PlayMakers box office manager Stephen Akin remembered

A familiar face and trademark laugh will be missing from within the PlayMakers Repertory Company’s box office tonight during the opening night of its last show of the main season.

PlayMakers’ Box Office Manager Stephen Akin, 49, died Friday.

Akin’s cause of death is unknown pending an autopsy, but there was no sign of foul play. In August 2012, he had a stroke and aneurysm requiring brain surgery, yet he had appeared to make a full recovery.

Akin, a UNC alumnus from 1989, had worked with the theater group since 2002. While there, he made an impression on everyone he encountered with his joyful sense of humor.

“He was here from before I started and just one of the anchors here in our PlayMakers family, and someone who we were all just so, so fond of,” said Joseph Haj, producing artistic director of PlayMakers. “We will miss him terribly.”

He met his wife, Andrea, while working at PlayMakers. She works as the associate director of marketing and he as the box office manager. They started dating in 2005 and got married in December 2006. Together they had one son, Charlie, who is now 3 years old.

“If you ever asked him about his son, Charlie, his face would just light up, and that just kind of made your day,” said Julie Lucier, PlayMakers’ audience services manager.

“(From) the way he talked about him, you could tell that he was crazy about him.”

Andrea Akin said Stephen’s fierce loyalty to his family and friends is what set him apart from others.

“If you were feeling bad, he would make a joke and make you laugh. If you needed a hug, that’s what he did — no matter who you were or how little he knew you,” she said.

He was obsessed with all things UNC basketball and football, “Breaking Bad” and politics. But his other love was always punk music.

He was prominent in the Chapel Hill music scene during the 80s and 90s, becoming the sound engineer for local band Sex Police and attending as many concerts as possible at the Cat’s Cradle. He brought his love for music — especially punk music — with him to work each day.

Doug Coon, the box office supervisor at PlayMakers, said he always enjoyed the humor in his conversations with Stephen — especially the political and music-centric ones.

Haj said Stephen’s love for punk music was part of his character.

“Somehow it always seemed kind of beautiful and  anachronistic to me that this punk rock guy was such a kind and gentle soul,” he said.

Junior Grace Safrit, who has worked at the PlayMakers box office for almost three years, said she always viewed Stephen as more than a boss.

“I would always come in early to talk to him about ‘Breaking Bad’ and what we thought the next episode was going to be,” she said. “Some of my favorite memories are just laughing with him at some of his jokes, watching videos on Facebook together.”

A celebration of Stephen Akin’s life will be held on April 13 at the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, N.C.

“Working in the box office day after day can be sort of stressful or mundane sometimes, but I never saw him upset. I always saw him laughing at things or making the best of something,” Safrit said.

“It would be really hard to think about getting through six hour shifts without him being there.”

arts@dailytarheel.com