David Esbjornson

David Esbjornson
David Esbjornson as artistic director of Seattle Repertory Theatre.

David Esbjornson is an award-winning director and producer who has worked throughout the United States in regional theatres and on Broadway, and has established strong and productive relationships with some of the professions top playwrights, actors, and companies. Esbjornson was the artistic director of Seattle Repertory Theatre in Seattle, Washington,[1] but left that position in summer 2008.[2]

For seven years (19921999) he was artistic director of New Yorks Classic Stage Company, and since leaving that post he has become one of countrys most sought after freelance directors. With a list of production credits steeped in the classics from those years at CSC and as a guest director in such leading regional theatres as the Guthrie Theater, Esbjornson has also established himself as an interpreter of choice for playwrights such as Tony Kushner, Edward Albee, and Arthur Miller.

Esbjornson has staged Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing (starring Jimmy Smits, Kirsten Johnson, and Sam Waterston) in Central Park and Larry Kramers The Normal Heart, both at New Yorks Joseph Papp Public Theater. Other recent credits include the world premieres of Edward Albees Tony Award-winning play The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? on Broadway, Neil Simons Rose and Walsh at the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles, Arthur Millers Resurrection Blues at the Guthrie, and Mitch Albom and Jeffrey Hatchers Tuesdays With Morrie at the Minetta Lane in New York. Among his New York premieres are Edward Albees The Play About the Baby, Israel HorowitzMy Old Lady, and the Tony-nominated The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, by Arthur Miller at the Public Theater and on Broadway (FANY Award for outstanding direction).

Among the world premieres to Esbjornsons credit are the first production of Tony Kushners Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, and the first staged presentation of Perestroika, both at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco, which received seven Bay Area Theatre CriticsAwards, including best direction and best production.

Other world premieres include Suzan-Lori ParksIn the Blood for the Public Theatre, and Part 1 of Tony Kushners Homebody/Kabul for the Chelsea Center in London. Recent productions directed by Esbjornson include the Maria Irene Fornes plays Mud and Drowning for the Signature Theatre; Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hedda Gabler, Summer and Smoke and The Great Gatsby for the Guthrie Theater;[3] and the musical Cleveland for the Cleveland Play House. Additional credits include the American premiere of Patrick Marbers Dealers Choice at the Long Wharf Theatre (five Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, including best direction and best production); Jose Riveras The Street of the Sun for the Mark Taper Forum; Farmyard at New York Theatre Workshop (New Directors Award); Kevin Klings Home and Away at Second Stage (Outer Critics Circle nomination); and the world premieres of Larry Kramers Just Say No at the WPA Theatre and Reynolds Prices trilogy New Music for the Cleveland Play House.

Classic Stage Company received the Lucille Lortel Award for Body of Work in 1999 at the end of Esbjornsons tenure as artistic director. During his time at CSC, he directed many productions for the theatre, including Neal Bells Thérèse Raquin (OBIE Award for Outstanding Direction), Becketts Endgame (Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival), Ellen McLaughlins Iphigenia and Other Daughters (Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Direction), John Osbornes The Entertainer (Drama League nomination for Best Revival), and Joe Ortons Entertaining Mr Sloane (Lucille Lortel Award and Drama League nomination for Best Revival).

Esbjornson has served as a resident director at the ONeill Playwrights Conference, New Harmony Project, and the Iowa Playwrights Festival. He received a 1989 NEA-TCG Directing Fellowship, and is on the Board of ART/NY. He holds an MFA from New York University, and a BA in Theatre and English from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota.

Esbjornson is the chair of the Mason Gross School of the Arts Theater Department. He succeeds Israel Hicks, who died in 2010.

References

  1. ^ "Seattle Arts - Profile: David Esbjornson - page 1". www.seattleweekly.com. http://www.seattleweekly.com/2005-09-14/arts/profile-david-esbjornson/. Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
  2. ^ Misha Berson, [Seattle Repertory Theatre finishes season with balanced budget], Seattle Times, July 23, 2009. Accessed online 2009-11-06.
  3. ^ Guthrie Theater website. "Past Plays". Archived from the original on 2007-01-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20070107164844/http://www.guthrietheater.org/INSIDETHEGUTHRIE/PastPlays/tabid/84/Default.aspx. Retrieved 2006-12-06. 

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