Kenan Charitable Trust gives PlayMakers $250,000

The William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust of Chapel Hill has donated $250,000 to PlayMakers Repertory Company at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to support its artistic and educational programs.

The gift assists the professional theatre company with expenses ranging from actors’ salaries, scenery and costumes to education and outreach programs. Private support is especially important to PlayMakers, now in its 32nd season, because ticket revenue accounts for only 40 percent of annual operating expenses.

“The Kenan Trust made the gift in recognition of the important contribution that PlayMakers makes to the cultural fabric of the University community,” said Dr. Richard Krasno, executive director of the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust.

The trust has supported the performing arts at Carolina in recent years with an $8 million gift to the music department – including $4 million for scholarships and $4 million for a new music building – and a $5 million challenge gift for Carolina Performing Arts.

“We are immensely grateful to the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust for its commitment to our mission and our work,” said Joseph Haj, PlayMakers’ producing artistic director. “The Trust’s belief in our efforts to bring PlayMakers ever closer to the university and to the community at-large is deeply empowering, and I am proud to have their faith in our efforts.”

Kenan family philanthropies gave the University nearly $70 million during the Carolina First campaign, a comprehensive, multi-year, private fund-raising campaign to support Carolina’s vision of becoming the nation’s leading university. More than half of that total has been designated for the College of Arts and Sciences, the oldest and largest academic unit at Carolina.

Based in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, PlayMakers, the Carolinas’ oldest resident professional theatre company, was recognized as one of “America’s 50 best regional theatres” by the Drama League of New York in 2007 and as one of “America’s leading theatre companies” by American Theatre magazine in 2003.

PlayMakers Web site: http://www.playmakersrep.org/

Arts and Sciences Foundation contact: Del Helton, (919) 962-8216

February 1, 2008