PlayMakers celebrates year

Nearly 300 people will enter the Carolina Inn at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, leaving Chapel Hill behind for a night of international carnivals.

PlayMakers Repertory Company will hold its 22nd annual ball, with a theme of carnivals around the world.

“When you come in it’s quite magical,” said Stacy Payne, director of development at PlayMakers Repertory Company.

“It’s a real theatrical transformation, and that seems very fitting for us.”

The proceeds from the event go towards funding the educational and artistic initiatives of the non-profit regional theater. A single ticket is $500.

This year the fundraiser will honor Elizabeth Price Kenan, an advocate of student education and supporter of the Department of Dramatic Arts and PlayMakers, who has helped with the previous balls.

“She’s a serious play-lover,” Payne said. “That’s something that’s really special to us.”

Every year, there is a different theme for the event.

Many times it relates to a play the company will do that year, but this year it’s special, reflecting an air of celebration.

“This year it’s all about celebration,” said McKay Coble, chairwoman of the drama department and member of PlayMakers.

“We just want to celebrate (Kenan) and all the great work she does, particularly for us.”

Each dining room will be decorated by local designers, with a different festival from around the world in mind for each.

“There are some famous ones, but we found some really wacky ones around the world,” Coble said, who is designing the Old Well Room to look like the Carnival of Venice.

“You’re just going to find different approaches to it no matter where you look.”

The carnivals featured range from Mardi Gras to those of Rio de Janeiro and India, to the more “wacky” such as a snow carnival and a medieval orange-throwing carnival.

“It’s a really fun party,” Coble said. “For us, it’s almost like another show.”

The event will feature a variety of happenings throughout the evening, including a cocktail hour, the award presentation for Kenan, dinner served by the inn’s Executive Chef Jim Reale, and dancing late into the night in the Old Well Room.

Although it is a black-tie event, the atmosphere is not very formal as the guests will not be confined to their chairs and much of the time is spent mixing and mingling.

Event coordinators expect to draw a diverse group of attendees.

“There are artists, political people, social people, university people — all of the above,” Payne said. “It really is just people having a really good time with friends or acquaintances or making new friends.”

During the past three years, PlayMakers has worked to expand its influence to area middle and high schools. The group has put on programs for nearly 100,000 regional students.

“There’s a lot of need for arts education,” Payne said.

“It makes a difference to a young person to see and be involved in it.”



Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.