Seminar | PlayMakers Repertory Company

Directed by Michael Dove

Blood, Sweat and Tears in the Writer’s Den

Four aspiring young writers ante up big bucks to learn from a legendary novelist, but their fiction and their egos will be unsparingly dissected before he’s through. Ray Dooley (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) leads the no-holds-barred master class on power, sex and the nature of art. Ferocious and fast-paced with sparkling wordplay, Seminar takes no prisoners.

“Furiously funny”
San Francisco Chronicle

“Consistently clever and entertaining”
USA Today

“Wickedly funny – breathtaking in its audacity”
The Examiner

Reviews

Ray Dooley plays a brutal writing guru in a brilliant Seminar at PlayMakers Repertory Company
By Byron Woods
INDY Week
October 21, 2015

Theater review: PlayMakers stages highly satisfying ‘Seminar’
By Roy C. Dicks
The News & Observer
October 19, 2015

Dooley Gives Tough Lessons in PRC’s SEMINAR
By Kate Dobbs Ariail
The Five Points Star
October 19, 2015

Seminar Makes for a Very Enjoyable 90 Minutes of Entertainment at PlayMakers Repertory Company
By Martha Keravuori and Chuck Galle
Triangle Arts & Entertainment
October 18, 2015

Weekend Best Bets: Pumpkins, Plays and Pork
By Jessica Stringer
Chapel Hill Magazine
October 22, 2015

Ray Dooley Stars as Leonard, the Ego-Shredding Writing Teacher, in Seminar by Theresa Rebeck
By Robert w. McDowell
Triangle Arts & Entertainment
October 14, 2015

PlayMakers’ ‘Seminar’ brings UNC dramatic arts Masters students to stage
By Kacey Rigsby
The Daily Tar Heel
October 13, 2015

Artists

Schuyler Scott Mastain

Seminar Makes the Grade

The "brutally hilarious" Seminar has critics and audiences alike raving about this “bitingly funny” show.

Seminar: Special Post-Show Conversation Sunday, Oct 25

Join PlayMakers for a post-show discussion with UNC Creative Writing faculty Daniel Wallace and Randall Kenan this Sunday, Oct 25 following the 2pm matinee performance of Seminar.

Jade Bettin Brings New York Style to Seminar

In our last post, PlayMakers resident costume designer Jade Bettin (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Metamorphoses, Clybourne Park, Mary’s Wedding) described the influences that inspired her in creating clothes for Leonard and the young writers-in-progress in Seminar. Now take a look at some of Jade’s sketches for her New York-inspired designs paired with snapshots of how they “come to life” in the production onstage.

Presenting Identity Through Clothing in Seminar

When approaching the costume design for a play set in modern day New York City, it might seem surprising that it was the words of an ancient Greek man that would catch my attention and so perfectly capture the sentiment I was aiming for: “Know first who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly” (Epicetus 44-135 AD). Of course this has resonance because it applies just as much to the way we approach dress today as it did then.

Seminar: Let’s Be Brutally Honest

Theresa Rebeck’s Seminar, with its conversation surrounding mentorship and education is, in many ways, the perfect play for production by a theatre company like PlayMakers located on a university campus. That conversation is even more relevant when it quickly becomes clear that the seminar in question is concerned with creative writing, a discipline with a long strong history on the UNC campus. The South is a region known for the strength of its fiction writers, many nurtured by programs like ours here in Chapel Hill.

Ray Dooley: Finding and Becoming Leonard in Seminar

In Seminar, Ray Dooley plays the ruthless and frank character of Leonard, a writer/editor who conducts private seminars with young writers looking for both expert criticism and connections to the field of publishing.

What We Can Learn Through Seminar

Michael Dove, founding Artistic Director of Forum Theatre in Washington, DC and winner of three Helen Hayes Awards, makes his PlayMakers debut directing Seminar. Michael says, "the thing I most often find myself thinking about in rehearsals for this play is how painfully difficult it is to know yourself."

Reviews

Artists

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