Samuel Ray Gates News

When Fat Ham opens at PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill this week, it will be the first time an audience sees the Pulitzer Prize-winning show on a North Carolina Stage. See photos!

Juicy gets a visit from his father's ghost seeking revenge for his death by his brother – now married to his mother. Sound familiar?

The regional premiere of Lynn Nottage’s critically acclaimed play Clyde’s opens this week at PlayMakers Repertory Company. Check out all new photos here!

The regional premiere of Lynn Nottage's critically acclaimed play Clyde's will open PlayMakers Repertory Company's season.

PlayMakers Repertory Company presents 'As You Like It,' one of the most beloved Shakespearean comedies, filmed at the Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art. Directed by Tia James in her PlayMakers directorial debut, the film streams January 8 to 21, 2022.

The Bard's classic play of politics and power hits the stage at PlayMakers for the first time ever. When Julius Caesar's heroic magnetism tips the scale and threatens to undo four centuries of republican rule in Rome, a small band of patriots determine to put things right. But is their “right” any better?

Jackie Sibblies Drury's play, Fairview, currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, is a show that desperately calls for conversation. It's no wonder, then, that each performance is immediately followed by community discussions led by Build With, a DC-based anti-racist training, facilitation, and consulting practice focused on people, power, and partnership. While I wasn't able to stay for this event following Saturday night's performance, it is an important step in ensuring this work's complicated themes are digested in a clear way. Fairview is one of the most conceptual shows in recent memory. Not every idea can be fully explored in this production, which has a tight 100-minute run time that director Stevie Walker-Webb keeps clipping at a good pace. Nevertheless, Fairview is a necessary piece for anyone looking to dive deeper into discussions of race and identity in America.

The Pulitzer Prize winning play, Fairview, recently opened at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Find out what critics had to say!

PlayMakers Repertory Company What: "Life of Galileo" by Bertolt Brecht. Adaptation by Joseph Discher. Directed by Vivienne Benesch. When: February 27 to March 17, 2019. Opening Night & Press Opening Saturday March 2, 2019. Where: Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art, 120 Country Club Road, Chapel Hill, NC Tickets: Start at $15; Students tickets start at $10

A 'Forbes' headline from last week read: "Ford Prepares for Mass Layoffs After Losing $1 Billion to Trump's Trade Tariffs, Report Says." In fact, Ford is planning to restructure its company to the tune of $25.5 billion, which could cost as many as 24,000 people their jobs. Seemingly ripped from the headlines, Dominique Morisseau's play SKELETON CREW, which opened at PlayMakers earlier this month, is set in a Detroit auto plant on the verge of shutting down amidst the recession in 2008. Already having lost half its crew, the plant is struggling to keep operations afloat. Morisseau examines the plight of four workers and their intertwined relationships.

PlayMakers Repertory Company proudly presents Dominique Morisseau's 'Skeleton Crew,' the searing dramatic final installment in her Detroit Trilogy. Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton, the production runs from October 10 to 28, 2018.

PlayMakers Repertory Company proudly presents Dominique Morisseau's 'Skeleton Crew,' the searing dramatic final installment in her Detroit Trilogy. Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton, the production runs from October 10 to 28, 2018.

PlayMakers Repertory Company proudly presents Dominique Morisseau's "Skeleton Crew," the searing dramatic final installment in her Detroit Trilogy. Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton, the production runs from October 10 to 28, 2018.

Acclaimed playwright Mike Wiley returns to PlayMakers with singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett to lead us on a musical journey across time, unearthing the cycles of history in a small North Carolina town.

PlayMakers Repertory Company proudly presents the world premiere of 'Leaving Eden' a play with music, script by North Carolina playwright and UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus Mike WIley, and music & lyrics by North Carolina singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett. The production, the first fully commissioned work by the theatre, is directed by PlayMakers' Producing Artistic Director, Vivienne Benesch, and runs from April 4 to 22, 2018.

It's Thanksgiving week, and PlayMakers is kicking off the holidays with Dot by Colman Domingo. This holiday season, the Shealys dare you not to laugh as they reconnect around their aging mother in the heart of a West Philly neighborhood, where they find that losing your memory and losing your mind are two completely different things.

PlayMakers Repertory Company proudly presents the regional premiere of Dot by playwright/actor Colman Domingo ( Fear the Walking Dead, Wild With Happy ). Directed by Nicole A. Watson in her PlayMakers directorial debut, the production features PlayMakers' acclaimed company member Kathryn Hunter-Williams in the title role of Dot, and welcomes new company member Samuel Ray Gates. Dot runs from November 22 to December 10, 2017.

PlayMakers Repertory Company proudly presents the regional premiere of Dot by playwright/actor Colman Domingo ( Fear the Walking Dead, Wild With Happy ). Directed by Nicole A. Watson in her PlayMakers directorial debut, the production features PlayMakers' acclaimed company member Kathryn Hunter-Williams in the title role of Dot, and welcomes new company member Samuel Ray Gates. Dot runs from November 22 to December 10, 2017.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis always provides amazing, intimate, and innovative shows for their Studio Theatre season, and playwright Marco Ramirez' THE ROYALE is certainly no exception. This is fiercely creative work that features some sonic embellishment that provides a literal pulse to the proceedings. And, even though gloves never touch an opponent's flesh during the play, you'll feel the intensity of the sport of boxing come alive in a powerful way that will move you. The play takes the idea of a rising African American boxer at the turn of the last century (think Jack Johnson), and thus, when segregation was in place, and then gives it a twist. It's masterfully done. In fact, it's a knockout!

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis concludes its 2016-2017 Studio Theatre season with The Royale by Marco Ramirez, directed by Stuart Carden.