A Thoreau-ly absurd night on Walden Pond with one philosopher, two brothers, and a wisecracking woodchuck
Who: PlayMakers Repertory Company
What: PRC2 production of “Bewilderness,” written and directed by Zack Fine
When: January 9 to 13, 2019, Opening/Press Night January 9
Where: Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art, 120 Country Club Road, Chapel Hill, NC
Tickets: Regular: $35; Students: $10 with valid UNC photo ID; Community Night: $15
Press Packet, Photos, etc
(Chapel Hill, NC, December 17, 2018) PlayMakers Repertory Company proudly presents “Bewilderness,” a PlayMakers commission and the second production in its 2018/19 PRC2 Kenan Stage series. Written and directed by Zack Fine, “Bewilderness” invites us into the upside-down, creatively chaotic world of a playwright inspired by and obsessed with the great American philosopher, Henry David Thoreau. In this madcap comedy, the famous cabin on Walden Pond plays host not only to Thoreau, but also to his brother, his mother, Ralph Waldo Emerson, some singing doctors, and a wisecracking woodchuck.
“I am so thrilled and grateful to be returning to PlayMakers, this time as a playwright and director as well as an actor, and to have the opportunity to work again with the amazing Company here,” said Fine. “I set out to create an irreverent and absurd world where audiences can participate in the sheer joy of the theatre while also taking a dip into the pond of one of America’s great philosophers, Henry David Thoreau.”
“Zack is an inspirational artist and human being, and we are all so happy that he’s developing his first play with us here in Chapel Hill,” said PlayMakers’ Producing Artistic Director Vivienne Benesch. “He’s a perennial audience favorite on stage (‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’) but ‘Bewilderness’ allows us to relish in a new side of Zack: the amazingly funny, insanely creative, thoughtful, and thoroughly entertaining comedic playwright. Audiences will leave the theatre grinning from ear to ear, with their hearts a little bigger and their brains a little brighter. I hope everyone will stick around for the post-show discussions to hear more from Zack and a number of other whip smart voices from our community.”
Performances of “Bewilderness” will be at 7:30 p.m. nightly January 9 to 13, 2019, with a 2:00 p.m. matinee on January 13, 2019. Following each performance will be a post-show conversation with the creative team and scholars and other creatives from throughout the Triangle.
For more information, visit www.playmakersrep.org or call (919) 962-7529.
“Bewilderness” features David Adamson (“Leaving Eden,” “Three Sisters”), Jeffrey Blair Cornell (“Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “My Fair Lady”), Geoffrey Culbertson (“Sense and Sensibility,” “Twelfth Night”) Rishan Dhamija (“Tartuffe,” “Leaving Eden”), Ray Dooley (“Tartuffe,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”), Julia Gibson (“She Loves Me,” “The Cake,”), Brandon Haynes (“Tartuffe”,” PlayMakers Mobile “Macbeth”), Kathryn Hunter-Williams (“Skeleton Crew,” “Tartuffe”), Dan Toot (“Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “Sense and Sensibility”), and Zack Fine (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Into the Woods”).
The Creative Team of “Bewilderness” includes: Zack Fine (Playwright and Director), McKay Coble (Scenic Designer), Derrick Ivey (Costume Designer), Dominic Abbenante (Lighting Designer), Derek A. Graham (Sound Designer), and Charles K. Bayang (Stage Manager).
About PlayMakers:
PlayMakers Repertory Company is North Carolina’s premier professional theatre company. For more than 40 years, we have produced relevant and courageous work that tells stories from and for a multiplicity of perspectives, and creates transformational impact in our immediate and extended communities. We are proud to be part of a 100 year tradition of playmaking at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. PlayMakers has been named one of the “best regional theatres in America”.
About the PRC2 Series:
PRC2 features innovative, topical work that encourages both artist and audience to take risks in unknown territory. Experience intimate, important new works by contemporary voices grappling with many of today’s hot button issues. Each production is followed by a “second act” of conversation where audiences engage in discussions with the creative artists and expert panelists from throughout North Carolina.
PlayMakers Contacts:
For press information and interviews, contact Diana Pineda, Director of Sales and Marketing, at dmpineda@email.unc.edu or 919.962.7114
For photos or poster art and other PlayMakers questions, please contact Rosalie Preston, Associate Director of Marketing, at rosalie@unc.edu or 919.962.6997
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