Student playwright/rapper to debut self-penned show at UNC

Patrick Robinson decided to quit writing plays and pursue his interest in rap music after a year in which he was not cast in any productions.

Called P-Rob, Robinson even released a mix tape last year.

But his rap plans didn’t last long.

This spring, Robinson was awarded the UNC Selden Prize for his original script, “Where the Ocean Meets the Sky.”

The play is being produced by LAB! Theatre this weekend.

Professor David Adamson, assistant chair of the Department of Dramatic Art, had a hand in the establishment of the UNC Selden Award in 2000.

“I’m actually glad Patrick won because he had people who wanted to produce his play,” Adamson said. “We haven’t produced all of our winners.”

Robinson had been a part of the drama program in high school and began writing his current production while doing an independent study in playwriting as a high school senior.

He said his inspiration came from observing years of advertisements.

“It’s like looking at America as if you’re an archaeologist,” he said.

The junior from Greensboro said he revised the play at his grandfather’s house in the Appalachian mountains before pitching it to LAB! for production.

The play was originally part of a series of one-acts until Robinson decided the entire series seemed too complicated.

“It’s been a goal of mine to put this on,” Robinson said.

The play focuses on two individuals walking through a forest in a post-apocalyptic setting. They find a dead man, and throughout their journey, their dreams are haunted by a vulture.

The two main characters, Abe and Jacob, will be played by Luke Wander and Logan Bertram.

Robinson’s co-director Peter Bell, a junior economics and drama major, said he hopes the audience will understand the value of the relationship between the two characters.

“The strongest part about this play is how these two people interact with each other,” Bell said. “It’s all something people can relate to. It’s all human interaction.”

The dead body — which lays on stage the entire play — is played by Allen Tedder.

Robinson said Tedder’s role of laying on stage for more than an hour without an intermission is one of the hardest in the play.

“It was really nice to have somebody who was willing to put their all into it,” he said.

Like Tedder, the rest of the cast invested wholly in their roles.

Robinson and Bell took the cast and crew to a deserted soccer field.

They told the actors to wander off into the woods and think as if they were the only ones left on the planet.

When the actors returned, they began rehearsing the play without the director’s command, producing what both directors recall as their most memorable rehearsal.

In the future, Robinson hopes to take his playwriting — and his on-hold rap prospects — further, possibly to New York.

“There is a seedling at the back of my head to do a rap-play,” Robinson said.

“It’ll be hard, but it could work.”

Contact the Arts Editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.