PlayMakers Summer Youth Conservatory Goes "Violet"

Chapel Hill’s theater scene is about to get a midsummer boost, as PlayMakers Repertory Company’s Summer Youth Conservatory hits the stage with its annual musical.

PlayMakers’ Summer Youth Conservatory brings together dozens of Triangle-area high schoolers for a summer of intensive training in the theater. Working with PlayMakers company members and visiting guests, the students spend over a month preparing a musical – developing their on- and off-stage skills along the way.

This year’s show is “Violet,” a musical written by Brian Crawley with music by Tony-winning composer Jeanine Tesori. Based on a short story by longtime UNC professor Doris Betts, “Violet” tells the story of a young woman in the mid-1960s who comes of age while journeying from North Carolina to Oklahoma to seek treatment for a disfiguring scar.

Learn more about “Violet” here.

The cast and crew includes nearly three dozen high schoolers from 17 area high schools – including Ainsley Seiger, who stars in the title role. A recent graduate of Apex High School, Seiger is a veteran of the Summer Youth Conservatory: she also appeared as Adelaide in last year’s “Guys and Dolls” and as Amber Von Tussle in 2014’s “Hairspray.” Seiger recently won the Triangle Rising Star Award as best actress – and in addition to her time in Chapel Hill, she’s also been in New York this summer, competing in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards.

Directing the show is another SYC vet, Matthew Steffens – a New York-based actor, director and choreographer who’s appeared on Broadway (and on screen in films like “Across the Universe”) and directed several Off-Broadway shows. (He also served as choreographer on “Guys and Dolls” and “Hairspray” for the SYC.)

Steffens and Seiger joined Aaron Keck on WCHL to discuss (and perform a piece from) “Violet.”