)

PlayMakers: Company member in their first year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program with the Department of Dramatic Art. You Can’t Take It With You. Back Back Back (PlayMakers/DDA Ground Floor)

Regional: Fat Ham (FireHouse Theatre & Virginia Stage Company); The Three Musketeers, Henry V, Dreamgirls (Virginia Stage Company).

University: The Brother Size (Elegba); The Color Purple (Norfolk State University Theatre Company); A Soldier’s Play (co-pro with Virginia Arts Festival); LP Migration (World Premiere) written & directed by Broadway playwright Keenan Scott II (NSU Theatre Company).

Education/ Awards: B.A. Norfolk State University; KC/ACTF Distinguished Performance by an Actor (Thoughts of a Colored Man) 2024.

Celeste Pelletier

Witch 3

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

Regional: It’s A Wonderful Life, The Burn Vote, The Wolves, The Little Prince (River & Rail Theatre); King Lear, Althea and Angela (The Word Players); A Kid Like Jake, The Thanksgiving Play (Flying Anvil Theatre).

University: Airness, Three Sisters, Top Girls (Clarence Brown Theatre).

Film: The Fool (Yenno Studio).

Education: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Tennessee Knoxville, double major in Theatre (Acting Concentration).

Awards: Winning Playwright of the Tennessee Stage Company’s New Play Development Series.

Jayden Peszko

Ensemble
(u/s: Lennox /Seyton/Murderer 2 & 3/Doctor/Soldier/Fleance)

PlayMakers: Death of a Salesman.

Regional: Jayden has performed and directed in community theater in Ayden and Greenville, North Carolina.

Education: UNC School of the Arts (High School, Drama), UNC Chapel Hill.

Training: Harvey Stone at NC Governors School East.

Bodhi Pruitt

Macduff Child

PlayMakers: Debut.

Bodhi Pruitt (he/him) is 7 years old and a second grader at Hillsborough Elementary School. Born in Durham and now living in Hillsborough, he recently participated in his school’s production of Seussical and enjoys exploring music through piano lessons. When he’s not onstage, Bodhi loves playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild, swimming, and building epic forts with his older brother Calvin. When he grows up, Bodhi plans to become a Viking warrior.

Allen Tedder

Macduff

PlayMakers: Death of a Salesman, A Raisin in the Sun,The Parchman Hour, u/s for Cory in Fences.

Broadway: To Kill a Mockingbird.

Off-Broadway: Red Bull Theater, The Public Theater.

Regional: Indiana Repertory Theater, Rhinoleap, Berkshire Theater Group, Jackson Hole Playhouse.

University: R&J, Tales From Ovid, Eurydice, Julius Caesar, Our Country’s Good, The Parchman Hour; The Taming of the Shrew.

Education: MFA in Acting- The Juilliard School, BFA in Dramatic Art- UNC Chapel Hill.

Training: Tectonic Theatre, Suzuki Method, and The Viewpoints under Joseph Baker and Gleason Bauer at Governor’s School of North Carolina East.

Bennett Vick

Witch 3

PlayMakers: Debut.

Regional: The Sound of Music (Center Theater Company).

Bennett Vick (she/her) is a first grade student at Scroggs Elementary School in Chapel Hill. When she’s not acting she enjoys traveling with her family, swinging on monkey bars, swimming, and playing video games.

Mengwe Wapimewah

Gentlewoman/Fleance

PlayMakers: Company member in their third year of UNC’s Professional Actor Training Program with the Department of Dramatic Art. You Can’t Take It With You, The Wolves, Little Shop of Horrors (u/s), Confederates, Death of a Salesman, The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Fat Ham, Much Ado About Nothing. for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, The Lifespan of a Fact, Stupid F**king Bird (PlayMakers/DDA Ground Floor).

University: Recycling Theater (Stella Adler Studio of Acting); The Quiet Zone (Stella Adler Studio of Acting).

Film: MAGICKY (Pace University); Sisyphus (Pace University); Vices (JG Filmworks); Out of Luck (RK Productions).

Education: BFA Acting for Film, Television, Voiceovers, and Commercials at Pace School of Performing Arts.

Laura Westray

Ensemble
(u/s: Witch 2 & 3/Donalbain/Young Siward/Gentlewoman)

PlayMakers: Debut.

University: All’s Well That Ends Well (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), Big Love, Into the Woods, Failure: A Love Story, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Nia (Kenan Theatre Company).

Education/Awards: Honors Carolina senior undergraduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in Dramatic Art and minoring in both Musical Theatre Performance and Writing for the Screen and Stage. Acting Shakespeare Certificate from RADA. Lillian Chason Scholar and The Richard and Christopher Adler Award from UNC’s Department of Dramatic Art.

Tracy Bersley

Director

PlayMakers: Company member since 2016. Movement coach and resident choreographer. Recent highlights include directing Murder on the Orient Express and choreographing The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones, Fat Ham, Much Ado About Nothing, The Legend of Georgia McBride, and Hamlet.

Off-Broadway / New York: As director/choreographer— Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), The Lortel Theatre, Primary Stages, and many award-winning Off-Broadway companies, such as The Civilians and Red Bull Theatre.

Regional: As director/choreographer— Delaware Repertory Theater, Carolina Performing Arts, McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Eduction / Other: Served as professor or guest artist at Yale School of Drama, Princeton University, New York University, Purchase College, Columbia University/Barnard College, and The Juilliard School. Tracy received her MFA in Directing from Syracuse University and is currently head of movement of the Professional Actor Training Program in the Department of Dramatic Art at UNC-Chapel Hill, a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and a Drama League Fellow.

Alexis Distler

Scenic Designer

PlayMakers: Jump, The Christians, Tartuffe, Three Sisters, Trouble in Mind.

Off-Broadway / New York: The Turn of the Screw, Il Turco in Italia, The Marriage of Figaro, Curlew River (Julliard Opera); The Government Inspector (New World Stages and The Duke); Toast (The Public Theater).

Regional: The Piano Lesson, Having Our Say (Hartford Stage); Intimate Apparel (McCarter Theatre); Nureyev’s Eyes, Daddy Long Legs (George Street Playhouse); In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play—Winner of the Barrymore Award (The Wilma Theater).

Education / Other: MFA: NYU.

www.alexisdistler.com

Olivera Gajic

Costume Designer

PlayMakers: Sense and Sensibility.

Theaters: Salzburg Festival, Austria; Vineyard Theatre; Juilliard School; HERE Arts Center; Pig Iron; CSC; Lake Lucille; Talking Band, Two River; Arden; Trinity Rep and many other regional theaters.

Other: US National Exhibit at the 2004 & 2007 Prague Quadrennial. 2004 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers, 2010 IT Award for Outstanding Costume Design, 2011 TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, 2012 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Costume Design, and 2014 Bessie Award for Outstanding Visual Design. USA local 829.

Amith Chandrashaker

Lighting Designer

PlayMakers: Jump, She Loves Me.

Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic (Tony Nom.), Merrily We Roll Along, and Purpose.

Off-Broadway / New York: The Public, Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, The Atlantic, and The Signature.

Regional: Second Stage, Manhattan Theater Club, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, The Geffen, and The Huntington.

Opera: The Glimmerglass Festival, Houston Grand Opera, and Washington National Opera.

Dance: Staatstheater Nuremberg, The Lyon Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet of New Zealand, The Joyce, and The National Dance Company of Wales.

Education: BFA Rutgers University: Mason Gross School of the Arts 2005, MFA NYU Tisch School of the Arts 2012. He is the recipient of The Drama Desk and Henry Hewes awards; Union Trustee for United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE; and faculty at The University of Maryland’s School for Theatre Dance and Performance Studies.

Lindsay Jones

Sound Designer & Composer

PlayMakers: Dairyland.

Broadway: Slave Play, The Nap, Bronx Bombers, A Time To Kill.

Off-Broadway: Privacy, Dry Powder (Public Theater); Mankind, Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons); Feeding The Dragon (Primary Stages) and many others.

West End/International: Slave Play (Noel Coward Theatre), Henry IV part 1 & 2 (Royal Shakespeare Company), Titus Andronicus (Stratford Shakespeare Festival).

Regional: South Coast Repertory, Arena Stage, Goodman, McCarter, The Old Globe, Steppenwolf, Guthrie, Hartford Stage, Chicago Shakespeare, Lookingglass.

Film/Television scoring work: The Brass Teapot for Magnolia Pictures, A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin (2006 Academy Award Winner) for HBO Films.

Podcasts/Audio Drama: Audible, Disney, DC Comics, Marvel, Penguin/Random House, Next Chapter Podcasts.

Awards: Tony Award nominations for Best Original Score and Best Sound Design Of A Play, Webby Award, Ambie Award, three Signal Awards, seven Joseph Jefferson Awards; two Ovation Awards; multiple nominations for Drama Desk, Barrymore, and Helen Hayes. Co-chair of the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA).

www.lindsayjones.com

Dale Girard

Fight Choreographer

PlayMakers: Debut. An award-winning Fight Director, Choreographer, and author of the theatrical swordplay manual Actors On Guard. He is one of only twenty-one Fight Masters recognized by the Society of American Fight Directors, a founding member of the North Carolina Stuntmen’s Association, and recognised internationally with Canadian, British and Russian stage combat guilds. His work has been featured at the Metropolitan Opera, The Folger Theatre, Signature Theatre, Arden Theatre, Screen credits include over 60 IMDb listings as a professional Stunt Coordinator and Performer; notably, he is the only person to ever be intentionally set on fire for a Super Bowl halftime show. A Master Teacher, Dale served on the faculty of the UNCSA School of Drama for over twenty years and has taught at Yale, the National Theatre Conservatory, and the Hartt School. He currently instructs the stage combat classes for the UNC MFA actors in this production.

Gwendolyn Schwinke

Vocal Coach

PlayMakers: Company member since 2019. Voice/Dialect Coach:Confederates, Fat Ham, Much Ado About Nothing, Clyde’s, Blues for an Alabama Sky, As You Like It, and many more.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 with Prague Shakespeare Company and 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. Coaching at Utah Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare & Company (seven seasons), Clarence Brown Theatre, Frank Theatre, and more Actor with multiple regional theatres. Director: PlayMakers/PATP Ground Floor, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, Walker Art Center, Atlantic Stage, The Playwrights’ Center, Switch Theatre, and others.

Teaching: David G. Frey Scholar/Associate Professor of Voice & Speech. Designated Linklater Voice Teacher and Mentor/Trainer, Guild-certified Feldenkrais Teacher, Certified Teacher of Louis Colaianni Approach to Speech & Accents.

Adam Versényi

Dramaturg

Dramaturgy: Resident Dramaturg, PlayMakers Repertory Company since 1988. Recently: What the Constitution Means to Me, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, The Skin of Our Teeth, Julius Caesar, Native Son, Life of Galileo. 7 Stages; NEA Playwrighting Fellows Program; Theatre Previews at Duke; Critics Panel, IV Hispanic Theatre Festival (Teatro Avante); Florida Studio Theatre; Yale Repertory Theatre; La MaMa E.T.C.; Festival Latino (New York Shakespeare Festival).

Directing: The Nutcracker (PlayMakers); The Agony of Ecstasy; El Día Que Me Quieras; The Black American Dream; Hughie; The Indians Were Angry; Bitter Blood; The Lesson; No Exit.

Publications: The Dramaturgy of Space, Ramón Griffero: Your Desires in Fragments and Other Plays.; The Theater of Sabina Berman: The Agony of Ecstasy and Other Plays; El Teatro en América Latina; Theatre in Latin America: Religion, Politics, and Culture from Cortes to the 1980s.

Other: Fulbright Senior Lecturer, Colombia, South America. Member, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

Faculty: UNC-Chapel Hill; Deep Springs College; Escuela de Bellas Artes, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia; Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramático, Bogotá, Colombia.

Education: DFA, Yale School of Drama.

Sarah Smiley

Stage Manager

This is Sarah’s 14th season with PlayMakers, since first joining the company in 2005. She has worked professionally for over 30 years in the entertainment and theatrical industries, in theme parks and road houses in eight states and the U.K. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and has been active in USITT and the Stage Managers’ Association. She received her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa.

Aspen Blake Jackson

Assistant Stage Manager

PlayMakers: 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. Pippin, The Prom, The Drowsy Chaperone, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Summer Youth Conservatory).

Aspen is delighted to be returning for her fourth season with PlayMakers Repertory Company. A graduate of UNC Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Vocal Performance and Dramatic Arts.

Benjamin Fink

Production Technical Director

PlayMakers: Benjamin is a graduate student in his third year of UNC’s Technical Production MFA Program with the Department of Dramatic Art, serving as Production Technical Director for You Can’t Take It With You and Macbeth as his thesis project. Credits include: Confederates (TD), The Christmas Case of Hezekiah Jones (ATD).

Regional: Bandstand (TD), Newsies, Jersey Boys (ATD) (The REV Theatre)

Education: BA in Theatre Arts from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.

UP NEXT

By Robert Harling

Directed By Lisa Rothe

April 8-26, 2026

In a small-town beauty salon, six Southern women gather to share laughter, heartache, and everything in between. Through it all, their friendship endures every tear and triumph, proving that the strongest bonds are built with humor, heart, and hairspray. Learn more.

PlayMakers Leadership

Vivienne Benesch

Producing Artistic Director

Vivienne is in her tenth full season as a company member and Producing Artistic Director with PlayMakers, where she has helmed productions of The Game, Hamlet, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Storyteller, Dairyland, Life of Galileo, Leaving Eden, The May Queen, Three Sisters, Love Alone, RED, and In The Next Room. In her time with the company, she is particularly proud to have produced 14 world premieres and launched PlayMakers Mobile, a touring production aimed at reaching underserved audiences around the Triangle. For 12 seasons, she served as Artistic Director of the renowned Chautauqua Theater Company and Conservatory, presiding over the company’s transformation into one of the country’s best summer theatres and most competitive summer training programs. Vivienne directed both the world premiere of Noah Haidle’s Birthday Candles for Detroit Public Theatre and, in 2022, its Broadway production starring Debra Messing. She has also directed for Studio Theatre and the Folger Shakespeare Theatre in D.C. (Helen Hayes nomination for best direction), The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Trinity Repertory Company, NY Stage & Film, and Red Bull Theatre, among others. She will direct Measure for Measure at The Old Globe in San Diego in June of 2026. As an actress, Vivienne has worked on and off-Broadway, in film and television, at many of the country’s most celebrated theatres, and received an Obie Award for her performance in Lee Blessing’s Going to St. Ives.

Vivienne is a graduate of Brown University and NYU’s Graduate Acting Program. As an educator, she has directed for and served on the faculty of some of the nation’s foremost actor training programs, including The Juilliard School, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Professional Actor Training Program, Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Program, and at her alma mater, NYU. She is a recipient of the prestigious Zelda Fichandler Award given by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation.

Tina CoyneSmith

Director of External Relations

Tina is excited to begin her first season with PlayMakers Repertory Company! She will oversee all aspects of external affairs including revenue, marketing, communications, and audience development strategies. Tina brings with her close to three decades of external relations experience at UNC-Chapel Hill, a majority of that organizing the work of the Board of Directors for the Arts & Sciences Foundation. She has served on the development teams for the Ackland Art Museum, the Kenan Flagler Business School, the Adams School of Dentistry, and the Duke University Nasher Museum of Art. Tina looks forward to connecting with patrons, alumni, and our broader community to share a passion for theatre and to build support that will sustain PlayMakers as a vibrant hub for creativity and world-class performance. Tina earned degrees in English from Loyola University in Maryland and the College of William & Mary (with an honors thesis in 18th C. drama). She is passionate about Shakespeare, eclipses, colonial American history, musicals, musicals about colonial American history, grammar, photography, escape rooms, games, roller coasters, and air fryers! Expect an invitation to coffee to rhapsodize about all of the above as well as the treasure that is PlayMakers!

Maura J. Murphy

Director of Operations

Maura is here for her tenth full season, returning after a 23-year hiatus. In that time, she honed her administrative skills at Duke, NCSU and of course, Carolina. She was production stage manager for PlayMakers from 1993-1996 and general manager from 1996-1999. Education: EdD and MS in Higher Education Administration, NCSU; BA in Drama, Muhlenberg College.

Michael Rolleri

Production Manager

Michael is in his 39^th season with PlayMakers Repertory Company. He has been Technical Director, Project Manager, Exhibition Technician, and Lighting Designer for industrial shows in the Southeast region, as well as lead carpenter for films, the U.S. Olympic Festival, and scenic studios. He has also been a rigger in the Southeast region and has served on the executive board and as President of IATSE Local 417. Michael is a 30-year Gold Pin member of IATSE. An active United States Institute For Theatre Technology (USITT) member, he is a three-time winner at USITT’s Tech Expo. He is a full Professor/Head of the Technical Production Program at UNC-Chapel Hill and was an instructor at High Point University and Tufts University. Education: MFA in Design and Technical Production, UNC-Greensboro.

Our Mission

PlayMakers Repertory Company is North Carolina’s premier professional theatre company, proudly in residence on the dynamic campus of the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. Our mission is to produce relevant, courageous work that tells stories from and for a multiplicity of perspectives. We believe that theatre can have a transformational impact on individuals and entire communities, and we are committed to making our work accessible to all. PlayMakers also serves as the professional laboratory for UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of Dramatic Art, nurturing future generations of artists and audiences.

PlayMakers is…

(American Theatre Magazine), PlayMakers Repertory Company is North Carolina’s premier professional theatre company, proudly in residence on the dynamic campus of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The professional company was founded in 1976, growing out of a storied 100-year tradition of playmaking at Carolina.

“One of America’s Best Regional Theatres”

At the very heart of the PlayMakers experience is one of the nation’s last remaining resident theatre companies, made up of accomplished performers, directors, designers, artisans, and technicians, and supported by exceptional graduate students in UNC’s Department of Dramatic Art. Our company works side by side with guest artists from all over the world and our alumni include Pulitzer Prize, Tony®, Emmy®, and Grammy Award® winners.

Creating Tomorrow’s Classics, Today

Producing Artistic Director Vivienne Benesch is continuing PlayMakers’ tradition of producing vibrantly reimagined classics, large-scale musical theatre, and significant contemporary work, but is also broadening the company’s reach to become a home for new play development and a true hub of social and civic discourse in the region. Her first seven seasons have already given life to twelve important new American plays.

A Hub of Engagement

PlayMakers seeks to provoke thought, stimulate discussion, and push the boundaries of the theatrical form in everything we do. Whether through our intimate @PLAY series, our mainstage offerings or our virtual line-up, we look for opportunities for direct, dynamic engagement between audiences, artists, and thinkers. We also offer a host of unique engagement opportunities designed to enrich our audience’s experience of the live arts.

Theatre for the People

PlayMakers Mobile is an initiative that seeks to contribute positively to the civic and social life of our region by taking world-class theatre out of our building and into the community. We create a streamlined production of a play and take it to schools, transitional housing facilities, and long-term treatment facilities around the Greater Triangle area. And best of all, it’s all free of charge.

Passing the Torch

PlayMakers’ award-winning Summer Youth Conservatory is the only professionally supported training program of its kind in the region. The Theatre Quest program provides camps to area middle school and high school students, while the Theatre Intensive and TheatreTech programs allow Triangle high schoolers to apprentice directly with professional directors, choreographers, musical directors, and technicians, culminating in a professional quality production on the PlayMakers mainstage for the whole community to enjoy.

Eliminating Barriers

With a commitment to eliminating barriers for attendance, PlayMakers offers All Access performances for our patrons living with disabilities. We also offer accessible $20 tickets for all performances and ticket prices are reduced to just $10 for UNC students. For more information, please contact prcboxoffice@unc.edu.

PlayMakers’ 2024/25 Season is Made Possible in Part by Grants from

Foundation Support

Joan H. Gillings Foundation, Frey Foundation, Robertson Foundation, The Educational Foundation of America, Highland Vineyard Foundation, The Shelby Family Foundation, Rao Family Foundation, T. Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving

Additional Funding for Guest Artists is Provided by

Jeffrey Hayden Guest Lectureship Fund, Robert Boyer and Margaret Boyer Fund, Louise Lamont Fund, Emeriti Professors Charles and Shirley Weiss Fund

Corporate Council

Craven Allen Gallery & House of Frames, Larry’s Coffee, Mediterranean Deli, Bakery, and Catering, Metal Supermarkets Raleigh, Pineapple Sol Catering, Pinsieline Properties LLC, University Florists, Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe, Lanza’s, Top Of The Hill.

Associates

Glasshalfull

PlayMakers Repertory Company is a program of the Department of Dramatic Art, The College of Arts and Sciences, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, recognizes PlayMakers as a professional theatre organization and provides grant assistance to this organization from funds appropriated by the North Carolina General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. PlayMakers is a beneficiary of the Elizabeth Price Kenan Endowment and the Lillian Hughes Prince Endowment.

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

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.

For this Production

Matthew Donahue, Fight Captain
Natalia Báez Ortiz, Assistant to Scenic Designer
Abby Bouck, Assistant to Lighting Designer
Benjamin Fink, Production Technical Director
Laura Pates, Assistant Technical Director
Bruce Hearrell, Shop Lead
Kris Kingsolver, Jessica Land, Francis Werth, Drapers
Mackenzie Privett, First Hand/Stitcher
Jillian Gregory, Crafts Supervisor
Bailey Mae Doran, Assistant Costume Shop Manager
Maize Aubin, Audio Engineer
Emma Clements, Minors Supervisor

PlayMakers’ Resident Acting Company

Jim Bray
Jeffrey Blair Cornell
Samuel Ray Gates
Julia Gibson
Kathryn Hunter-Williams
Tia James
Gwendolyn Schwinke

Professional Actor Training Program:

Reez Bailey, Dawson Bourdreaux, Matthew Donahue, Elizabeth Dye, Delany Jackson, Jadah Johnson, Nate John Mark, Caroline Marques, Trevele Morgan, Adam Moskowitz, Celeste Pelletier, Mengwe Wapimewah

Administration

Vivienne Benesch, Producing Artistic Director

Artistic

Jeff Aguiar, Director of Engagement
Bridgette Bagley, Assistant to Producing Artistic Director
Tracy Bersley, Movement Coach/Choreographer
Chelsea James, Associate Producer
Tia James, Vocal Coach
Gregory Kable, Dramaturg
Jacqueline E. Lawton, Dramaturg
Mark Perry, Dramaturg
Gwendolyn Schwinke, Vocal Coach
Adam Versényi, Dramaturg
Anna Brooke Keisler, Artistic Asistant Work Study

Management

Lisa Geeslin, Accountant
Charisse Holloway, Admin Support Specialist.
Amy Evans, General Manager
Zoë Lord, Company Manager
Maura J. Murphy, Director of Operations
Selima Ahmed, Rachna Singh, Work Studies

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 Marketing Associate
Alex James, Audience Services Associate
Salem Jones, Audience Services Associate
Hannah LaMarlowe, Marketing Specialist
Ava Lytle, Audience Services Associate
Thomas Porter, Box Office Manager
Rosalie Preston, Director of Marketing & Sales
Alicia Norman, Sophie Taylor: Student House Managers
Micah Kennel: Student Box Office Manager.
Spenser Brenton, Albert Carlson, Maggie Thornton, Student Assistants
Charlie Bagwell, Christopher Bailey, Lynlee Collins, Ella Flaim, Lindsey Kanipe, Talise Koonce, Alex Lankford, An Thanh Nguyen, Leah Page, Kas Perez, Divae Scott, Mira Teague, Box Office and Front of House Work Studies

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
McKay Coble, Professor
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, Assistant Professor
Gregory Kable, Teaching Professor
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
Tao Wang, Assistant Professor

Administration

Weston Barker, Program Specialist
Lucas Branch, 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

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
Jillian Gregory, Kris Kingsolver Jessica Land, Bailey Mae Doran, Mackenzie Privett, Francis Werth, Costume Production Graduate Students
Ellie Steever, First Hand/Stitcher
Katherine Craig, Theo Kendrick, Ellis Vanderburg, Costume Shop Work Studies
Saturn Brundick, Ellison Brown, Costume Shop Undergraduate Assistants
Natasha Harm, Wardrobe Assistant Work Study
Ava Kennel, Costume Stock Work Study
Maya Tilson, COSTAR Historic Costume Collection Assistant Work Study

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
Sarah Smiley, Stage Manager
Kayla Jordan, 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
Benjamin Fink, Roark, Gibson Cameron, Josh Zietak, Technical Production Graduate Students

BE OUR MVP

We’re running a playbook filled with reimagined classics, bold new voices, and blockbuster favorites. At PlayMakers you’ll see champions: our acclaimed resident company brings their A Game to every performance alongside guest artists who boast Pulitzer, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Awards.

But unlike athletes with sponsorship deals, our players don’t have big contracts. With ticket sales covering just under 40% of expenses, we rely on you to keep the magic of theatre alive in the Triangle.

When you give to the PlayMakers Fund, you support:

Our championship team—the PlayMakers resident company
Award-winning guest artists from across the globe
Sets, lighting, sound, and costumes—Broadway-quality made here
New work commissions that amplify multiple voices
K–12 student matinees and the Summer Youth Conservatory

When you support PlayMakers, you’re not just cheering from the sidelines—you’re making the winning play. Be part of the team that makes it all possible.

Be Our MVP Today!

Donate

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

Patron Spotlight

(Photo By Jeyhoun Allebaugh/UNC-Chapel Hill).

Betsy Blackwell and John Watson

We each grew up in communities with strong theatre cultures, and we learned early the magic and power of live theatre. As we moved around the US and Europe, theatre was always something our family “did” on both sides of the curtain. When we retired, Chapel Hill beckoned, not just because we were college sweethearts here, but because this community values theatre and the arts so highly. This region is so fortunate to be home to one of the legendary professional repertory companies where generations of actors, stage technicians, and artisans work wit professionals to hone their crafts.

PlayMakers is about to celebrate 50 years as a professional theatre! Supporting the theatre’s 50th anniversary with a gift of $50,000 felt both symbolic and necessary. PlayMakers has never thought small. With daring productions featuring 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 others will join us in giving 50 for 50! When you give to PlayMakers, you’re not just supporting a season—you’re sustaining an important local treasure, ensuring its legacy, and helping shape the next 50 years of storytelling in our community.

Table of Contents

PlayMakers Advisory Council

About the Author

Program Notes

Macbeth

by William Shakespeare

Directed by Tracy Bersley

March 4 – 22, 2026

Actor Bios

Reez Bailey

Malcolm

Vivienne Benesch

Lady Macbeth

Dawson Boudreaux

Seyton/Murderer 3 (u/s: Macduff)

Jim Bray

Witch 1

Jeffrey Blair Cornell

Duncan/Siward

Matthew Donahue

Sgt./Porter/Murderer 1 (u/s: Macbeth)

Rafael Edgerton

Donalbain/Young Siward (u/s: Malcolm/Sgt./Murderer 1)

Delaney Jackson

Lady Macduff

Tia James

Ross

Jadah Johnson

Witch 2

Nate John Mark

Banquo

Ron Menzel

Macbeth

Trevele Morgan

Doctor/Murderer 2/Soldier (u/s: Witch 1/Ross)

Adam Moskowitz

Lennox (u/s: Banquo)

Celeste Pelletier

Witch 3

Jayden Peszko

Ensemble (u/s: Lennox /Seyton/Murderer 2 & 3/Doctor/Soldier/Fleance)

Bodhi Pruitt

Macduff Child

Allen Tedder

Macduff

Bennett Vick

Witch 3

Mengwe Wapimewah

Gentlewoman/Fleance

Laura Westray

Ensemble(u/s: Witch 2 & 3/Donalbain/Young Siward/Gentlewoman)

Tracy Bersley

Director

Alexis Distler

Scenic Designer

Olivera Gajic

Costume Designer

Amith Chandrashaker

Lighting Designer

Lindsay Jones

Sound Designer & Composer

Dale Girard

Fight Choreographer

Gwendolyn Schwinke

Vocal Coach

Adam Versényi

Dramaturg

Sarah Smiley

Stage Manager

Aspen Blake Jackson

Assistant Stage Manager

Benjamin Fink

Production Technical Director

UP NEXT

By Robert Harling

Directed By Lisa Rothe

April 8-26, 2026

PlayMakers Leadership

Vivienne Benesch

Producing Artistic Director

Ensemble
(u/s: Lennox /Seyton/Murderer 2 & 3/Doctor/Soldier/Fleance)

Ensemble
(u/s: Witch 2 & 3/Donalbain/Young Siward/Gentlewoman)