The Board of Directors

68:50

BoD Episode 28: Tlaloc Rivas

The Board of Directors ·

2026/10/12

Tlaloc Rivas (he/him/él) makes theatre where rigorous craft meets urgent questions - bridging classical forms and contemporary voices, institutional spaces and community practice, pedagogical inquiry and professional artistry. His foundation was built at El Teatro Campesino, where he trained in the physical theatre traditions that emerged from the fields of California's farmworker movement. That early formation, rooted in ensemble creation, cultural specificity, and theatre as a catalyst con...

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22:56

Bonus Episode: Audience Making

The Board of Directors ·

2026/10/09

What happens when we stop thinking of the audience as the people who simply show up to watch? In this special episode of The Board of Directors, I’ve gone back through conversations with more than thirty directors I’ve interviewed over the years and pulled together their thoughts about audiences: who they are, why they come, what happens between them, and how directors might shape—or surrender control of—that experience. Some of these directors think about the audience from the very beginning...

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73:47

BoD Episode 27: Benita de Wit

The Board of Directors ·

2026/09/28

Benita de Wit (they/them) is an Australian director based in New York. Recently, they were a Mercury Store lead artist and directed Life Sucks by Aaron Posner at Oklahoma City Rep. Benita is an SDC Member, a Barbara Whitman Award 2024 Finalist, and a New Georges-affiliated artist. They have developed new work at Clubbed Thumb, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Mercury Store, Powerhouse Theatre, Gingold Theatrical Group, Exquisite Corpse Company, Dartmouth College, and Playwrights Horizons Theater Scho...

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64:03

BoD Episode 26: Saheem Ali

The Board of Directors ·

2026/09/14

Saheem is a proud immigrant from Kenya, currently serving as the Associate Artistic Director/ Resident Director of New York’s Public Theater. He is a Tony Award nominee for Buena Vista Social Club and Fat Ham, the latter of which also earned the Joe A. Callaway Award, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations. His Shakespeare in the Park productions of Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night and Merry Wives were recorded for PBS Great Performances, and were the subject of the HBO documentary Reopen...

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64:03

BoD Episode 25: Nambi E Kelley

The Board of Directors ·

2026/08/31

Nambi E. Kelley is an award-winning actor, playwright, and television writer-producer whose work bridges history, politics, and intimate human storytelling. As an actor, she has performed regionally, internationally, and on television, including productions playing opposite greats such as Phylicia Rashad and Alfre Woodard, multiple productions at Goodman Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with select television appearances on Chicago Med, Elementary, Person of Interest, Madam Secretary,...

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81:41

BoD Episode 24: Copeland Woodruff

The Board of Directors ·

2026/08/17

Copeland Woodruff is currently the Mary and Michael Jaharis Director of Opera Studies at Lawrence University, Conservatory of Music. He has been on the directing and production staffs of the New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Yale Opera, Atlantic Coast Opera Festival (NJ), and Opera North (Philadelphia and New Hampshire). He has been on the faculties of the Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory, Academy of Vocal Arts, Temple University, University ...

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81:02

BoD Episode 23: Natalie Hennedige

The Board of Directors ·

2026/08/03

Natalie Hennedige is the founder and artistic director of CAKE, a Singapore-based performance company creating interdisciplinary works across diverse spaces. At the core of CAKE’s methodology is a commitment to interdisciplinarity and collaboration. The company works across theatre, dance, music, visual arts, film, and multimedia to generate hybrid forms that resist categorisation. This is embodied in long-running platforms such as Jamming Space and Running with Strippers, which function as e...

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0:34

The Board of Directors International Monthly Meet-Up...

The Board of Directors ·

2026/08/01

We invite you to this month’s International Directors’ Meet-Up, our monthly gathering of directors and theatre makers from around the world. It’s a space to share experiences, trade advice, and find support in what can often be a pretty isolating role. You can come and go as you need, drop in late, leave early, whatever fits your schedule. It’s simply a chance to set aside time each month to sit alongside others who understand the work. For dates, times, and details, head to boardofdirectors....

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75:21

BoD Episode 22: Simón Adinia Hanukai

The Board of Directors ·

2026/07/13

Simón Adinia Hanukai is a theater maker, director, and educator. Originally from Baku, Azerbaijan, he spent the early years of his career in Oakland, California, where he was a founding member of headRush Crew and the Co-Artistic Director of the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company. Working with both companies for six years, he was instrumental in creating original full-length dance theater pieces, which toured nationally and were seen by over 25,000 people per year. Highlights include shar...

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60:13

BoD Episode 21: Aya Ogawa

The Board of Directors ·

2026/07/06

Aya Ogawa is a multi-award-winning Brooklyn-based playwright, director, performer and translator whose work reflects an international viewpoint and utilizes the stage as a space for exploring cultural identity and the immigrant experience. Cumulatively, all aspects of their artistic practice synthesize their work as an artistic and cultural ambassador, building bridges across cultures to create meaningful exchange amongst artists, theaters and audiences both in the U.S. and in Asia. The...

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0:34

The Board of Directors International Monthly Meet-Up...

The Board of Directors ·

2026/07/01

We invite you to this month’s International Directors’ Meet-Up, our monthly gathering of directors and theatre makers from around the world. It’s a space to share experiences, trade advice, and find support in what can often be a pretty isolating role. You can come and go as you need, drop in late, leave early, whatever fits your schedule. It’s simply a chance to set aside time each month to sit alongside others who understand the work. For dates, times, and details, head to boardofdirectors....

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78:05

BoD Episode 20: Robby Lutfy

The Board of Directors ·

2026/06/22

Robby Lutfy (he/him) Sometimes an actor. Sometimes a producer. Mostly a director. Always an artist. He directs theatre at places like Cygnet Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, The John F Kennedy Center, and Burning Coal, etc. He was awarded the 2019 Craig Noel Award for Director of the Year. He was the 2012-2013 William R. Kenan, Jr. Directing Fellow at The John F. Kennedy Center as well as the 2014-2015 National New Play Network Producer-in-Residence at Marin Theatr...

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81:02

BoD Episode 19: Irina Kruzhilina

The Board of Directors ·

2026/06/08

Irina is an award-winning multi-hyphenate theater maker whose various hats include director, scenographer, experience designer, professor, playwright, and artistic director. Raised in Moscow in an intercultural household with a Ukrainian mother and Georgian father, Irina creates work that grapples with social issues, exploring identity, displacement, and belonging. Since 2000, Irina has created over two dozen performances spanning interdisciplinary downtown theatre, large-scale parades, opera...

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0:34

The Board of Directors International Monthly Meet-Up...

The Board of Directors ·

2026/05/30

We invite you to this month’s International Directors’ Meet-Up, our monthly gathering of directors and theatre makers from around the world. It’s a space to share experiences, trade advice, and find support in what can often be a pretty isolating role. You can come and go as you need, drop in late, leave early, whatever fits your schedule. It’s simply a chance to set aside time each month to sit alongside others who understand the work. For dates, times, and details, head to boardofdirectors....

en-us

67:49

BoD Episode 18: Bill Rauch

The Board of Directors ·

2026/05/25

Bill Rauch is the inaugural artistic director of the Perelman Performing Arts Center. His work as a theater director has been seen nationwide, from low-income community centers to Broadway, including the Tony Award-winning production of Robert Schenkkan’s All The Way and its sequel, The Great Society. His New York credits also include the world premiere of Naomi Wallace’s Night Is A Room at Signature Theatre, the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House at Lincoln Center Theater, and...

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70:16

BoD Episode 17: Chong Tze Chien

The Board of Directors ·

2026/05/11

Tze Chien is a core member of The Finger Players and an award-winning playwright and director. He is the recipient of the Singapore Dramatist Award and multiple The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, with his play Oiwa: The Ghost of Yotsuya notably sweeping the awards, including Production of the Year and Best Director, in its year of presentation. His plays have been staged internationally, including in Singapore, the UK, Budapest, Taiwan, and Japan. His published collections with The Neces...

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0:34

The Board of Directors International Monthly Meet-Up...

The Board of Directors ·

2026/05/01

We invite you to this month’s International Directors’ Meet-Up, our monthly gathering of directors and theatre makers from around the world. It’s a space to share experiences, trade advice, and find support in what can often be a pretty isolating role. You can come and go as you need, drop in late, leave early, whatever fits your schedule. It’s simply a chance to set aside time each month to sit alongside others who understand the work. For dates, times, and details, head to boardofdirectors....

en-us

52:22

BoD Episode 16: Anne Hamburger

The Board of Directors ·

2026/04/27

Anne Hamburger is the Founding Artistic Director of En Garde Arts, which she established in 1986. Widely credited with pioneering the site-specific theatre movement in the United States, Hamburger has spent four decades redefining how and where performance happens, transforming city streets, historic landmarks, and public spaces into stages for ambitious, large-scale work. Under her leadership, En Garde Arts has developed and produced groundbreaking projects with artists who have gone on to ...

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78:37

BoD Episode 15: Bryan Doerries

The Board of Directors ·

2026/04/13

Bryan Doerries is a writer, director, and translator who currently serves as Artistic Director of Theater of War Productions, a company that presents charged performances of seminal texts, led by acclaimed actors, for audiences with something at stake to catalyze crucial dialogue about pressing, current issues. A self-described evangelist for ancient stories and their relevance to our lives today, Doerries uses age-old approaches to help individuals and communities heal from trauma and loss. ...

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0:34

The Board of Directors International Monthly Meet-Up...

The Board of Directors ·

2026/04/04

We invite you to this month’s International Directors’ Meet-Up, our monthly gathering of directors and theatre makers from around the world. It’s a space to share experiences, trade advice, and find support in what can often be a pretty isolating role. You can come and go as you need, drop in late, leave early, whatever fits your schedule. It’s simply a chance to set aside time each month to sit alongside others who understand the work. For dates, times, and details, head to boardofdirectors....

en-us

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