Nicole Wee Named Director of Playwrights Horizons Theater School

Playwrights Horizons has announced costume designer Nicole Wee as the new Director of Playwrights Horizons Theater School. Wee, who has been a faculty member since 2019 and a member of the Faculty Leadership Committee, and has served as Interim Director since May 2022, will oversee all academic and artistic activities at the School.

Playwrights Horizons Artistic Director Adam Greenfield said of Wee's appointment, "Nicole inspires confidence and trust from everyone in her orbit, not only for her artistic savvy and skill, but for the graceful, considerate, and intelligent way she moves through the world. This summer, as she stepped in as Interim Director, Nicole assumed leadership effortlessly and with kindness. Anyone who knows her knows that her deep connection to our school-its pedagogy, students, staff and faculty-is evident in everything she does, and her belief in tomorrow's theater-makers is palpable."

Founded in 1983 and operated in partnership with New York University's Tisch School of the Arts' Undergraduate Drama Program, Playwrights Horizons Theater School is one of the country's foremost theater training programs. Tisch Drama students studying at PHTS earn a BFA from NYU. The curriculum of the four-year program reflects Playwrights Horizons' commitment to cultivating writers, with courses in playwriting as well as in directing, acting, design, movement, voice, and speech. Students learn the skills of the trade by participating in more than 50 productions each year, including several original works they write and produce. They receive additional insight from Playwrights Horizons leadership and staff members, and from other professionals in the theater, film and TV industries.

Wee earned a BA in Visual Art from Brown University and an MFA from NYU Tisch's Design for Stage and Film. Her extensive credits as a costume designer include Martin Luther on Trial and The Great Divorce (Fellowship for the Performing Arts), Desperate Measures (New World Stages), Sideways (The Peccadillo Project), Closer Than Ever, and Storyville (Henry Hewes and Audelco nominations - Outstanding Costume Design, York Theatre Co.), The Body Politic (59E59), Surely Goodness and Mercy (Keen Co.), The Sensational Josephine Baker (Emerging Artists Theatre). Regional: Seascape (The Alley Theatre), The Great Leap (Portland Center Stage), Vietgone (Geva Theater Center), The White Snake (Baltimore Center Stage), Indecent (Chautauqua Theater Co.), Back Home Again (Lesher Center for the Performing Arts), Crazy For You, Spamalot (Muhlenberg SMT), I Do! I Do! (Peterborough Players), Tosca (Boheme Opera N.J.), and Ruined (regional premiere, Best Costume Design - Best of the Suncoast 2010, Florida Studio Theatre).

Wee said, "It's a tremendous pleasure and a privilege to be called to serve as Director of Playwrights Horizons Theater School-a place with a robust culture of care and community that I've come to love along with its students, faculty, and staff. Everywhere I look here I see a more just, equitable, and accessible future of live performance being nurtured in a way that makes me hungry for tomorrow, and I'm humbled to be entrusted with supporting that work through this new role."

Wee succeeds Tomi Tsunoda, who recently transitioned into a new role as Chair of the Department of Drama at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and joins Eva Rosa-Ferrera, Administrative Director of Playwrights Downtown. Tsunoda commented, "Nicole's steady, clarifying voice has already been instrumental in the development of Playwrights Horizons Theater School's culture, community, and curriculum, and I'm thrilled that she will be able to continue this work into the future. Having worked closely with Nicole through the last two years, I'm confident that the School is in excellent hands."

About Playwrights Horizons Theater School

Playwrights Horizons Theater School guides young theater makers toward the passionate and rigorous exploration of all theatrical disciplines. Its members are inspired by the synergy that comes in telling stories from every possible angle and diverse perspective. PHTS champions the philosophy that every performer should write, every writer should direct, every director should design, every designer should perform and, of course, everyone should be on crew. Accordingly, the school invites established and emerging artists to collaborate and create contemporary work for, of, and by its students. Playwrights maintains that the investigation of many methods leads to innovations that invite an exciting and promising future for its students-and for the future of the American theater.

About Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons is a writer's theater dedicated to the development of contemporary American Playwrights, and to the production of innovative new work. In a city rich with cultural offerings, Playwrights Horizons' 51-year-old mission is unique among theaters of its size; the organization has distinguished itself by a steadfast commitment to centering and advancing the voice of the playwright. It's a mission that is always timely, and one that's necessary in the ongoing evolution of theater in this country.

Playwrights Horizons believes that playwrights are the great storytellers of our time, offering essential contributions to civic discourse and illuminating life's greatest paradoxes. And they believe in the singularity of a writer's voice, valuing the broad, eclectic spectrum and diversity of American writers. At Playwrights Horizons, writers are supported in every stage of their growth through commissions (engaging several of today's most imaginative playwrights each year), New Works Lab, POP Master Class series, Soundstage audio program, the Lighthouse Project, and Almanac, the organization's digital magazine.

Playwrights Horizons presents a season of productions annually on their two stages, each of which is a world, American, or New York premiere. Much like Playwrights Horizons' work, their audience is risk-taking and adventurous; and the organization is committed to strengthening their engagement and feeding their curiosity through all of its programming, onsite and online.

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