PlayMakers Repertory Company, the professional theater in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is hosting renowned theater ensemble SITI Company of New York City as it develops a new performance piece.
SITI Company’s new work entitled “Who Do You Think You Are” is being developed with artistic, technical and administrative support provided by PlayMakers. The ensemble will stage the theatrical work-in-progress at 7:30 p.m., May 18 at Frey Rehearsal Hall in the Center for Dramatic Art on Country Club Road.
The performance is free and open to the public; however, space is limited and based on availability. To reserve seats, email PRCresidencies@gmail.com.
The piece had its inception in conversations between SITI Company founder Anne Bogart and former UNC associate professor of psychiatry R. Grant Steen. This dramatic exploration of the principles of brain science uses the structure and aesthetics of the Rainer Werner Fassbinder film “Katzelmacher” as a jumping off point to present a society that is complex, repressed and verging on domestic violence.
The work-in-progress is presented as part of the current season of the Process Series, a program dedicated to the development and presentation of new and significant works in the performing arts to area audiences and the UNC community. A discussion with the creative artists will follow. The Process Series is a program of Carolina Performing Arts, co-sponsored by the department of communication studies. For more information, visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org/process-series.
SITI Company is at PlayMakers for two weeks as part of a residency program that provides support for the company’s creative research and development with access to PlayMakers’ professional staff, production shops, rehearsal halls, performance spaces and the intellectual resources of UNC. SITI will then take its creation, devised from the media of theater, dance, performance art, video, visual art, music and other imaginative influences, and incubated at PlayMakers, on to performances around the world.
SITI is the second participant in the PlayMakers residency, which is supported by a $200,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funding three annual residencies by theater ensembles. The grant also supports the Innovate@Carolina Campaign, a $125 million drive to help make Carolina a world leader in launching university-born ideas for the good of society. To learn more about the campaign, visit innovate.unc.edu.
SITI Company is a unique organization committed to providing a “gymnasium-for-the-soul” where the interaction of art, artists, audiences and ideas inspire the possibility for change, optimism and hope. To learn more, visit www.siti.org.
Based in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, PlayMakers is the Carolinas’ premiere resident professional theater company. The Drama League of New York has named PlayMakers one of the best regional theaters in America. Ticket packages are currently available for PlayMakers’ 2012-2013 season. For more on the new season, visit www.playmakersrep.org.
SITI website: www.siti.org.
PlayMakers website: www.playmakersrep.org.
PlayMakers contact: Connie Mahan, (919) 962-5359, cmahan@email.unc.edu.
Process Series contact: Joseph Megel, (919) 843-7067, megel@email.unc.edu or cpaengagement@unc.edu.
Carolina Performing Arts contact: Ellen James, (919) 843-0516, Ellen_James@unc.edu.