Let's Go Flying with Brendon Fox

Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg

"Imagine a mashup of Treasure Island, Harry Potter and Monty Python, involving magic, friendship, first love, and flying cats. Something for everyone!"

- Director Brendon Fox

describing Peter and the Starcatcher 

Most children have fantasized about flying, and director Brendon Fox was no different. For him, flying meant freedom and exploration, and more importantly, escaping adults who told him what he could and couldn't do.

Director Brendon Fox

Brendon, in addition to directing at theatres across the country, including Opus and Angels in America for PlayMakers, is an Assistant Professor of Drama at Washington College in Maryland. He says that as much as he wanted to catch a production of Peter and the Starcatcher in the past, he's glad he didn't have the chance as this has allowed him to come to our production with fresh eyes.

Brendon confides that he's fallen in love with so many things about this production: "The play manages to capture a sincere sense of wonder and imagination." It incorporates music and puppets, while holding onto the imagination required to play "make believe."

Peter and the Starcatcher tells the story an orphan boy with no name and a Starcatcher-in-Training in the late 19th century, as they strive to keep magical "starstuff" out of the hands of pirates and other nefarious characters.

"The young people having adventures in Peter and the Starcatcher have the time of their lives, encountering dastardly pirates, crazy weather, animals out to eat them, and exotic natives of foreign islands. This show invites us to live vicariously through them – to see the world through their eyes, full of danger, joy, laughter, and even experience some hard lessons about growing up. "

Magic and wonder of childhood. Photo by Heather Perry

The sheer size of the production presents challenges and opportunities for the cast and crew. Brendon compares the scope of Starcatcher to that of a Shakespearean production with a large cast, many locations and interpretations unique to each situation.

"The cast has to be incredibly versatile to transform into so many characters, often in front of the audience. The design team and I have spent six months going over every moment and location in the play, and have storyboarded (like a film shoot) how we are going to evoke every location and approach events ranging from a storm onstage to a dense jungle."

This has put the creative team to the test like kids playing with found objects and using their imagination to create a pirate ship or an island. Brendon says this encourages audiences to fill in the blanks. "We're not trying to be too literal or spell things out for those watching the play." Ideally, he wants the audience to view the show through the eyes of a preteen, though the show is full of humor, heart and magic for all ages.

Ready to fly? Join us for Peter and the Starcatcher November 18 - December 12.

Click here or call our Box Office at 919-962-7529 for tickets.

What We Can Learn Through Seminar

Michael Dove, Director of 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."

 Life is complicated. People are complicated. If you can’t figure that out, you’ll never be much of a writer.

- Seminar

"Isn't that the truth!" agrees Michael.

When he heard that neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks had died, Michael found himself obsessed with reading Sacks' writings, realizing that no new words would be coming from him again. Sacks' explorations and discoveries helped shape how Michael sees the world, and understanding the self became the soundtrack to his experience with the bitingly funny Seminar. "It's become a dramatization of Sacks' ideas and questions for me... a play about passion and discovering who you truly are."

In Seminar, four young writers enroll in a private class taught by Leonard, a renowned novelist/editor (played by Ray Dooley). Leonard only has time for the truth, unfiltered. His unorthodox methods put their fragile, developing egos on the cutting board and bring their ferocious envy to the forefront. "Here are four young writers all struggling with the ability to perceive themselves and to find their true voice coupled with a mentor whose tough exterior protects the wounded artistic soul inside," says Michael.

To me, the most compelling stories are the ones that are complicated. The brilliant writers are the ones that try to tackle all the contradictions ‪in our world, all the complexities of relationships, all the differings of opinions, all the nuances of a culture within the confines of the page. The best short stories, novels, plays take all that chaos and help you, the reader or watcher, better understand the human condition.

- Michael Dove

Michael says the beauty of Seminar is how it infuses toil and difficulty with humor. Actor Alan Rickman, who originated the role of Leonard on Broadway, described the play as a "comedy of very bad manners."

"Everyone struggles everyday to find their true self and purity," continues Michael, making Seminar a relatable comedy. "Insecurities, pain... how can we not laugh at that."

"Some of the richest stories of our lives are the traumatic academic experience or pangs of heartache that make it up. The characters [in Seminar] combat with 'such animalistic ferocity' that makes for wickedly funny and clever theatre."

"I have long admired the work at PlayMakers and can’t wait to share the pleasure of watching the amazing Ray Dooley with you all as he takes on the role of Leonard. This is one of the smartest comedies to come out of the American Theatre in the last five years, and I am thrilled to share it with this community."

Join director Michael Dove and his creative team for Seminar. Onstage Oct 14 - Nov 1.

Click here or call the Box Office at 919-962-7529 for tickets.

Director Shishir Kurup on the daring of Disgraced

“I wanted to direct Disgraced for a number of reasons, one being that it doesn’t shy away from the challenging and provocative questions of co-existence in the United States with its celebration of diversity and requisite fall out of that hybridity; namely a culture where people feel like they belong everywhere while also feeling like they belong nowhere.

“Disgraced examines what it means to be part of a culture that considers itself a free society as it pulls back the curtain on the nascent racial and cultural differences that create barriers and inequities that burble just beneath the surface of the American psyche. It looks at the clash of cultures and the misunderstandings that occur in a society that touts the notion of tolerance, and even acceptance, while also struggling to have an authentic experience of the “other,” who are constantly vying for recognition and belonging in the greater mainstream of this society.

“I admire Ayad Akhtar’s play because it dares to show a much maligned religion and culture, warts and all. It doesn’t cater to the, “there-are-so-few-stories-about-this-subject-and-our-people-so-why-not-put-our-best-face-forward" crowd. Instead, it airs the dirty laundry of Faith while being critical of false and easy liberalism; the kind that wants to see only the good that religion does, but because of ignorance of the specifics and interpretations of the Faith, acquiesces to its pitfalls. And because the ensuing championing and critique comes from unexpected sources, the audience is always having to make an assessment of what they feel even in, most likely, their own ignorance of the contents of this particular Holy Book.

Shishir Kurup

“That kind of courage is what makes the work heroic, because the critical voice emerges from within the fold. The willingness to be excoriating about the pitfalls, while also finding voice for the beauty of it—and here the author puts the beauty to test as well—and we’re left at the end with a feeling that doesn’t wrap anything tidily in a bow. And that is as it should be. After all, it’s in keeping with the likes of Miller and Ibsen in always turning the soil in order to root out the rot.

“As new cultures come up to bat in presenting their “American Dream Experience” all one need keep in mind is that telling the truth as you have come to experience it should be the unerring maxim of your art.”

Join us when Disgraced opens the Mainstage Season Sept 16-Oct 4.:

Click here or call 919-962-7529 for tickets or information.

Creating Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam - Part 1: Inspiration and Conception

In this season's PRC² opener, Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam, creator/performer Trieu Tran shares an intense autobiographical journey. How did he and collaborator/director Robert Egan turn his true story into a riveting theatrical performance?
"Robert and I were doing a play together in New York about the aftermath of the Viet Nam War on a group of American veterans. I played a character who was a memory figure from a GI’s time in Viet Nam. Robert was my director on that play. We used to spend most of our break time together talking about sports and Los Angeles and, of course, the Viet Nam War. I have a very personal history in relation to that war and so does Robert. I lost family and friends and a country. Robert lost friends and parts of his country. Robert and I talked long and hard and in a most complicated way about both of our experiences. He suggested I had a real story to tell.

"We went back to LA and had a 6-hour lunch where I told him much of my story. A play was born that day. We began a writing process where Robert essentially sent me topics/prompts/feelings to write about, riff about, meditate about. I wrote fully and wildly and emotionally. Robert would shape the material and send it back to me.

"We found we were writing as one, in my voice, in my sound. It was thrilling. We did this for months. We amassed about 300 pages of writing and responses. And then Robert and I kept shaping and pounding out the dramatic sculpture that is now Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam. So I guess Robert got me to believe that a play was worthy and possible.

"The deep inspiration for the play was what happened to my father, my mother, my family and me as a result of losing our country and trying desperately to find our identity and soul in a series of new worlds.

"Essentially this is the story of my journey to America from Viet Nam in the immediate aftermath of the war there. Then it is my journey through refugee camps, Canada and the United States in an attempt for my family and me to find a home that is free and fair. It's also a family drama about my father’s attempt to adjust to a world where he had lost a country; my mother’s attempts to raise a family with love and safety in foreign lands; and my attempts to find wholeness and love and a voice in a new world."

Next: Creating Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam - Part 2: Taking the Story Onstage

Join us when PlayMakers kicks off the 2015/16 Season with Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam August 26-30.

Click here or call 919-962-7529 for tickets or more information.

Associate Artistic Director Jeff Meanza Takes Guys & Dolls Back to Its Roots

Jeff Meanza counts his nine summers overseeing the Summer Youth Conservatory as “incredibly close to my heart” and “without a doubt my favorite part of what we do here at PlayMakers.” Jeff‘s managed the SYC program since its inception in 2007, presenting acclaimed shows like The Music Man, Oliver! and last year’s hit production of Hairspray. So, it’s only fitting that he crown his SYC experience by directing one of the all-time great musicals – Guys & Dolls.

Jeff says, “I love the source material of the original Damon Runyon stories. They’re great chronicles of New York life in the 1930s. One of the things I’m interested in tackling by directing this show is exploring the musical within that context of Broadway in its early heyday.

PlayMakers Associate Artistic Director, Jeff Meanza

“Guys & Dolls is rich in its history, its sophisticated storytelling, and its gorgeous music.” – director Jeff Meanza 

“We’re creating a show driven by the deep need of the characters – gamblers such as Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit, show girls typified by Miss Adelaide, and other larger than life inhabitants of the Great White Way of that era – these are all people who are fighting in a high stakes game of life. To that end, we’ve taken it back to the time when the short stories were written, the 1930s, and this has inspired every element of our production. We think this gives it a fresh and exciting new lens through which we can enjoy and appreciate it even more.

“The scale of this show is gigantic. We have to capture the dynamic energy of New York as well as the intimacy of two love stories. The set and lighting will be evocative of the darkly glamorous world of 1930s Broadway, providing a noir-ish quality to the New York scenes. In stark contrast, the bright, vibrant world of Havana will be saturated with color and energy. The costumes are richly period and inspired by photographs from the 30s.

“Come to experience Guys & Dolls like you’ve never seen it before. We’ll have all the great songs and show-stopping numbers of the dazzling, iconic musical, but the characters will live and breathe as Damon Runyon created them.”

Join us when Guys & Dolls comes alive at PlayMakers July 15-25.

Click here for tickets or more information or call our Box Office at 919.962.7529.

Director Cody Nickell on imagining his "dream play," Mary's Wedding

In Mary's Wedding by Stephen Massicotte, two actors come together to create a dream sequence taking us through horse rides, battle scenes and tea parties that ultimately lead to the blossoming of their love. The character Charlie first addresses the audience and makes it perfectly clear that the events to follow are part of a dream. "I ask you to remember that," he says. Director Cody Nickell says the dreamlike setting allows the production to break all rules of time, space, and at times, even character.

Cody had many difficult questions to answer at the start of the production process. The dream moves from place to place quickly, leaving complicated theatrical elements for Cody to consider. While some may see these questions as challenges, Cody chooses to see them as gifts.

"How do you bring to life a horse for a cavalry charge when there is no horse? How do you show a moonlit battle between trenches on the front lines of World War I with only two actors? And maybe most interesting, for all its theatricality, how do you show the simple story at the heart of this play about two young people falling in love?"

While the staging can be difficult, the underlying story of Mary's Wedding is much simpler. It follows the relationship of two young people in love and the Great War that comes between them. To escape a thunderstorm, Charlie, played by Myles Bullock, and Mary, played by Carey Cox, seek shelter in an old barn. In this setting, their vulnerabilities are exposed and we see sparks of love develop between them almost immediately. The audience follows their budding romance, and ultimately, their separation when Charlie is taken off to war.

"It begins at the end and ends at the beginning. There are sad parts. Don’t let that stop you from dreaming it too. " - Charlie, in his first monologue from Mary's Wedding.

The many imaginative gifts the production staff conjures will awaken the imaginations of audience members as well. "This engagement of audience imagination makes the experience active for them, not passive; they become witnesses, not just observers," says Cody. The actors are on a journey, but they invite the audience along to experience the terror and the hope that Charlie and Mary encounter.

Jeff Adelberg's mystic skyscapes and lighting will be a key factor in the quickly changing time, place and mood of the dream sequence. And Cody says costume designer Jade Bettin took initial costume ideas and ran with them, doing spectacular research and paying attention to details that further conceptualize the journey both the actors and audience traverse. Jeff's lighting paired with Jade's period costumes will pique imaginations and transform the stage from a physical space, to a fantastical world with no limits.

Cody says he's thrilled to collaborate with scenic designer Daniel Conway once again. Daniel's set has a circular frame creating a portal through which the audience views the story. This portal takes us from Canadian plains to European battlefields on a dynamic set that will evoke the many settings explored by the young lovers.

Experience the dream of Mary's Wedding with us April 29th to May 3rd!

Click here for more information or call our box office at 919.962.7529.

Wardrobes that span decades in 4000 Miles

In Amy Herzog's play 4000 Miles, life unexpectedly throws Leo and Vera together. They are drastically different, with Leo in biking attire and casual jeans and Vera in the effortless wardrobe she's collected throughout her time living in the West Village of New York City. Costume designer Jan Chambers has crafted distinct ensembles that reflect the unique lives of the play's characters.

Vera's closet is full of items she's collected over the years. She's lived in the same apartment since the 1950s, so her wardrobe is as eclectic as the fashion trends of the decades Vera has experienced. Vera dresses comfortably, but Jan made sure she has some pizazz. Jan says, "Vera is not your Midwestern grandmother." Because she has a visitor, she is dressing up more than usual. Vera also attends two funerals during the play, but Jan said she wears a lot of black anyway. "She's a New Yorker," Jan explains. 

Costuming Leo proved to be a challenge, as he's been on a 4000 mile bicycling trip from Seattle to New York. When he arrives at Vera's door, the only clothes he has are the items he could carry in a bag. His wardrobe is that of an unrestricted nomad on a bicycle, including jeans, a rain jacket, a V-neck sweater, and other casual clothing he could bring from place to place.

Amanda, played by Sehee Lee, is an art student Leo brings home one night. Jan said she and director Desdemona Chiang really enjoyed putting her outfit together. Amanda wears platform shoes, fishnet tights, purple streaks in her hair, and a coral leather jacket. She's young, quirky, and has the edginess of a New York City art student.

See Jan's costume renderings come to life below! 

Jan's design for Leo, as worn by Schuyler Scott Mastain. Photo by Curtis Brown.

Jan's design for Vera, as worn by Dee Maaske. Photo by Jon Gardiner.

Jan's design for Bec, as worn by Arielle Yoder. Photo by Jon Gardiner.

Jan's design for Leo, as worn by Schuyler Scott Mastain. Photo by Curtis Brown.

Jan's design for Vera, as worn by Dee Maaske. Photo by Jon Gardiner.

Jan's design for Amanda, as worn by Sehee Lee. Photo by Jon Gardiner.

Jan's design for Vera, as worn by Dee Maaske. Photo by Curtis Brown.

Jan's design for Leo, as worn by Schuyler Scott Mastain. Photo by Jon Gardiner.

See Jan Chambers' designs onstage in 4000 Miles through April 19th!

Click here for more info or call our box office at 919.962.7529.

A Journey Across 4000 Miles

 By Jiayun Zhiang

Social psychologist Edward T. Hall has suggested four types of spatial distance between individuals. The first, intimate distance, ranges from actual contact to about 18 inches. The second, personal distance, ranges from 1.5 feet to 4 feet. The third, social distance, spans about 4 to 12 feet; and the last, public space, extends beyond 12 feet. As social animals, it seems that humans may protect our boundaries playfully or gently––sometimes less so––and at other times must overcome distances that may be physical, psychological, or emotional.

Playwright Amy Herzog.

Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles, a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, begins with a significant physical distance: the 4000 miles of a cross-continental bicycle trek from Seattle to New York. But there is also emotional separation between 21-year-old Leo, in his self-absorbed grief, and Vera, his 91-year-old grandmother, who although tiny and frail is fiercely independent and vivacious. At the heart of this beautifully rendered and subtly orchestrated piece, the characters face the aches and pains of growing up and growing old. They struggle with death, guilt, physical limits, and emotional frustrations as they slowly mend rifts between families, friends, and lovers. 

“I did feel very strongly about writing an older character with the dimensions that I observed in my grandmother, because I think there’s a way that older people can just disappear. I feel my own grandmother’s fight to remain present and relevant in a very pronounced way.”—Amy Herzog 

Herzog's grandmother, Leepee Joseph at the Occupy Wall Street protest.

 Herzog, a Yale School of Drama graduate, often fleshes out family stories in her work. For example,
her play After the Revolution (2010) followed her discovery of the 1950s targeting and blacklisting of her father’s stepfather, Julius Joseph, who had passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II. The play recounts the painful reconciliation undertaken by law school grad and activist Emma Joseph between her politics and family legacy after she learns that the grandfather for whom she named her legal defense fund was not who she had believed him to be. Herzog’s grandmother Leepee Joseph, a long-time left-wing activist and the model for Vera in 4000 Miles, did not completely agree with this portrayal of her husband. “I thought what my husband had done was perfectly legitimate,” she commented. “My grandmother would say her politics didn’t go into me,” Herzog said in an interview with Alexis Soloski from The New York Times, “but the fact that I come from a very political family is very influential for me.” Interestingly, Ms. Joseph, who was also present Soloski’s interview, responded that: “Oh, no question about that. But I didn’t see any politics in 4000 Miles.”

“I’ve always been interested in not just the politics, but the trappings of being a deeper political person … The word I’ve used before is ‘scaffolding.’ The kind of scaffolding people build for themselves in terms of their own belief systems is a subject of enduring interest to me.”—Amy Herzog

Herzog returns to family stories in 4000 Miles, this time by pairing a “transcendentalist, hippie” cousin and the “very New York, older person’s existence” of their common grandmother. This seemingly unlikely intergenerational connection sets the play in motion, and Herzog’s merging of the personal and the political further animates the backstory. Grandmother Vera, a widowed Lefty, despite her solitary life, is proud to be progressive and always creates a sense of community. Her college-dropout grandson, Leo, arrives unannounced at her Greenwich Village apartment, distressed after witnessing his best friend’s death in a bike accident. At her advanced age, Vera has much experience coping with her own losses; when she fully opens up to Leo, he is able to realize that the grieving process need not be borne alone. What started out as an overnight stay lasts for a month during which these two characters, equally sensitive and dignified despite their differences, share laughs, memories, and feelings that cross the boundaries of generations. Herzog’s own bicycle ride from New Haven to San Francisco on a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser after completing her undergraduate degree at Yale in 2000 added another layer of inspiration to the writing of this play. Herzog also spent 6 months living with Leepee Joseph in her Greenwich Village apartment, where together they transformed their relationship.

“I have a cousin who lives a kind of transcendentalist, hippie kind of life. And he lost a friend about two summers ago, actually in a rafting accident. I really adore this cousin, and I was thinking about this experience that he was going through — of being so young and suffering such a major loss. And I was also interested in just the way he’s chosen to live his life kind of outside the mainstream. My grandmother has this very New York, older person’s existence that I’m also really interested in. We’re very close. So starting with those two characters I invented this play, which was not at all based on any events or anything like that, but it was inspired by those two people.”—Amy Herzog

Herzog with her grandmother and inspiration for the character "Vera." 

Herzog's skillful technique and nuanced style turns this character-driven piece from drama into a poem in dramatic form. As such it graces the audience with swift confrontations tinged with the gentle flow of everyday life’s trivial matters, and poignant revelations punctuated by awkward pauses and humorous ambiguities. She approaches her characters with great attention to detail, yet this simplicity clearly conveys underlying complexities.

Although a resolution is not in sight toward the end of this 4000-mile trek, director Desdemona Chiang encourages audience members to call their grandparents or grandchildren right after the production, because, if I may add, 4000 Miles is that kind of stage where we could find intimacy to be rewarding and revealing, and compassion could be used to measure spatial distance in all human relationships.

PlayMakers Repertory Company's production of 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog.

April 1-19th. Directed by Desdemona Chiang. 

Click here or call 919-962-7529 for tickets and more information.

Desdemona Chiang on bridging generational gaps in 4000 Miles

Director, Desdemona Chiang.

At first, Leo and Vera seem to be an unlikely pair. Leo is 21-years-old, while Vera stands at 91 years young. Leo enjoys riding his bike cross-country, while Vera calls her neighbor daily to assure her she's still alive. Vera, played by Dee Maaske, is Leo's grandmother, but much time has passed since they last saw one another. After a heart-shattering loss, Leo, played by Schuyler Scott Mastain, shows up at Vera's door. His original plan to stay for one night turns into three weeks and a once improbable duo end up finding solace in one another.

Director, Desdemona Chiang, said she wanted to direct 4000 Miles because she loves plays that "explore family dynamics and human relationships." She definitely got what she bargained for with Leo and Vera. With two distinct characters lacking similarity at first, Desdemona wants the emphasis of the play to be placed on the fully developed relationship between Vera and Leo. She says it is the intricate moments between them that make 4000 Miles "both ordinary and utterly exceptional."

"It is a sweet, funny, and poignant story of two people who, as a result of an unexpected tragedy, find themselves connected and changed forever. "

Desdemona wants to ensure that the audience doesn't see Vera for her age, but for her vigor. She appreciates 4000 Miles for placing a character of Vera's age in a prominent role. Desdemona explains, "Americans are notoriously ageist—we usually regard the elderly as a social inconvenience and the discussion of death and dying to be uncomfortable, so oftentimes this particular demographic of people goes socially unacknowledged and ignored. It’s so satisfying to be working on a play that puts a 91 year-old woman at the center of the story." She said Vera reminds her of her own feisty, sharp, unapologetic grandmother.

Costume designs, by Jan Chambers, will be contemporary and will provide further insight into the

contrasts between Leo and Vera. As a twenty-something "neo-hippie," Leo will be dressed in either casual jeans and sweatshirts, or bicyclist attire. Vera will be dressed in flowing, comfortable pieces to reflect the routine she has fallen into.

Commerce Street in the West Village.

The play is set in Vera's apartment in Manhattan's West Village. Desdemona explains that she and scenic designer, Jan Chambers, sought to create an environment that told the story of Vera's everyday life before Leo showed up on her doorstep. She explains, "The placement of furniture, books, dishes,and other household items are very deliberate, and speak volumes about the kinds of life patterns she has developed over the years, and how that pattern gets disrupted (in both good and bad ways) when Leo arrives."

The mood onstage will be set by lighting designer, Xavier Pierce. Desdemona said they will utilize the lighting to "establish rhythms and the storytelling inside transitions in between scenes." Desk and floor lamps will contribute to the sense of intimacy between the characters.

4000 Miles has been challenging at times for Desdemona because she wants to maintain the beautiful simplicity of the relationship between Leo and Vera . She explained that in our current theatrical world, it can be tempting to create the "the bright flashy thing, the big social statement, or the jazz hands dance number," but that in 4000 Miles, the nuanced, fully-developed relationship matters most.

"This is play that doesn’t set out to change the world, yet the worlds of these two individuals are irrevocably changed."

What's Desdemona's goal? She said, "My hope is that by the end of the show, audience members will be gathered in the lobby calling their grandmothers or their grandchildren."

We invite you to experience the refreshingly honest, 4000 Miles, onstage April 1-19!

Click here for more info or call our box office at 919.962.PLAY (7529).

Patrick Holt's Brilliant Renderings and Costume Concepts Come to Life

Patrick Holt is renowned for his stunning, detailed costume renderings, as pictured below. His costume designs for An Enemy of the People encapsulate the 1950s era of fedoras, tailored suits, and feminine, pastel skirts. Limited to the subdued colors worn by business men of the 1950s, Patrick's palette was more muted, but one character needed to stand out.

Patrick's inspiration behind Peter Stockmann's flair, as worn by Anthony Newfield. Photo by Jon Gardiner.

Peter Stockmann, the Mayor, needed to exude a certain importance, explains Rachel Pollock, costume craftsperson. She said the design team received an email from director Tom Quaintance stating, "The Mayor's hat needs to clearly be the Mayor's hat." She and Patrick jumped into action, finding exactly the right details to complete Peter's ensemble. They searched for a way to ensure Peter would stand out, but it had to be subtle. "We needed some way to set it apart him an official capacity that wouldn't be cartoonish or absurd," said Rachel. Patrick and Rachel chose from a collection of unique feather ornaments to make Peter's costume flourish. This subtle detail proves effective, along with the touch of red, to evoke a sense of authority, wealth, and importance in Peter Stockmann's character.

The concept of water is prevalent throughout the plot, as well as the design concepts. The designs for dresses worn in the second act by Petra and Catherine Stockmann use teals and dim browns evoking the polluted springs that drive the plot, Rachel explained.

"It's a visual representation of the taint in the water."

With water being a common theme throughout the play, it's no wonder Patrick was inspired to create visual representations of the contaminated spring in his designs for the Stockmann women.

Patrick's rendering for Catherine Stockmann as worn by Julia Gibson. Photo by Jon Gardiner.

Patrick's rendering for Petra Stockmann as worn by Allison Altman. Photo by Curtis Brown.

For the angry mob scene in which Dr. Stockmann is pelted with water, precautions had to be taken. Rachel says they spent time Scotch Guarding the costumes they expected to be exposed to the most moisture. However, this was not Rachel's first time working around water in a production. After the 4,500 gallon pool used in PlayMakers' 2014 production of Metamorphoses, she had more than enough skill and experience to collaborate on the challenge of costumes getting soaked throughout the show.

The mob throwing water at the face of Dr. Stockmann. Photo by Jon Gardiner.

We are pleased to have Patrick Holt's costume designs featured in another production at PlayMakers. He served as costume craftsperson for PlayMakers early on in his career. Rachel said Patrick's past experience with PlayMakers simplified the process for the collaborative costume team. "He ran this dye shop. So he is very familiar with this facility and what it can do."

Patrick's rendering of Dr. Stockmann's costume worn by Michael Bryan French. Photo by Curtis Brown.

See Patrick Holt's beautiful renderings come to life onstage. Book your tickets for An Enemy of the People - onstage through March 15!

Click here to buy tickets or for more info or call our box office at 919.962.7529.

Director Tom Quaintance on creating a true "Enemy of the People"

Tom Quaintance, director

Although An Enemy of the People was written by Henrik Ibsen in 1882 and adapted by Arthur Miller in the 1950s, director Tom Quaintance believes it is as relevant today as it was for those eras. With characters that grapple with corruption, the influence of money, and the power of the media to shape public opinion, Tom says this play "feels like it could have been written yesterday."

The plot follows Dr. Stockmann, played by Michael Bryan French, who tries to alert citizens when he discovers an underwater spring feeding the successful town spa is threatened by toxic waste poisoning. His brother Peter, played by Anthony Newfield, serves as Chairman of the Board of the spa. He works against his brother, feeling it's in the town's best interest to conceal Dr. Stockmann's findings.

In our current age of leaders with questionable ethics, nonstop surveillance, and unverified media sources, the story of Dr. Stockmann could not be more pertinent. Tom explains:

"It is the story of science versus politics. It is the story of a whistleblower. It is the story of how money influences everything. It is the story of how the media shapes how we view the world. In today’s increasingly divided society, where people increasingly only hear the news and the spin they want to hear, it is an important play."

With the show holding many themes, Tom has collaborated with scenic designer McKay Coble and costume designer Patrick Holt to create a production that evokes the truth and realism Arthur Miller sought to portray when adapting the play.

McKay Coble's scenic design model

Tom describes the costumes as extraordinary. He says Patrick's "control of the color palette and specificity of cut and style tell each character’s story."

McKay's detail-oriented design complements the natural exchanges of the dialogue and allows the actors to discover their own truths within the space. Tom calls it, "both strikingly realistic and beautifully abstract."

Although the play is set in the 1950s, the scenic design utilizes a surrounding water feature inspired by a modern treatment plant. This is purposeful, "to invite the audience to consider the contemporary relevance of the play."

Bottom line: Tom believes An Enemy of the People is timeless and "a critical play for 2015."

An Enemy of the People is onstage February 25-March 15. Do not miss this critical play!

Click here for more info or call our box office at 919.962.PLAY (7529).

Patriot Acts: Ibsen, Miller, and Other (Un-) Reasonable Men - Part 1

by Gregory Kable

“All progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

--Bernard Shaw, 1905.

Like its steadfast protagonist, Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People is itself a play which refuses to give way. One hundred and thirty-three years after its premiere, it remains undiminished both in its power and topicality. Its situations and characters, even specific references in the dialogue could have been conceived by any number of contemporary playwrights, and we’d be forgiven for assuming some of its dominant actions have been altered by translators to more closely approximate current events. But as our adaptation by Arthur Miller confirms, the underlying concerns of Ibsen’s play collapse time and cultures to speak directly to our historical moment, proving the aptness of Miller’s chosen title for his autobiography, Timebends.

Such resonance can be partially accounted for in that Ibsen fearlessly strode right into one of the primal conflicts of democratic society, that of the individual taking a principled stand against the collective will. This dilemma is as old as Western drama, and in that light we can approach Ibsen’s play as a modern variant on Sophocles’ Antigone. But Ibsen fiercely pursues this conflict to the point where its quixotic extremity commands equal attention. As Ibsen confided to his publisher, “I am uncertain as to whether I should call it a comedy or a straight drama. It has many of the traits of comedy, but is also based on a serious idea.” That tragicomic tone contributes as much to the modern feel of Enemy as its parallels with whistleblowers, environmentalism, science colliding with vested interests, public debates driven by rumor and opinion, violently partisan politics and all collusions of the press.

Befitting an artist in the vanguard of Naturalism, upon beginning his play in 1882, Ibsen was already familiar with a pair of real-life models for his plot and protagonist. Fifty years earlier, a doctor in the spa town of Teplice (then part of the Austrian Empire, today of the Czech Republic) drew attention to a cholera outbreak during the height of the tourist season, necessitating his flight from a mob of vengeful locals. The second and more recent example was of a widely reported incident in 1874 involving a Norwegian chemist prevented from making a public speech denouncing his capitol city’s prosperous Steam Kitchen industry’s neglect of the urban poor. In both cases a determined crusading figure is beset by guardians of the status quo.

But the immediate catalyst for Enemy was the scandalous reception of Ibsen’s play Ghosts, published in 1881 and to be pilloried and denied Scandinavian production for several years. Ghosts critiqued conventional religion, bourgeois values, and included venereal disease as part of its narrative, resulting in an unprecedented storm of protest as critics strained to outdo one another in trumpeting their disapproval: “[A] disgusting representation” sniffed one review; “an open drain, a loathsome sore unbandaged, a dirty act done publicly”, proclaimed another. “Gross, almost putrid indecorum”, “literary carrion”, and “crapulous stuff” are further representative samples of the frenzied condemnations.

Ibsen responded with another work for the stage, unleashing the full brunt of his contempt for this

epidemic of provincial attitudes whether associated with conservatives, liberals, or moderates. Thus, An Enemy of the People, written more swiftly than any other Ibsen play, is a withering indictment of majority beliefs. But it is also a crafted and deliberate drama which is carefully contained in a five-act structure, and exhibits Ibsen’s characteristic mastery of symbolism and metaphor. Alongside its social problem play exterior, lie a moral parable about human corruption, and even a potential religious allegory of institutionalized faith (Peter), spiritual sickness (polluted water as an image of the impure soul), and a Doubting Thomas in the protagonist himself. In this, Ibsen’s play transcends the merely literal and his Stockmann takes his rightful place among a host of the playwright’s most notable characters, from the renegade Pastor Brand, and the prodigal Peer Gynt, to the non-conformist Nora Helmer and the tragically conformist Hedda Gabler, through the desperate architect of The Master Builder, the doomed financier John Gabriel Borkman and the decadent sculptor Rubek in Ibsen’s final play, When We Dead Awaken. Any and all might be designated an enemy, an identity which, in the name of progress, Ibsen dares us all to embrace.

PlayMakers Repertory Company’s production of “An Enemy of The People ” by Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Arthur Miller. February 25 – March 15, 2015. Directed by Tom Quaintance. 

Call 919-962-PLAY (7529) or visit www.playmakersrep.org.