PlayMakers Repertory Company Announces Full Cast For HAMLET

PlayMakers Repertory Company has announced the full cast for its production of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Directed by Vivienne Benesch (Birthday Candles), performances run from January 25 - February 12 in the Paul Green Theatre located in the Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art on the UNC Chapel Hill campus.

Tia James (Merchant of Venice on Broadway) will lead this production as Hamlet.

"Hamlet has been done with women a number of times," says Producing Artistic Director Vivienne Benesch. "But there's something about telling it today with Tia specifically, a fierceness mixed with a giant heart, that I find completely appropriate to where Hamlet's story begins."

Lawrence E. Moten, III (Chicken and Biscuits) is co-designing the set, which Benesch says is instrumental to her overall vision.

"We'll have a live soundscape," Benesch says. "People can expect what I call a visceral and intimate and psychological experience of the play."

The cast also features Sekou Laidlow (Airline Highway, Steppenwolf Theatre Company) as Claudius, and Resident Company Members Sanjana Taskar as Ophelia, Kathryn Hunter-Williams as Gertrude, Jeffrey Blair Cornell as Polonius. Rasool Jahan has been cast as Laertes.

The creative team includes Lighting Designer Tyler Micoleau (American Buffalo, Broadway), Amber Meadows (Co-Scenic Designer), McKay Coble (Costume Designer), Peter Vitale (Composer), Tracy Bersley (Choreography & Movement Coach), Jeff A.R. Jones (Fight Director), JaMeeka Holloway (Associate Director), Jacob Sikorski (Associate Scenic Designer), Kate Jones (Assistant Director), Deborah Hecht (Vocal Coach) Adam Versényi (Dramaturg), Sarah Smiley (Stage Manager), and Aspen Jackson (Assistant Stage Manager).

Performance and Special Event Schedule:

January 25-27 - Preview performances
January 28 - Opening Performance & Press Opening
January 31 - ASL language interpretation and audio description
February 5 - Open captioned performance, with dialog, stage direction, and sound effects communicated on a "universal access" live caption unit; On-site childcare available; Post-show discussion
February 7 - Socially distanced seating

PlayMakers Repertory Company is North Carolina's premier professional theatre company. For more than 45 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."

 

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