Carolina Performing Arts

Carolina Performing Arts is the name adopted by the UNC Office of the Executive Director for the Arts, the department responsible for the planning and promotion of the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

program, and for venues such as Memorial Hall, Historic Playmakers Theatre, and Gerrard Hall on the University's campus.

PlayMakers Repertory Company

PlayMakers Repertory Company is the fully professional

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

company of the UNC Department of Dramatic Art. The Company's seasons run from September to April and include both classical and contemporary performances, as well as ongoing educational programs.

Origins

The name of the Company is derived from the Carolina Playmakers, a theatre group at the University founded in 1918, who played a significant role in developing

folk drama Folk plays such as Hoodening, Guising, Mummers Play and Soul Caking are generally verse sketches performed in countryside pubs in European countries, private houses or the open air, at set times of the year such as the Winter or Summer solstices ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The modern "PlayMakers" was formed in 1978.

Venues

Memorial Hall

The original Memorial Hall was commissioned in 1883, when Gerrard Hall was deemed too small for the University's commencement ceremonies. Planned as a memorial to former president

David Lowry Swain David Lowry Swain (January 4, 1801August 27, 1868) was the List of Governors of North Carolina, 26th Governor of North Carolina, governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina, from 1832 to 1835. He was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina; his ...

and alumni lost during conflicts such the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, the building was financed by sale of marble tablets dedicated in their name. However, in 1929, the structure was condemned as structurally unsound and demolished. The replacement Memorial Hall opened in 1931 with only the marble tablets retained. After an $18 million refurbishment between 2002 and 2005, the venue currently hosts music, dance, theater, and lectures by invited speakers.

Historic Playmakers Theatre

Historic Playmakers Theatre is a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

temple built in 1850, that was originally designed by New York architect Alexander Jackson Davis as Smith Hall, a combined library and ballroom. After also being used as a laboratory, bath house, and law school, it became a theater in 1923. The Theatre is the perpetual home of the Carolina Playmakers, although their successor, the Playmakers Repertory Company, uses the Paul Green Theatre as their primary venue. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1971 and designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1973.

Paul Green and Kenan Theatres

The Paul Green Theatre is a modern 500-seat venue located within the UNC Center of Dramatic Art. Named for Pulitzer Prize-winning

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and author Paul Green, the Theatre opened in 1978. Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre is an extension to the main

with a capacity of 200.

References

External links

Carolina Performing Arts

Playmakers Repertory Company

UNC Department of Dramatic Art
{{University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Theatre in North Carolina Dramatic and performing arts Dance in North Carolina