HannahLee is a new play by UNC senior Ben Greene, and is the winner of the 2008 Sam Selden Prize for Playwriting. The play picks up where Peter Yarrow's song "Puff the Magic Dragon" ends. Jack Paper has grown up and moved on. Puff has slipped into his cave, providing the pirates that used to lower their masts to him an opportunity to invade HannahLee. With the pirates at large, the noble kings and princes that used to bow to Puff are no longer safe. The unchecked worm population the dragon used to hunt begins to eat away the forest. And the autumn mist the forest used to breathe out begins to disappear. HannahLee considers what would happen if an adult Jack Paper were forced to reconcile with the world and the dragon he deserted.

A note from the playwright: "I believe in happy endings. That's why the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" has never sat well with me. It ends with Jackie Paper growing up and leaving Puff (who ceases his fearless roar, sheds his scales, and retires to his cave forever). People say it's sad because it discusses something ‘natural' we all go through: leaving the magical world of childhood. I wrote this play because I think that departure is unnatural. I think Jackie Paper committed a crime by growing up and this play requires him to come back to HannahLee to redeem himself."

Creating the magical world of this play has been no small task. Directed by UNC senior Jaki Bradley, who was mentored by New York's "Ground Up Productions," the production has become a collaboration between the Dramatic Art and Studio Art departments. It involves the use of shadow puppets, giant puppets, object puppets, Viewpoints work, and Grotowskian direction concepts.

Performances will be in the Kenan Theatre in the Center of Dramatic Art on the UNC Chapel Hill campus, and tickets will be $5, but free with a DDA privilege card.

Performance Times:

Friday, November 14th 8:15 pm
Saturday, November 15th 8:15 pm
Sunday, November 16th 8:15 pm
Monday, November 17th 4:00 pm & 8:15 pm
Tuesday, November 18th 5:00 pm

The Playwriting Studio is a student organization on campus that commits itself to producing student-written works. Before plays are produced, they go through a competitive process of readings, where students and faculty are invited and asked to give feedback and constructive criticism. Once a play is selected, the author works with a student-director and student-actors to stage the play for the first time.