David Hammond (director)

David Hammond
Born	June 3, 1948 (1948-06-03) (age 63) [1] New York, NY[1]
Occupation	director, actor, acting teacher

David Hammond is a director and acting teacher in the American theatre. He trained for the theatre at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and received his M.F.A. from the Carnegie Mellon University Drama Department. He did his undergraduate studies at Harvard University and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a concentration in Elizabethan literature. He has taught at the Juilliard School, the American Conservatory Theater, and the Yale School of Drama and later became the artistic director of the PlayMakers Repertory Company for 14 years.

Hammond's theatrical works were a staple of the North Carolina theatre scene for over two decades. He has continued to teach, at New York University's Graduate Acting Program at Tisch School of the Arts, the American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University, and recently at Guilford College.

Education

Hammond trained at the Jules Faber Studio and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and received an M.F.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University's Drama Department. He also attended Harvard College and graduated magna cum laude with a concentration in Elizabethan literature.^[2]

Teaching and directing

David Hammond was a teacher at the Juilliard School, the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and the Yale School of Drama,^[3] and directed numerous productions for A.C.T. and the Yale Repertory Theatre. He subsequently spent 22 years at the PlayMakers Repertory Company at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 14 of which as artistic director. He also served as a professor and Head of UNC's Professional Actor Training Program.^[4] While at PlayMakers, he staged the United States premieres of Simon Bent's A Prayer for Owen Meany and Nick Stafford's Luminosity.^[5] He has both written and adapted plays, and his theatre version of The Nutcracker has been staged at numerous theatres in the United States and Canada.^[6]

He has also taught at the American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and the New York University Graduate Actor Training Program at Tisch School of the Arts.^[7] He is currently Professor of Theatre Studies and Arts Division Chair at Guilford College.^[8]

Reception

The New York Times called his production of Shaw's The Philanderer at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1982 "not Shavian", but notable for an exuberance that was called "engaging".^[9] His production of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra at Playmakers in 2005 was called "superbly cast" with "sublime" staging.^[10]

In the classroom, his work with actors is known for its incisiveness and persistence with their growth.^[11]

He has received various theatre awards, including one for Luminosity', which was listed as one of the top ten shows of 2004 in North Carolina by Classical Voice of Carolina.^[12] He received the Playmaker Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 18th annual PlayMakers Ball on October 29, 2005. He is the recipient of two Los Angeles Drama-Logue Awards and the Florencio Award of the Association of Uruguayan Theatre Critics and was the 2005 Triangle Theatre Person of the Year.^[2] Hammond directed an unpublished version of A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen adapted by Thornton Wilder in February 2007.^[13]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "David Hammond Biography (1948-)". filmreference. 2007. http://www.filmreference.com/film/98/David-Hammond.html. Retrieved 2007-08-18. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Director, playwright David Hammond to receive PlayMaker Award". News from the College of Arts and Sciences. October 19, 2005. Archived from the original on 2006-09-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20060902055626/http://www.artsandsci.unc.edu/news/news.xml?id=7528. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
3. ^ Orla Swift (April 16, 2006). "Man of a Thousand Faces". News and Observer. http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/429293.html. Retrieved 2006-10-26. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Robert C. Page III (December 25, 2005). "Hammond ankles as PlayMakers a.d. Stage man will return in the fall with emeritus status". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117935137?categoryid=15&cs=1&query=hammond%2Band%2Bankles&display=hammond%2Bankless. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
5. ^ Kenneth Jones (October 13, 2003). "PlayMakers Rep Has U.S. Premiere of Owen Meany Oct. 15-Nov. 30; Tandy Cronyn is Mrs. Meany". Playbill.com. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/82171.html. Retrieved 2006-10-12. 
6. ^ "The Nutcracker". University of Michigan Music Department. January 1, 2006. http://www.music.umich.edu/performances_events/productions/past/03-04/uprod-nutcracker.html. Retrieved 2006-10-25. 
7. ^ Byron Woods (January 4, 2006). "$150 theater tix in '06?". The Independent Weekly. http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A27027. Retrieved 2006-10-09. 
8. ^ "Guilford Welcomes 23 New Full-time Faculty for the 2006-07 Academic Year". Guilford College Relations. August 18, 2006. http://www.guilford.edu/about_guilford/news_and_publications/releases/newfaculty06-07.html. Retrieved 2006-11-20. 
9. ^ Mel Gussow (December 9, 1982). "STAGE: 'THE PHILANDERER'". New York Times. http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9E06E1DA1E39F93AA35751C1A964948260. Retrieved 2006-10-12. 
10. ^ Robert W. McDowell (January 1, 2005). "REVIEW: PlayMakers Repertory Company: Caesar and Cleopatra Ends PRC’S 2004-05 Season on a Very, Very High Note Indeed". Classical Voice of North Carolina. http://www.cvnc.org/reviews/2005/042005/C&C.html. Retrieved 2006-10-09. 
11. ^ Lucia Mauro (April 26, 2002). "Kate Harris". PerformInk Online. http://www.performink.com/Archives/stagepersonae/2002/HarrisKate.html. Retrieved 2006-10-25. 
12. ^ Robert W. McDowell, Scott Ross, & Alan R. Hall (January 1, 2004). "ARTICLE: Robert’s Reviews Chooses The 10 Best Shows of 2004". Classical Voice of Carolina. http://www.cvnc.org/reviews/2005/012005/10BestOf2004.html. Retrieved 2006-10-25. 
13. ^ "Guilford's Theatre Studies Department to Present "A Doll House" Beginning Feb. 16". Guilford College. February 16, 2007. http://www.guilford.edu/about_guilford/news_and_publications/releases/ADollHouse.html. Retrieved 2007-08-18. 

External links

• New York Times filmography
• Guilford College Staff

Persondata
Name	Hammond, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1948-06-03
Place of birth	New York, NY
Date of death
Place of death