CHAPEL HILL, N.C.: After a nationwide search, PlayMakers Repertory Company announced that Tina CoyneSmith has joined the company as its director of external relations, a new position that takes over part of the work of former managing director Nichole Gantshar (the remainder of the position’s duties are now fulfilled by the theatre’s director of operations, currently Maura Murphy). In this role, CoyneSmith will serve as the lead external-facing administrator for PlayMakers, working in close partnership with producing artistic director Vivienne Benesch.
In this new role, CoyneSmith will oversee all aspects of external affairs, including revenue, marketing, communications, and audience development strategies to advance a unified strategic vision for the organization. She brings close to three decades of development and fundraising experience at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Arts and Sciences Foundation, the Ackland Art Museum, and Duke University Nasher Museum of Art.
“I am excited to join the team at PlayMakers Repertory Company, a true local treasure that I have loved since I was a graduate student at Carolina,” CoyneSmith said in a statement. “I look forward to connecting with patrons, alumni, and our broader community to share a passion for theatre and to build support that will sustain PlayMakers as a vibrant hub for creativity and world-class performance. Together we can tell powerful stories to the widest possible audiences while nurturing a space where PlayMakers inspires, transforms, unites, and ultimately thrives.”
PlayMakers producing artistic director Vivienne Benesch said that she’s thrilled to welcome CoyneSmith to the leadership team because she “brings with her deep connections to the community and university, astute and creative strategic thinking, and a contagious passion for the arts,” Benesch said in a statement. “As we approach PlayMakers’ 50th anniversary season, Tina will be a fabulous partner in laying the groundwork to secure the future of this unique and essential professional theatre, proudly embedded in the country’s first public university.”
PlayMakers Repertory Company is North Carolina’s premier professional theatre company in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, working with company members, graduate students, local talent and visiting artists to produce reimagined classics, world premieres, and more. For close to 50 years, the company’s mission has been to produce entertaining, relevant, and courageous work that tells stories from and for a multiplicity of perspectives, and creates transformational impact in their immediate and extended communities. As of 2025, it has a $5 million budget.
