At the Helm! BWW Rounds Up This Season's Broadway Directors

Broadway stars might boast the biggest fan-bases, but without their directors, the vehicle driving their talents could easily swerve off the tracks. Keeping the runaway train at bay are season's bold Broadway "conductors".

First, there are those transporting great work from around the country and across the pond, such as Michael Grandage guiding Daniel Radcliffe in THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, Molly Smith leading THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN, and VIOLET helmer Leigh Silverman.

Then, there are directors spearheading new work, such as Michael Greif of IF/THEN, ROCKY's Alex Timbers, Bartlett Sher steering THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, Bill Rauch piloting ALL THE WAY, Sheryl Kaller helming MOTHERS AND SONS, James Lapine kicking off ACT ONE, THE REALISTIC JONESES' driver Sam Gold, Joe Mantello overseeing CASA VALENTINA, and Susan Stroman at the controls of BULLETS OVER BROADWAY.

And, of course, there are those reviving old favorites, such as the Kenny Leon-led A RAISIN IN THE SUN, Laurence Connor and James Powell's LES MISERABLES revival, Michael Mayer maneuvering HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, Sam Mendes resurrecting CABARET, Anna D. Shapiro restoring OF MICE AND MEN, Lonny Price leading Audra McDonald in LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL, and Casey Nicholaw's reinvisioned ALADDIN.

Scroll down to learn more about this season's intrepid and imaginative leaders!

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Laurence Connor
His Show: LES MISERABLES
Opening Night: March 23 at the Imperial Theatre
About Laurence: Laurence started his career as an actor in which he took part in various plays, musicals and recordings. It was while performing in the musical LES MISERABLES that he was asked to direct his first musical, A Slice of Saturday Night, which played for a one-night charity gala at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. Since then Laurence has worked as a resident and associate director on several shows in London, including The King & I, The Phantom of the Opera and Oliver! In 2005, Laurence directed a new touring production of Miss Saigon, which has been recreated in Korea and Australia, winning major awards including The Manchester Evening News award for best touring musical and Green Room award for best director. He was the co-director of the 25th Anniversary tour of LES MISERABLES, on which this production is based, and the 25th Anniversary concert of LES MISERABLES at the O2. Laurence recently directed The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall, the Oliver! National UK tour, The Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary production and an Arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, which is due for a world tour later this year.

Sam Gold
His Show: THE REALISTIC JONESES
Opening Night: April 6 at the Lyceum Theatre
About Sam: Broadway credits include: Picnic (Roundabout at the American Airlines Theatre); Seminar (Golden Theatre; also Ahmanson, L.A.). Recent: Fun Home (The Public Theater); Cradle Will Rock (City Center Encores Series); The Flick (Playwrights Horizons; Lortel Nomination); Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep; Drama Desk nomination); The Realistic Joneses (Yale Rep., CT Critics Circle Award); The Big Meal (Playwrights Horizons; Lortel Award); Look Back in Anger (Roundabout, Lortel nomination); Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons; Drama Desk nomination, Obie Award); The Aliens (Rattlestick, Obie Award). Graduate of the Juilliard Directing Program, NYTW Usual Suspect, Drama League Directing Fellow, recipient of the Princess Grace Award and Resident Director at Roundabout Theatre Company.

Michael Grandage
His Show: THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN
Opening Night: April 20 at the Cort Theatre
About Michael: Grandage is a Tony Award-winning director and the Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company. He was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse (2002-2012) and Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres (2000-05). Recent work for his own company in the West End has included Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw in Peter and Alice, a new play by John Logan, and Henry V with Jude Law. At the Donmar, his work includes: Richard II with Eddie Redmayne, King Lear with Derek Jacobi (also BAM), the world premiere of John Logan's play Red (also Broadway and LA), Hamlet with Jude Law (also Elsinore and Broadway), Ivanov with Kenneth Branagh, The Chalk Garden, the world premiere of Frost/Nixon with Frank Langella and Michael Sheen (also Gielgud, Broadway and USA tour), Othello with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor, The Wild Duck, Guys and Dolls, Grand Hotel, Passion Play and the British Premiere of Merrily We Roll Along. Work at Sheffield Theatres includes: Don Carlos with Derek Jacobi (also transferred to the Gielgud). Opera includes: The Marriage of Figaro and Billy Budd (Glyndebourne), Don Giovanni (Metropolitan Opera) and Madame Butterfly (Houston). He is the recipient of Tony, Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics Circle, TMA, South Bank and Drama Desk Awards. Michael has also been awarded Honorary Doctorates by both Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam University and is President of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He was appointed CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2011. His book A Decade at the Donmar was published in 2012 by Constable and Robinson.

Michael Greif
His Show: IF/THEN
Opening Night: March 30 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
About Michael: Broadway credits include: Next to Normal, Grey Gardens, Rent (Tony Award nominations), and Never Gonna Dance. Delacorte: Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet. Off-Broadway: new plays, musicals, revivals at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Class Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, NY Shakespeare Festival/Public, NYTW, Roundabout, Second Stage and Signature, including the 2010 revival of Angels in America (Lortel Award), Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide... (Public), Guare's Landscape of the Body (Signature), and musical adaptations of Giant (Public) and Far From Heaven (Playwrights Horizons). He received Obie Awards for Machinaland Dogeaters (Public) and for Rent (NYTW). Regional: Williamstown (9 seasons) La Jolla Playhouse (Artistic Director 1995-99), Arena, Center Stage, Goodman, Guthrie, CTG/Taper, DTC, Trinity Rep. Education: Northwestern (BS),UCSD (MFA). Proud father of David and Hannah.

Sheryl Kaller
Her Show: MOTHERS AND SONS
Opening Night: March 24 at the Golden Theatre
About Sheryl: Her direction was seen most recently at Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Too Much Too Much Too Many by Meghan Kennedy. Ms. Kaller received a Tony Nomination for Best Director for Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts. She has directed at many theaters including LCT3, The New Group, Pasadena Playhouse, Primary Stages, Williamstown Theatre Festival, A.C.T., New York Stage and Film, The Geffen, Philadelphia Theater Company and Naked Angels. She has directed and developed a plethora of new plays and musicals with writers including Nick Blaemire, Billy Porter, Christopher Durang, Geoffrey Nauffts, Regina Taylor, Daniel Beaty, Dick Beebe and Alan Menken. Greatest Joys: Scott, Tobey and Tess.

James Lapine
His Show: ACT ONE
Opening Night: April 17 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre
About James: Lapine returns to LCT where he wrote the book for the musical A New Brain (with music and lyrics by William Finn) and directed his play Twelve Dreams. Director of the current HBO documentary Six By Sondheim, he collaborated with Stephen Sondheim as author and director on the musicals Sunday in the Park with George (Pulitzer Prize), Into the Woods, Passion (Tony Award) and the multi-media revue Sondheim on Sondheim. With William Finn he has also collaborated on March of the Falsettos and, Falsettoland (later presented on Broadway as Falsettos), Muscle and the current Little Miss Sunshine. On Broadway he also directed the current revival of the musical Annie, Golden Child, The Diary of Anne Frank, Amour and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His other plays include Luck, Pluck and Virtue, The Moment When, Fran's Bed and Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing.

Kenny Leon
His Show: A RAISIN IN THE SUN
Opening Night: April 3 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre
About Kenny: Kenny Leon's most recent Broadway productions include Lydia R. Diamond's Stick Fly, Katori Hall's The Mountaintop and August Wilson's Fences, which garnered 10 Tony nominations (including Best Director) and won for Best Revival, Best Actor and Best Actress. Mr. Leon's productions of August Wilson's Radio Golf and Gem of the Ocean were nominated for Tony Awards for Best Play and his 2004 production of A Raisin in the Sun for Best Revival. He was nominated for Best Director by the Directors Guild of America for the television adaptation A Raisin in the Sun, which also received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and three NAACP Image Awards, among numerous awards. His most recent TV projects include The Watsons Go to Birmingham(The Hallmark Channel) and the TV version of the hit play Steel Magnolias (Lifetime), both featuring all-star casts. After building a career in regional theatre (Arena Stage, Huntington Theatre, L.A.'s Center Theatre, the Public, Chicago's Goodman Theatre, among many others), and leading Atlanta's Alliance Theatre for 11 years, Mr. Leon founded Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta in 2002. His directorial credits span an incomparable range of work, from classical theatre to drama, comedy, opera, musicals, revues and film.

Joe Mantello
His Show: CASA VALENTINA
Opening Night: April 23 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
About Joe: Directing credits include: I'll Eat You Last, The Other Place, Dogfight, Other Desert Cities, The Pride, Pal Joey, 9 to 5, November, The Receptionist, The Ritz, Blackbird, Three Days of Rain, The Odd Couple, Glengarry Glen Ross (Tony nomination), Laugh Whore, Assassins (Tony Award), Wicked, Take Me Out (Tony Award), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, A Man of No Importance, Design for Living, Terrence McNally and Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walkingfor San Francisco Opera, The Vagina Monologues, Bash, Another American: Asking and Telling, Love! Valour! Compassion! (Tony nomination), Proposals, The Mineola Twins, and Corpus Christi. As an actor: The Normal Heart (Tony nomination), Angels in America (Tony nomination), and The Baltimore Waltz. He is recipient of Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Clarence Derwent, Obie, and Joe A. Callaway awards. He is a member of Naked Angels and an associate artist at Roundabout Theatre Company.

Michael Mayer
His Show: HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
Opening Night: April 22 at the Belasco Theatre
About Michael: Mayer made his Metropolitan Opera debut last season with a celebrated new production of Rigoletto. He was most recently represented on Broadway with On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Everyday Rapture, and American Idiot (for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Direction). He received the 2007 Tony Award, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his production of Spring Awakening, which also played in London, Vienna, Tokyo, and Seoul. His other Broadway credits include: Side Man (Tony Award/Best Play); Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award/Best Musical); A View from the Bridge (Tony Award/Best Rivival); Uncle Vanya; 'night, Mother; After the Fall; You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; and Triumph of Love. Feature films: A Home at the End of the World and Flicka. Television credits include: "Smash" (Pilot). Current projects include: the Broadway debut of Hedwig and the Angry Inch starring Neil Patrick Harris, A Brooklyn Superheroes Musical, "Alpha House" for Amazon.com, and the American Idiot tour, which has played not only across the US, but in Canada, the UK, Japan, and Korea.

Sam Mendes
His Show: CABARET
Opening Night: April 24 at Studio 54
About Sam: Sam Mendes's work directing theatre and film spans 25 years. At 24 years old, he became the first Artistic Director of the Minerva Theatre in Chichester. At 27, he founded the Donmar Warehouse in London, which he ran for ten years, and where he directed many productions including Assassins, Cabaret, Translations, Glengarry Glen Ross, Company, The Glass Menagerie, Habeas Corpus, The Blue Room, To The Green Fields Beyond, Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night. It has become one of the world's leading playhouses. Other theatre includes: For the Royal Shakespeare Company: Troilus and Cressida,Richard III, The Tempest and The Alchemist. For the National Theatre: The Sea, The Birthday Party, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Othello and the forthcoming King Lear. In the West End: The Cherry Orchard, London Assurance, Kean, Oliver! andCharlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is currently running in London at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. On Broadway: Cabaret, The Blue Room, Gypsy and The Vertical Hour. In 2009 he founded the Bridge Project, a transatlantic classical theatre company, for which he directed The Winter's Tale, The Cherry Orchard, The Tempest, As You Like It and Richard III.

Casey Nicholaw
His Show: ALADDIN
Opening Night: March 20 at the New Amsterdam Theatre
About Casey: He is currently represented on Broadway as co-director and choreographer of The Book of Mormon (2011 Tony, Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle Awards as co-director with Trey Parker receiving the same nominations for choreography). Other Broadway credits as director/choreographer: Elf: The Musical; The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations); Monty Python's Spamalot directed by Mike Nichols (2005 Tony, Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Choreography). Additional New York credits: for City Center Encores! - highly acclaimed productions of Anyone Can Whistle and Follies (direction/choreography), Bye Bye Birdie (choreography) and Can-Can (musical staging); for N.Y. Philharmonic -Candide; South Pacific at Carnegie Hall (also on PBS Great Performances), Sinatra: His Voice, His World, His Way at Radio City Music Hall. He directed and choreographed the world premieres of Minsky's at Center Theater Group andRobin and the 7 Hoods at the Old Globe.

James Powell
His Show: LES MISERABLES
Opening Night: March 23 at the Imperial Theatre
About James: James was an actor for 12 years and was appearing in LES MISERABLES at London's Palace Theatre, when he was asked to take over the position of resident director in 1996. Since that time he has worked on a variety of productions and during that time he was staff director at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, assisting Jude Kelly on a number of projects including the Olivier Award-winning Singin' in the Rain, which transferred from Leeds to the Royal National Theatre in London. On returning to London he joined Cameron Mackintosh's production of The Witches of Eastwick at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane as resident director. He then went to Melbourne, Australia, to direct its first foreign production for Jacobsen Entertainments.

Lonny Price
His Show: LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL
Opening Night: April 13 at the Circle in the Square Theatre
About Lonny: Broadway: Audra McDonald in 110 in the Shade , Danny Glover in Athol Fugard's 'Master Harold' ... and the Boys; Joan Rivers in Sally Marr and Her Escorts (which he co- wrote with Ms. Rivers and Erin Sanders); Jenn Colella in Urban Cowboy; and himself in A Class Act, for which he also co-wrote the book (with Linda Kline) and was nominated for a Tony Award. He recently directed the stage and film version of the New York Philharmonic's all star production of Stephen Sondheim's Company (starring Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, Christina Hendricks, Martha Plimpton, Patti LuPone, etc.), which played in over seven hundred movie theaters across the country. His also directed the stage and filmed versions of his tribute to Stephen Sondheim, Sondheim: The Birthday Concert! in March of 2010, for which he received an Emmy Award. His other Philharmonic collaborations include the Live From Lincoln Center broadcast of Camelot, starring Gabriel Byrne; Candide, starring Kristin Chenoweth, (broadcast on Great Performances), and Sweeney Todd, starring Ms. LuPone and George Hearn for which he won an Emmy. His production of Sondheim's Passion, starring Ms. LuPone, Audra McDonald, and Michael Cerveris also won the Emmy.

Bill Rauch
His Show: ALL THE WAY
Opening Night: Currently running at the Neil Simon Theatre
About Bill: Rauch is the Artistic Director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he has directed three world premieres: Mr. Schenkkan's All the Way and By the Waters of Babylon, and Bill Cain's Equivocation; as well as sixteen other classical and new plays. Among his initiatives at OSF, Mr. Rauch committed to commissioning up to 37 new plays to dramatize moments of change in American history. American Revolutions: the U.S. History Cycle is now entering its fifth year of productions. Mr. Rauch is also cofounder of Cornerstone Theater Company, where he directed more than 40 productions in rural and urban communities nationwide and served as artistic director from 1986 to 2006. He has directed a number of world premieres, including The Clean House at Yale Repertory Theatre; Living Out and For Here or To Go? at the Mark Taper Forum; and My Wandering Boy and The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler at South Coast Repertory. He also directed the New York premiere of The Clean House at Lincoln Center Theater. Work elsewhere includes productions at South Coast Repertory, Guthrie Theater, Arena Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Great Lakes Theater Festival and En Garde Arts. His production ofThe Pirates of Penzance (OSF, 2011) will open at Portland Opera this spring. Mr. Rauch is the recipient of numerous awards, and is a graduate of Harvard College.

Anna D. Shapiro
Her Show: OF MICE AND MEN
Opening Night: April 16 at the Longacre Theatre
About Anna: Shapiro was nominated for a 2011 Tony Award for her production of Stephen Adly Guirgis' award winning play, The Motherfucker with the Hat, starring Chris Rock and Bobby Cannavale, and was awarded the 2008 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Direction of a Play for her production of Tracy Letts' August: Osage County (which she first directed at Steppenwolf, then on Broadway, in London, and at the Sydney Theatre Company in Australia). Anna has been affiliated with Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago since 1995, serving as the original director of the New Plays Initiative, later joining the artistic staff as Resident Director, Associate Artist and, since 2005, as an Ensemble member where her directing credits include A Parallelogram by Bruce Norris, Up by Bridget Carpenter, Arthur Miller's The Crucible, The Unmentionables by Bruce Norris (also at Yale Rep), the world premiere of Norris' The Pain and the Itch (also at Playwrights Horizons in New York), Robert Anderson's I Never Sang for My Father, the world premiere of Tracy Letts' Man from Nebraska, (named by TIME Magazine as one of the Year's Top Ten of 2003), The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey, Warren Leight's Side Man (also in Ireland, Australia and Vail, Colorado), Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain and the world premiere of Bruce Norris' The Infidel, among others.

Bartlett Sher
His Show: THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
Opening Night: Currently running at the Schoenfeld Theatre
About Bartlett: Sher is Resident Director of Lincoln Center Theater, where he has directed Golden Boy by Clifford Odets (Tony Nomination), Blood and Gifts by J.T. Rogers, the new musical Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown by Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek, August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Tony Award nomination), Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific(2008 Tony Award, South Pacific went on to Australia where it was the most successful show in the history of the Sydney Opera House), Awake and Sing! by Clifford Odets (Tony Award nomination) and The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel (Tony Award nomination).

Leigh Silverman
Her show: VIOLET
Opening Night: April 20 at the American Airlines Theatre
About Leigh: Broadway credits include: Chinglish; Well; Violet (Encores). Recent Off-BroadwayThe Call (Playwrights Horizons); The Madrid (MTC); Golden Child (Signature Theatre); No Place to Go (Public Theater; Two River Theatre); In the Wake (Center Theatre Group/Berkeley Repertory Theatre and The Public Theater, Obie Award, Lortel nomination); Go Back to Where You Are (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award); From Up Here (MTC, Drama Desk nomination); Yellow Face (Center Theatre Group/The Public Theater); Coraline (MCC/True Love); Blue Door(Playwrights Horizons); Well (The Public Theater; Huntington Theatre; ACT); Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Second Stage Theatre). Recent regional: American Hero (WTF); Chinglish (Goodman Theater, Jeff nomination; West Coast/Hong Kong tour). This season: The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Playwrights Horizons) and Kung Fu (Signature Theatre).

Molly Smith
Her Show: THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN
Opening Night: April 21 at the Booth Theatre
About Molly: Molly has served as Artistic Director of Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.since 1998. Smith's directing credits include Oklahoma!, A Moon for the Misbegotten, My Fair Lady, The Great White Hope, The Music Man, Orpheus Descending, Legacy of Light, The Women of Brewster Place, Cabaret, An American Daughter, South Pacific, Agamemnon and His Daughters, Coyote Builds North America, All My Sons, and How I Learned to Drive at Arena Stage. Her directorial work has also been seen at the Shaw Festival in Canada, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, Centaur Theatre in Montreal and Perseverance Theater in Juneau, Alaska, which she founded and ran from 1979-1998. Smith has been a leader in new play development for over 30 years. She is a great believer in first, second and third productions of new work and has championed projects like How I Learned to Drive; Passion Play, a cycleand Next to Normal.

Susan Stroman
Her Show: BULLETS OVER BROADWAY
Opening Night: April 10 at the St. James Theatre
About Susan: A five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer, Susan Stroman's work has been honored with Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Lucille Lortel and a record five Astaire Awards. She directed and choreographed The Producers, winner of a record-making 12 Tony Awards, including Best Direction and Best Choreography. She directed and choreographed the critically acclaimed musical The Scottsboro Boys, receiving Tony Award® nominations for both direction and choreography. The show has continued to garner acclaim with her recent productions at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, the Ahmanson Theatre, and the Young Vic in London. She co-created, directed and choreographed the Tony Award® winning musical Contact for Lincoln Center Theater, which was honored with a 2003 Emmy Award® for Live at Lincoln Center. Other Broadway credits include Big Fish, Crazy for You, Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Young Frankenstein, The Frogs, The Music Man,Thou Shalt Not, Steel Pier, Big, Picnic.

Alex Timbers
His Show: ROCKY
Opening Night: March 13 at the Winter Garden Theatre
About Alex: Timbers is a Tony-nominated writer-director and the recipient of Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, as well as two Obie Awards. His Broadway credits include Peter and the Starcatcher (Tony nomination), The Pee-wee Herman Show, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (also co-writer; Broadway, Public Theater and Center Theatre Group, OCC and Drama Desk Awards), A Very Merry Unauthorized...(conceiver; Obie Award and Garland Award, Best Director), Gutenberg! The Musical! (Drama Desk nomination, Best Director of a Musical), Hell House (Drama Desk nomination, Unique Theatrical Experience). Alex is the artistic director of the New York-based company Les Freres Corbusier. He recently directed the critically acclaimed musical, Here Lies Love, at The Public Theatre.

From earlier this season...

Marc Bruni
His Show: BEAUTIFUL
Opening Night: Currently playing at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre
About Marc: The Explorers Club (MTC), Old Jews Telling Jokes (Westside), Pipe Dream (Encores!), Fanny (Encores!), Ordinary Days (Roundabout), Nerds (NC Theatre), Irving Berlin's White Christmas (Paper Mill), 25th Annual...Spelling Bee (PTC/Paper Mill), In the Mood (Berkshire Theatre Festival), Such Good Friends (NYMF Directing Award), High Spirits (York), Glimpses of the Moon (Oak Room) and 6 shows for the St. Louis MUNY including The Music Man, Sound of Music (Kevin Kline nominations), Thoroughly Modern Millie, Legally Blonde, My One and Only, Seven Brides. Associate on numerous Broadway shows and tours including Book of Mormon and Anything Goes.

Warren Carlyle
His Show: AFTER MIDNIGHT
Opening Night: Currently playing at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre
About Warren: Broadway credits include: director/choreographer of Chaplin, Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway, Finian's Rainbow (2 Drama Desk noms) and A Tale of Two Cities, choreographer of Follies (Drama Desk nom.), The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and A Christmas Story The Musical (Drama Desk nom.) Off-Broadway: Carousel (New York Philharmonic, Emmy nom.), On Your Toes (City Center Encores!), Cotton Club Parade (Jazz at Lincoln Center and City Center), Girl Crazy, On The Town, Finian's Rainbow, Juno, and Stairway to Paradise (all Encores! at City Center).

Doug Hughes
His Show: OUTSIDE MULLINGAR
Opening Night: Currently playing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
About Doug: Previous Manhattan Theatre Club productions include An Enemy of the People, The Whipping Man, the Tony-nominated revival of The Royal Family, Mauritius, An Experiment With an Air Pump, Defiance andDoubt, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Director. Other recent Broadway productions include The Big Knife, Born Yesterday, Elling, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Oleanna, A Man for All Seasons, the Tony-nominated revival of Inherit the Wind, A Touch of the Poet and Frozen (Tony nomination, Best Director). He has also worked extensively Off-Broadway, most recently the Roundabout production of Death Takes a Holiday (11 Drama Desk nominations including Best Direction of a Musical) and at most of the nation's leading resident theatres. In addition to the Tony, he has been awarded Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, Obie and Callaway Awards for his productions. He serves as the resident director of the Roundabout Theatre.

Sean Mathias
His Show: WAITING FOR GODOT/NO MAN'S LAND
Opening Night: Currently playing at the Cort Theatre
About Sean: Mathias' work has been produced internationally in London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Paris, Sydney and Cape Town, playing various stages including the Royal National Theatre, the Music Center, the Kennedy Center, the Sydney Opera House, the Market Theatre Johannesburg, the London Fringe, the West End, and Broadway. He has directed classic plays by Anouilh, Beckett, Chekhov, Cocteau, Coward, De Filippo, Ibsen, Pinter, Shakespeare, Sophocles, Strindberg, and Williams as well as contemporary writers Samuel Adamson, Pam Gems, Richard Greenberg, Ronald Harwood, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Edna O'Brien, Bernard Pomerance, Martin Sherman and Stephen Sondheim. He has won an Edinbugh Fringe First Award, a Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cannes Film Festival, a Critics Circle Award and an Evening Standard Award in the UK, as well as nominations for Olivier and Tony Awards. He directed the movie Bent.

Darko Tresnjak
His Show: A GENTLEMAN'S GIUDE TO LOVE AND MURDER
Opening Night: Currently playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre
About Darko: Tresnjak is the Artistic Director of Hartford Stage. He has directed at Theatre for a New Audience, The Public Theater, Old Globe, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Royal Shakespeare Company Complete Works Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre Company, Goodspeed Musicals, Long Wharf Theatre, Westport Country Playhouse, Vineyard Theater, and Los Angeles Opera. He received the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for his direction of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and San Diego Theatre Critics Awards for his direction of Pericles,Cyrano de Bergerac, and The Winter's Tale. Upcoming productions include The Killer at Theatre for a New Audience and The Ghosts of Versailles at Los Angeles Opera.