In March 1919, the Carolina Playmakers produced its first bill of original plays, folk dramas based on the “simple lives and homely ways” of ordinary people in North Carolina. Under the direction of Frederick H. “Proff” Koch and successive leaders, a new type of people’s theatre emerged — one that would influence American drama for decades. For more than five decades the Playmakers performed student-written and professional plays for audiences on campus and beyond. This exhibition used original documents, artifacts, and recordings to examine the group’s fifty-six year history and its legacy at UNC and on the national stage.
Focusing on Frederick Koch’s founding of the group for his playwriting students and on the group’s contributions to student and regional theatre in North Carolina, the exhibit also contained materials relating to student-authored plays and musicals.
For more details, visit the UNC Library News and Events blog, Southern Historical Collection blog, or the related Gladys Hall Coates University History Lecture entitled A Model for Folk Theatre: The Carolina Playmakers, held at UNC Libraries, 24 March 2014.
