The Board of Directors
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The Board of Directors •
Board of Directors Episode 24: Copeland Woodruff
Copeland Woodruff is currently the 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). Mr. Woodruff has been on the faculties of the The Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory, Academy of Vocal Arts, Temple University, University of Memphis, Universität Bamberg, the Harrower Opera Workshop, Red River Lyric Opera, La musica lirica (Italy) and Festival of International Opera of the Americas (Brazil).
Mr. Woodruff is highly sought after as a teacher of the singing actor, and has directed more than 100 productions, including the 2013 world premiere of Raise the Red Lantern at the Tianqiao Theatre in Beijing, China. Since 2006, his productions have earned seventeen National Opera Association Best Opera Production Awards (including nine first-place awards) and nine awards in The American Prize (including two first-place awards), among other recognition. He is the first recipient of the Charles Nelson Reilly Prize in Directing from The American Prize (2018). He was recently recognized as an Honored Artist of the American Prize (2023), which is awarded to those who have proven themselves to be of "sustained excellence" over a number of seasons as laureates of The American Prize competitions.
He has enjoyed an extended relationship with Boston Conservatory’s Ensemble-in-Residence, Guerilla Opera. In addition to having served on their advisory board, he has directed three productions for the company, one of which (Rojahn’s Heart of a Dog) earned Second Prize in the American Prize for Opera Performance competition, professional division. Heart of a Dog was a favorite at the Opera America convention in May 2011 and its sold-out, two-week run in Boston garnered such reviews as: “…a brilliant stroke of staging” and “…stunning” (Boston Musical Intelligencer); “brilliantly physicalized in this extraordinarily well-acted production” and “a prime and rare example of opera properly compounded with theater” (Boston Lowbrow).
Mr. Woodruff is a proud member of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and Actors' Equity Association (AEA).
Education
Master of Science, Stage Direction in Opera, Indiana University, 1995
Master of Music, Vocal Performance, University of South Carolina, 1989
Bachelor of Music, Vocal Performance, University of South Carolina, 1986
Board of Directors August Meet-up
Join Us The Third Weekend of Each Month for The Board of Directors Monthly Meet-up
The Board of Directors is a community of Theatre Makers who come together to share stories, provide mentorship, and be generally available for each other, taking place on Zoom, the third weekend of each month. For more details about times, please see below.
What is it? This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. Participants can come and go as they please. If you cannot attend the entire session, you are welcome to arrive late or leave early. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community worldwide.
Board of Directors Founder and Host Adam Marple will moderate the discussion. All questions about the craft of Directing and Making Theatre are welcome and can be asked of Adam or put to the group as a whole.
All Times for the Saturday 15/Sunday 16 Session (1 hour 30 min)
San Francisco, USA Sat, Aug 15, 2026 at 7:00 am PDT
Mexico City, Mexico Sat, Aug 15, 2026 at 8:00 am CST
New York, USA Sat, Aug 15, 2026 at 10:00 am EDT
London, UK. Sat, Aug 15, 2026 at 3:00 pm BST
Cairo, Egypt Sat, Aug 15, 2026 at 5:00 pm EEST
Mumbai, India Sat, Aug 15, 2026 at 7:30 pm IST
Singapore. Sat, Aug 15, 2026 at 10:00 pm SGT
Sydney, Australia Sun, Aug 16, 2026 at 12:00 midn AEST
Board of Directors Episode 23: Natalie Hennedige
Natalie Hennedige is the founder and Artistic Director of Cake, a performance company now in its fourteenth year of presenting progressive new works at the intersection of performance and a variety of other disciplines. As a performance director and writer, she is known for her singular artistic language and creative vision exploring contemporary issues through highly constructed, heightened worlds with collaborators from diverse artistic disciplines and cultural backgrounds. At Cake, she created the Decimal Points series and Running with Strippers platform, an exploratory space driven by engagement and dialogue with other artists. A performance-based experience set in unusual public spaces, this engagement is an exploration into new forms of cultural production. Her work has been presented in national and international venues. She is a recipient of the National Arts Council Young Artist Award (2007) and JCCI Singapore Foundation Culture Award (2010).
Natalie Hennedige is on a leave of absence as she is currently serving as the Festival Director for the Singapore International Festival of Arts (2022 - 2024).
Board of Directors Episode 22: Simón Adinia Hanukai
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 sharing the stage with Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis, Alice Walker, Neil Young, Alfre Woodard, and Martin Sheen.
Since leaving the Bay Area, Simón has created work and taught throughout the U.S., the Middle East, Europe, and India. His directing credits include JUPITER (a play about power) (La MaMa E.T.C., NY), SPACES: Oakland (Oakland City Hall), DATAPRINT Multimedia Installation & Performance (The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, CA & Cubbon Park Metro Station, Bangalore, India), SPACES: Saint-Denis (Market Hall and Cathedral of Saint-Denis), The Shared Prince (Cabaret Sauvage, Paris), Rest Upon The Wind (Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, NY), The Golden Drum Year (University Settlement, NY), Les Alibis (Junevents Festival, Atelier De Paris – Carolyn Carlson, France), Decline & Fall or; A Guide to How the End Begins for Those Too Big To Fail (Tricklock Performance Lab, New Mexico), The Fall (Flamboyán, NY), Flying Ace and The Storm of the Century (Odin Teatret, Denmark), One Heart for Two (Winkel & Balktick, NY), Phaedra's Cabaret (Flux Industries, NY).
Simón is an honored recipient of the Dean’s Fellowship from Columbia University and the Emerging Artists Fellowship from New York Theatre Workshop. Artist Residencies include: NACL Deep Space Residency; Odin Theater, Denmark; E|MERGE Interdisciplinary Artist Residency; Catwalk Art Residency; Sally and Don Lucas Arts Program at the Montalvo Arts Center; CHIMÈRES Interdisciplinary Residency, Ministry of Culture, France.
Simón is a Theatre Professor at Sciences Po Paris. He holds a Master’s degree in Education from the University of San Francisco’s Center for Teaching Excellence and Social Justice and an MFA in Theater Directing from Columbia University.
Board of Directors July Meet-up
Join Us The Third Weekend of Each Month for The Board of Directors Monthly Meet-up
The Board of Directors is a community of Theatre Makers who come together to share stories, provide mentorship, and be generally available for each other, taking place on Zoom, the third weekend of each month. For more details about times, please see below.
What is it? This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. Participants can come and go as they please. If you cannot attend the entire session, you are welcome to arrive late or leave early. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community worldwide.
Board of Directors Founder and Host Adam Marple will moderate the discussion. All questions about the craft of Directing and Making Theatre are welcome and can be asked of Adam or put to the group as a whole.
All Times for the Saturday 18/Sunday 19 Session (1 hour 30 min)
San Francisco, USA Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 7:00 am PDT
Mexico City, Mexico Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 8:00 am CST
New York, USA Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 10:00 am EDT
London, UK. Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 3:00 pm BST
Cairo, Egypt Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 5:00 pm EEST
Mumbai, India Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 7:30 pm IST
Singapore Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 10:00 pm SGT
Sydney, Australia Sun, Jul 19, 2026 at 12:00 midn AEST
Board of Directors Episode 21: Aya Ogawa
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. They challenge traditional notions of the American aesthetic and identity by creating performances infused with a multiplicity of perspectives and languages, and by incorporating influences from outside the U.S. – of style, form, and content. As a theater-maker, they frequently use a collaborative creative process with performers and designers and push the form with an eye not only on spoken text, but physicality, musicality, and interactivity.
As a playwright/director in New York City, Ogawa’s 2003 A GIRL OF 16 (Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center) was hailed by The New York Times for its “stunning visual sense.” Their 2008 OPH3LIA (HERE) was called “riotously alive…great theater” by The New York Times. Their ARTIFACT was featured in CUNY’s 2007 Prelude Festival and the 2009 Performance Mix Festival (Joyce Soho). They were commissioned by The Foundry Theatre to create a work in collaboration with Adhikaar, a human rights organization serving the US Nepali community. The resulting piece, JOURNEY TO THE OCEAN, was presented by The Rubin Museum in 2011. Their play LUDIC PROXY, commissioned by The Play Company, explored humankind’s relationship to technology (from nuclear power to VR and video games) through the events of Chernobyl, Fukushima, and into the future. Its 2015 premiere at WalkerSpace was described as “beautifully conceived” by the NYTimes. They were a playwright in residence at The New Museum for X:ID a research-driven pop-up repertory theater designed to examine the shifting ethical boundaries surrounding intercultural cross-play on contemporary American stages. They wrote, directed, and performed in the 6-person cast for their Obie Award-winning play THE NOSEBLEED (Under the Radar Festival 2019; Japan Society & Chocolate Factory Theatre 2021; Lincoln Center Theatre LCT3 2022; Woolly Mammoth Theater 2023). Their latest creation, MEAT SUIT, premiered with Second Stage in February 2026.
As a director, they directed Haruna Lee’s Obie Award-winning play SUICIDE FOREST in its world premiere production at The Bushwick Starr in 2019 and its off-Broadway remount with Ma-Yi in 2020. 9000 Paper Balloons (co-created by Spencer Lott and Maiko Kikuchi) was released as a puppet performance film by HERE in November 2021 and ran at Japan Society in October 2022. In December 2024, they directed Dan Fishback’s Dan Fishback is Alive, Unwell and Living in His Apartment at Joe’s Pub. Upcoming work includes Jared Mezzocchi’s one-person play 73 Seconds, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s historical epic The Unsinkable, and Haruna Lee’s 49 Days.
As a translator, they have been commissioned to translate numerous Japanese plays into English that have been produced in the U.S. and London, including over a dozen plays by Toshiki Okada, writer/director of chelfitsch theater company. Time Out called their rendition of Okada’s ENJOY (Play Company at 59E59, 2010; published by Samuel French) an “effortless, idiomatic translation”; The Village Voice hailed their translation of Okada’s FIVE DAYS IN MARCH (Witness Relocation at LaMama, 2010) as “a miracle of transposed idiom.” Their translation of Okada’s ZERO COST HOUSE was presented at Philly Live Arts 2012, Under the Radar Festival 2013, and Yokohama, Japan. From 2014-2024, they served on the selection committee for the Japan Playwrights Association’s publication series ENGEKI: Japanese Theatre in the New Millennium.
Aya has performed nationally and internationally. They originated and performed numerous roles with the International WOW Company, including JR Oppenheimer in The Bomb and the title role in Alice’s Evidence. Time Out NY hailed their performance as Chomsky in The Loneliness of Noam Chomsky by the Butane Group. International credits include their role in the world premiere of the award-winning Emperor and Kiss with Rinko-Gun Company, Tokyo; they were selected as part of the artist team representing the U.S. at the International Theater Institute’s 2006 Congress in Manila and 2008 Congress in Madrid for which they co-created and performed in the resulting collaborative pieces; and the European premiere of Young Jean Lee’s Songs of the Dragon Flying to Heaven at the Vienna Festival. More recently, they performed in the first season of Shaina Feinberg’s web series Dinette and in their own play The Nosebleed.
They are the recipient of the 2025 Doris Duke Artist Award, 2023 Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting; 2023 OBIE Award for the conception, writing and direction of The Nosebleed; 2023 Grants to Artists from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts; The 2023-24 Playwrights’ Center’s McKnight National Residency and Commission; MacDowell Fellow; The 2022-23 Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity at Lincoln Center Theater; MAP Fund grants; 2015 President’s Award for Performing Arts, WorkSpace grant and three Swing Space grants from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; an Artistic Fellowship at New York Theater Workshop (where they are now a Usual Suspect); the Van Lier Fellowship and 2017-2026 Resident Playwright at New Dramatists; a HERE Artist Residency; Artist in Residence 2017-2019, 2017 Parent Artist Space Grantee and Space Grantee at Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX); support from NYSCA and the Urban Artist Initiative, and The Women's Film, TV and Theatre Fund by the City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME). Aya served on the Obie Award committee for two seasons, 2023-2025, and they’re glad to have their evenings back. They have been a guest artist/lecturer at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, UT Austin, Brown University, Mount Holyoke College, University of Maryland, University of Pittsburgh, New York University, University of Puget Sound, and Stony Brook University, as well as a mentor at The Orchard Project and Clubbed Thumb.
Board of Directors Episode 20: Robby Lutfy
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 Theatre.
He directed 20 shows and produced 39 others at Cygnet Theatre, where he was the Associate Artistic Director for seven seasons. At Cygnet, he was the head of new play development, where he commissioned 20 plays by writers including Miranda Rose Hall, Herbert Siguenza, Nathan Alan Davis, and Leah Nanako Winkler. This past year, he directed Dunsinane by David Greig at Marin Theatre Company, Witch by Jen Silverman at Charlotte Conservatory Theatre, God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza at Backyard Renaissance, and the world premieres of Sharon by Keiko Green and The Little Fellow by Kate Hamill at Cygnet. He acted in August: Osage County with Backyard Renaissance.
He has taught classes at San Diego State University, Grossmont College, UNCSA, and UCSD. Robby is a graduate of the directing program under Gerald Freedman at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. His work, Jean F: ritualizing a stranger, was exhibited at Goodyear Arts this summer, where he was an artist in residence. Up next: a residency with Arts on Site and The Rensing Center. Currently producing the 25th National Showcase of New Plays with NNPN @robby_the_artist
Board of Directors June Meet-up
Join Us The Third Weekend of Each Month for The Board of Directors Monthly Meet-up
The Board of Directors is a community of Theatre Makers who come together to share stories, provide mentorship, and be generally available for each other, taking place on Zoom, the third weekend of each month. For more details about times, please see below.
What is it? This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. Participants can come and go as they please. If you cannot attend the entire session, you are welcome to arrive late or leave early. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community worldwide.
Board of Directors Founder and Host Adam Marple will moderate the discussion. All questions about the craft of Directing and Making Theatre are welcome and can be asked of Adam or put to the group as a whole.
All Times for the Saturday 20/Sunday 21 Session (1 hour 30 min)
San Francisco, USA Sat, Jun 20, 2026 at 7:00 am PDT
Mexico City, Mexico Sat, Jun 20, 2026 at 8:00 am CST
New York, USA Sat, Jun 20, 2026 at 10:00 am EDT
London, UK. Sat, Jun 20, 2026 at 3:00 pm BST
Cairo, Egypt Sat, Jun 20, 2026 at 5:00 pm EEST
Mumbai, India Sat, Jun 20, 2026 at 7:30 pm IST
Singapore Sat, Jun 20, 2026 at 10:00 pm SGT
Sydney, Australia Sun, Jun 21, 2026 at 12:00 midn AEST
Board of Directors Episode 19: Irina Kruzhilina
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, and site-responsive installations. Her work has been shown at Times Square, Tokyo Disney, BAM, Prague National Theatre, the NY Philharmonic, the XXI Commonwealth Games, and Barbican Center.
Currently, her work centers on two primary forms: site-specific performances and socially engaged projects with community members to address issues like immigration, polarization, conflict, and peacebuilding.
Relentless in her ambition and risk-taking, Irina pushes the boundaries of theatre to create work that is both artistically daring and socially urgent. Irina launched SpaceBridge, a theatre workshop and devised performance uniting 19 refugee and American children, most of whom had never been on stage. Leading a team of 60 collaborators, Irina transformed their stories into a fully realized Off-Broadway production. After being named a critics’ pick at the 2025 Under The Radar Festival, she is expanding her workshop curriculum to develop new SpaceBridge performances with local and refugee youth in the U.S. and globally.
Irina is the founder of Visual Echo, a New York-based performance organization fostering generative dialogues among people from diverse backgrounds who rarely intersect.
Irina is an associate professor at the New School of Drama, where she co-developed a new MFA program in Contemporary Theatre and Performance. She is a La MaMa resident artist and recipient of the 2024 Joan D. Firestone Fund Award and the 2024 Elliot Norton Award.
Board of Directors Episode 18: Bill Rauch
Bill Rauch is the inaugural artistic director of Perelman Performing Arts Center. His work as a theater director has been seen across the nation, from low-income community centers to Broadway in the Tony Award®-winning production of Robert Schenkkan’s All The Way and its sequel, The Great Society, as well as at many of the largest regional theaters in the country. His other New York credits 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 a site-specific Occasional Grace in multiple Manhattan churches for En Garde Arts.
From 2007 to 2019, Bill was artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), the country’s oldest and largest rotating repertory theater, where he directed seven world premieres and 20 other plays, including several by Shakespeare, as well as innovative productions of classic musicals, including a queer re-envisioning of Oklahoma! Among his initiatives at OSF, Bill committed to commissioning 37 new plays to dramatize moments of change in American history. “American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle” has resulted in such watershed plays as Lynn Nottage’s Sweat(winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize), Paula Vogel’s Indecent, the 1491s’ Between Two Knees, Lisa Loomer’s Roe, Universes’ Party People, Culture Clash’s American Night, and both of Robert Schenkkan’s plays about LBJ, among others.
Bill is also co-founder of Cornerstone Theater Company, where he served as artistic director from 1986 to 2006, directing more than 40 productions, most of them collaborations with diverse rural and urban communities nationwide. He has directed world premieres at Portland Center Stage, Center Theater Group, and South Coast Rep, and has directed multiple times at American Repertory Theater, Yale Rep, the Guthrie, Arena Stage, and Seattle Rep, as well as at Long Wharf Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Pasadena Playhouse, and Great Lakes Theater Festival. His production of The Pirates of Penzance performed at the Portland Opera.
Bill twice won the Independent Reviewers of New England Award. He is also the recipient of the 2018 Ivy Bethune Award from Actors’ Equity Association for his commitment to diversity in casting and producing, a 2015 Ford Fellowship, the 2012 Fichandler Award from the Society of Directors and Choreographers, the 2010 Theatre Communications Group’s Visionary Leadership Award, the 2009 Margo Jones Medal for his commitment to living writers, and the 2008 United States Artists Prudential Award. Other honors include Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Best Direction of All The Way, as well as Helen Hayes, Ovation, Los Angeles Weekly, Drama-Logue, Garland, and Connecticut Critics’ Circle Awards, and he is the only artist to have won the inaugural “Leadership for a Changing World” award from the Ford Foundation.
He was a Claire Trevor Professor at the University of California, Irvine, and has also taught at the University of Southern California and U.C.L.A. Bill was educated at Harvard College. He lives in New York City with his husband, Christopher Liam Moore, and their two children, Liam and Xava Rauch-Moore.
Board of Directors May Meet-up
Join Us The Third Weekend of Each Month for The Board of Directors Monthly Meet-up
The Board of Directors is a community of Theatre Makers who come together to share stories, provide mentorship, and be generally available for each other, taking place on Zoom, the third weekend of each month. For more details about times, please see below.
What is it? This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. Participants can come and go as they please. If you cannot attend the entire session, you are welcome to arrive late or leave early. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community worldwide.
Board of Directors Founder and Host Adam Marple will moderate the discussion. All questions about the craft of Directing and Making Theatre are welcome and can be asked of Adam or put to the group as a whole.
All Times for the Saturday 23/Sunday 24 Session (1 hour 30 min)
San Francisco, USA Sat, May 23, 2026 at 7:00 am PDT
Mexico City, Mexico Sat, May 23, 2026 at 8:00 am CST
New York, USA Sat, May 23, 2026 at 10:00 am EDT
London, UK. Sat, May 23, 2026 at 3:00 pm BST
Cairo, Egypt Sat, May 23, 2026 at 5:00 pm EEST
Mumbai, India Sat, May 23, 2026 at 7:30 pm IST
Singapore. Sat, May 23, 2026 at 10:00 pm SGT
Sydney, Australia Sun, May 24, 2026 at 12:00 midn AEST
Board of Directors Episode 17: Chong Tze Chien
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 Necessary Stage and Epigram Books feature critically acclaimed works such as Charged and PIE. In 2015, Charged was named by The Business Times as one of the top ten plays of all time in Singapore. Other notable works include Turn By Turn We Turn, Poop!, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and The Book of Living and Dying. He has also written for films and television, with credits on Singapore networks such as Channel 5, OKTO/Arts Central, and Vasantham. In recognition of his contributions to the arts, he was awarded the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council in 2006.
On a national level, Tze Chien has held key creative leadership roles across major cultural events. He was the Creative Director of Singapore Pools’ float and performance at Chingay Parade in 2007 and 2008, Co-conceptualist and Writer for National Day Parade 2016, Creative Director of Island Adventures for the National Museum of Singapore’s Children’s Season 2012, Artistic Director of The Arts House’s 10th Anniversary in 2014, and Co-curator of The Studios: Fifty, a festival of 50 iconic Singapore plays presented by the Esplanade in 2015. He is currently the Festival Director of the Singapore International Festival of Arts.
An established arts educator, Tze Chien has conducted workshops and masterclasses for tertiary institutions and schools since 2001. He serves on several Curriculum Development Advisory Committees at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and is an Adjunct Lecturer at Nanyang Technological University/National Institute of Education, as well as a Principal Tutor at the National University of Singapore. He has also taught at institutions including LASALLE College of the Arts and NTU/NIE. Beyond academia, he has contributed significantly to arts education nationally, serving as an adjudicator for the Singapore Youth Festival Arts Presentation (Drama) for seven years and as Creative Director of the SYF Concert 2019. He has also been commissioned by Singapore’s Ministry of Education to conduct devising workshops and develop educational scripts for the OPAL teaching and learning portal.
In addition to his artistic and educational work, Tze Chien contributes to the broader arts ecosystem through governance and advisory roles. He is a Board Member of Trustees of the University of the Arts Singapore, and serves on the Industry Advisory Group for LASALLE College of the Arts.
Board of Directors Episode 16: Anne Hamburger
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 shape the field, including Anne Bogart, Charles L. Mee, Jonathan Larson, and Reza Abdoh, while continuing to champion a new generation of changemakers such as Jared Mezzocchi, Aya Ogawa, Hansol Jung, and The Pack.
Her work defines a model of performance that expands beyond traditional venues, engaging directly with the physical fabric of New York City. It has been recognized with six Obie Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, and an Outer Critics Circle Award.
Anne holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and is the proud mother of two children, Hannah and Owen."
Board of Directors April Meet-up
Join Us The Third Weekend of Each Month for The Board of Directors Monthly Meet-up
The Board of Directors is a community of Theatre Makers who come together to share stories, provide mentorship, and be generally available for each other, taking place on Zoom, the third weekend of each month. For more details about times, please see below.
What is it? This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. Participants can come and go as they please. If you cannot attend the entire session, you are welcome to arrive late or leave early. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community worldwide.
Board of Directors Founder and Host Adam Marple will moderate the discussion. All questions about the craft of Directing and Making Theatre are welcome and can be asked of Adam or put to the group as a whole.
All Times for the Saturday 18/Sunday 19 Session (1 hour 30 min)
San Francisco, USA Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 7:00 am PDT
Mexico City, Mexico Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 8:00 am CST
New York, USA Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 10:00 am EDT
London, UK. Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 3:00 pm BST
Cairo, Egypt Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 4:00 pm EET
Mumbai, India Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 7:30 pm IST
Singapore, Singapore Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 10:00 pm SGT
Sydney, Australia Sun, Apr 19, 2026 at 12:00 midn AEST
Board of Directors Episode 15: Bryan Doerries
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.
During his tenure at Theater of War Productions, the company has presented diverse projects across the United States and the world, that regularly take place in homeless shelters and jails, military bases and hospitals, housing projects, churches, public parks, and rival gang territories, but also in cultural spaces, on the radio, and on Zoom. These free events are all designed to be authentic, community-driven exchanges that culminate in guided audience discussions about challenging, often divisive subjects, such as the visible and invisible wounds of war, end-of-life care, racism, incarceration, gun violence, domestic violence, the climate crisis, sexual assault, immigration, and addiction.
Doerries’ books include The Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today, The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan, All That You’ve Seen Here is God, and Oedipus Trilogy. Among his awards, he has received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Kenyon College, was named Public Artist in Residence for the City of New York, was elected a Hastings Center Fellow, and is a 2025 recipient of the Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize.
Board of Directors Episode 14: Mikhael Tara Garver
Mikhael Tara Garver is a pioneering force in immersive storytelling and fandom-driven experience design, shaping how audiences gather, participate, and imagine together at the intersection of live experience, technology, and culture. For over two decades, her work has brought thousands into transformative worlds inside rock clubs and national parks, international theme parks and stadiums, and even a galaxy far, far away.
Mikhael’s work centers on immersive experiences as engines for connection, empathy, and collective possibility. Her career places her at the heart of many of immersive storytelling’s defining moments, including serving as a director on the American Repertory Theater’s initial production of Sleep No More and as Creative Director for the band Great Caesar, where she designed an 18-show immersive journey unfolding over eight days at SXSW. Most recently, Mikhael served as Director of Immersive Experience for the THEA Award–winning Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser, realizing her long-held vision of a two-day, three-night live immersive journey that gently draws participants into epic narrative agency. Though not a Star Wars fan at the outset, she has always believed in immersive storytelling’s power to foster transformation and remains deeply grateful to the fandom whose passion continues to carry that force forward.
Her award-winning body of work spans projects for AMC Television, Amazon, the National Park Service, Bloomberg, BBDO, Hormel, Tentrr, Viacom, Warner Bros., The La River, Smirnoff, IDEO, Facebook, and Virgin. She has delivered keynotes and advisory leadership across the experiential landscape, including at the World Experience Summit, and has served as a Lead Creative Consultant for Walt Disney Imagineering.
A recognized leader in the field, Mikhael is a founding board member of the Immersive Experience Institute, a recipient of the first-ever immersive commissions from The Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, the Public Theater, and the National Theatre of Scotland, a multi-year grantee of the Pop Culture Collaborative where she was named a Pop Culture Leader driving culture change, and an International Sacatar Fellow in Bahia, Brazil, where she began writing her book on immersive practice.
She is currently the Founder and CEO of Culture House Immersive, a creative studio dedicated to shaping the future of experiential entertainment where technology, story, and human connection meet.
Board of Directors March Meet-up
Join Us The Third Weekend of Each Month for The Board of Directors Monthly Meet-up
The Board of Directors is a community of Theatre Makers who come together to share stories, provide mentorship, and be generally available for each other, taking place on Zoom, the third weekend of each month. For more details about times, please see below.
What is it? This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. Participants can come and go as they please. If you cannot attend the entire session, you are welcome to arrive late or leave early. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community worldwide.
Board of Directors Founder and Host Adam Marple will moderate the discussion. All questions about the craft of Directing and Making Theatre are welcome and can be asked of Adam or put to the group as a whole.
All Times for the Saturday 21/Sunday 22 Session (1 hour 30 min)
San Francisco, USA Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 7:00 am PDT
Mexico City, Mexico Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 8:00 am CST
New York, USA Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 10:00 am EDT
London, United Kingdom Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 2:00 pm GMT
Cairo, Egypt Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 4:00 pm EET
Mumbai, India Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 7:30 pm IST
Singapore, Singapore Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 10:00 pm SGT
Sydney, Australia Sun, Mar 22, 2026 at 1:00 am AEDT
Board of Directors Episode 13: Matt Torney
Matt Torney is an Irish-born theatre director and the Artistic Director of Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, where he leads one of the Southeast’s most respected regional theatre companies, Theatrical Outfit. Originally from Belfast, Torney began his career as a freelance director in Ireland before moving to the United States in 2006 to complete an MFA in Directing at Columbia University.
He has directed extensively across the U.S. and internationally, working on both new plays and bold reimaginings of classical texts, with a practice grounded in rigorous collaboration with actors and a strong visual partnership with designers. His productions have received numerous award nominations, including multiple Suzi Bass and Helen Hayes Award nominations.
Recent and notable work includes The Honey Trap at the Irish Repertory Theatre (New York Times Critic’s Pick), The Lehman Trilogy by Stefano Massini, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, and upcoming productions of The Glass Menagerie and The Price at Theatrical Outfit. His forthcoming projects also include The Lehman Trilogy at Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
Before joining Theatrical Outfit, Torney served as Associate Artistic Director of Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, and as Director of Programming for Origin Theatre Company in New York. He was also an Associate Director at Rough Magic in Dublin for eight years.
Torney’s work is driven by a belief that live theatre is an essential counterbalance to an increasingly digital world, capable of bringing communities together to wrestle with complexity, celebrate joy, and sit honestly with uncertainty. As an artistic leader, he is deeply committed to new work, regional artists, and theatre that speaks directly to the moment in which it is made.
Board of Directors Episode 12: Adriana Baer
Adriana Baer has been an arts professional for over 20 years. She has held leadership roles at Profile Theatre (Executive Artistic Director) and Cutting Ball Theater (Associate Artistic Director), and has worked with companies including Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization that works for a just and thriving theater ecology.
Adriana has directed at theaters including Houston’s Alley Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and Artists Repertory Theatre. She has taught courses and lectured as a guest speaker at numerous colleges and universities nationwide. She holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA in Directing from Columbia University.
As part of her mission to support the arts sector as a whole, she worked as the Arts Program Officer for a private family foundation during the pandemic, ensuring that crucial funding for arts organizations was made into multi-year commitments and distributed quickly.
As a professional podcaster, Adriana founded, produced, and cohosted From Your Center, successfully publishing over 60 weekly episodes. She has been a guest on dozens of podcasts and teaches the art of podcasting and public speaking through online courses and 1:1 coaching.
Adriana is dedicated to community building in the arts sector and believes in the power of creativity to enhance the local economy, cultural identity, and civic life. She is the proud founder and CEO of I’m Into This Place, a media brand focused on highlighting the vibrant arts and culture scene of Clark County.
Board of Directors February Meet-up
Join Us The Third Weekend of Each Month for The Board of Directors Monthly Meet-up
The Board of Directors is a community of Theatre Makers who come together to share stories, provide mentorship, and be generally available for each other, taking place on Zoom, the third weekend of each month. For more details about times, please see below.
What is it? This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. Participants can come and go as they please. If you cannot attend the entire session, you are welcome to arrive late or leave early. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community worldwide.
Board of Directors Founder and Host Adam Marple will moderate the discussion. All questions about the craft of Directing and Making Theatre are welcome and can be asked of Adam or put to the group as a whole.
All Times for the February 21/22 Session (1 hour 30 min)
San Francisco, USA Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 6:00 am PST
Mexico City, Mexico Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 8:00 am CST
New York, USA Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 9:00 am EST
London, UK. Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 2:00 pm GMT
Cairo, Egypt Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 4:00 pm EET
Mumbai, India Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 7:30 pm IST
Singapore Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 10:00 pm SGT
Melbourne, Australia Sun, Feb 22, 2026 at 1:00 am AEDT