A cast of 25 young student actors will perform the Tony Award-winning musical satire “Urinetown: The Musical” July 19-22 in the Paul Green Theatre at the Center for Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
PlayMakers Repertory Company, the professional theater in residence at UNC, will present the stage production as the culmination of its popular Summer Youth Conservatory.
Shows will be at 7:30 p.m. on July 19-21 and 2 p.m. on July 22 in the Paul Green Theatre inside the Center for Dramatic Art located on Country Club Road. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and children under 18 and may be purchased by calling 919.962.7529, online at www.playmakersrep.org or at the PlayMakers Box Office.
In “Urinetown” water is worth its weight in gold. Twenty years of disastrous drought have led to draconian water restrictions. Citizens are forced to use public, pay-per-use facilities operated by Urine Good Company. But what happens if the people rebel?
Inspired by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, “Urinetown” is an irreverent satire in which no one is safe from scrutiny, a comedic romp with wickedly modern wit. Inspired by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, the musical is an irreverent satire in which no one is safe from scrutiny, a comedic romp with wickedly modern wit, said Jeffrey Meanza, PlayMakers associate artistic director. “‘Urinetown’ is an uproarious and earnest tale of love, greed and revolution – an outrageous, tongue-in-cheek show that’s fun for the whole family.”
“Urinetown” will be co-directed by longtime PlayMakers acting company member and UNC dramatic art professorJulie Fishell and guest director Jeff Stanley. Ms. Fishell appeared in PlayMakers’ “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (2011) and has been part of the Summer Youth Conservatory teaching team since its inception in 2007. Mr. Stanley is a professional director based at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Conn. and a professor of theater at Fairfield University.
The conservatory is a unique theater experience for young people: an educational and performance opportunity that includes working with professional directors, choreographers and musical directors at PlayMakers Repertory Company.
The Summer Youth Conservatory has been honored by the North Carolina Theatre Conference with the Constance Welsh Youth Theatre Award for excellence in performance, service of mission and community outreach and recognized the conservatory as having “become a model program for youth theatre in North Carolina.”
The conservatory features three programs: Theatre Intensive and Theatre Tech for high school students and a new program called Theatre Quest for middle-schoolers.
Beginning Monday (June 18), 25 high school actors in the Theatre Intensive program will have the opportunity to train, rehearse and perform “Urinetown” in PlayMakers’ professional theater space as part of this award-winning program.
In TheatreTech, an in-depth program in scenic, costume, and lighting design, students will participate in 10 days of technical curriculum followed by a month-long apprenticeship with PlayMakers’ professional staff.
Theatre Quest (June 18-July 20) is a series of weeklong classes that will give middle school students the opportunity to train with professional artists in a different subject each week: including Intro to Acting, Shakespeare and Stage Combat, Acting for the Camera and Improv/Character Development. Students can participate in one week of training or all five. A limited number of spots are still available for Theatre Quest. Contact PlayMakers education manager Jennifer Wales at (919) 962-2491 or jwales@unc.edu to enroll. Tuition is $300 per week.
PlayMakers is based in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences. The Drama League has named the company “one of the best regional theaters in America.” For information about PlayMakers’ 2012-13 season, which begins in September, visit www.playmakersrep.org. Season ticket packages are currently available.
Website: For more information on the Summer Youth Conservatory, visit playmakersrep.org/outreach/syc.
PlayMakers contact: Connie Mahan, (919) 962-5359, cmahan@email.unc.edu.