Director revitalizes PlayMakers through outreach

Joseph Haj signed up for high school drama looking for a class to sleep through.

Instead, he uncovered a passion for the dramatic arts that spiraled into an immensely successful career as both an actor and director.

Haj, the producing artistic director for PlayMakers Repertory Company, has revitalized the troupe, expanding its reach into the larger University community.

“You hardly ever hear the word ‘community’ without ‘online’ attached to it anymore,” Haj said. “Theater is one of the last places people can join together in a shared event.”

The company continues its 35th season with William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” directed by Haj himself. The production officially opens this Saturday.

Since Haj came aboard in 2006, PlayMaker’s has doubled its number of productions, launched an alternative series of smaller works and staged a range of ambitious plays — including last season’s epic six-hour version of Charles Dickens’ “Nicholas Nickleby.”

But though Haj is proud of his accomplishments, he still seeks to better bridge the gap between the company and the University.

“We are really striving to make PlayMakers not just a theater but rather a teacher,” he said.

Haj received a bachelor’s degree in theater from Florida International University in Miami before joining the professional actor training program at UNC in the 1980s.

Twenty years later, Haj has come back to the stage that trained him to expand PlayMakers’ educational programming, drawing in students and the larger campus community in collaboration with the department of dramatic art.

“We really try to contextualize the experience so that students are not seeing production in isolation but rather as part of a larger dialogue,” Haj said.

In 2009, American Theatre magazine named Haj one of 25 artists who will have a significant impact on American theater in the next quarter-century. He is also on the board of directors of Theatre Communications Group, a national organization for American theater.

“This is where you see some of Joe’s greatest success,” said McKay Coble, UNC faculty chairwoman and chairwoman of the Department of Dramatic Art.

“PlayMakers is no longer a stand-alone company.”

The actors in Haj’s company say that he uses the same hands-on approach in his direction.

“He really is an actor’s director,” said Jeffrey Meanza, an actor and company director of education and outreach. “Being an actor himself, he really understands how to get the best work from the actors.”

Several actors in the company are professors at the University who use their experiences with PlayMakers to better inform their teaching.

Ray Dooley, a faculty member who recently appeared in “Happy Days,” the season opener, said he appreciates Haj’s creative enthusiasm.

“He’s always looking for the best idea in the room,” Dooley said.

And for Haj, the best idea is a better company.

Coble recalls seeing Haj on the phone in the box office, calling patrons who had canceled their subscriptions to see how the company could improve.

“It’s that kind of personal touch and genuine interest,” Coble said. “That’s why he does it — he is just genuinely interested in making PlayMakers the best it can be.”

Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu