Alan Stanford Named New Producing Artistic Director of PICT Theatre

Following an extensive search process, PICT Theatre's board of directors has appointed Alan Stanford as the company's producing artistic director. Stanford has been serving as the interim producing artistic director since February. Board president Eugene O'Sullivan said, "We were fortunate to find someone of Alan's caliber to lead this organization at a most critical time. His experience as well as his performance in the intervening months proved he was the best of all of the candidates for the job."

Alan Stanford is known as Ireland's leading exponent of the works of Oscar Wilde. He began his career at Dublin's Project Arts Centre where his productions included works by Shaw, Arbuzov, Graham Greene, Brecht, Dürrenmatt and Shakespeare. He is the former Artistic Director of Second Age Theatre Company for whom he has directed many productions, most recently Philadelphia Here I Come!, Hamlet, and his own adaptation of A Doll's House. Alan has been principal director at the Gate Theatre Dublin for nearly twenty years and continues to maintain a professional relationship with the company. He served on the Arts Council of Ireland for five years and remains a member of the Irish Theatre Forum.

Alan's productions at the Gate Theatre Dublin include works by Shakespeare, Molière, Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde. He holds the privilege of directing Harold Pinter in his own play, The Collection, and has presented many of his own adaptations including A Christmas Carol, Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Jane Eyre, The Old Curiosity Shop and The Picture of Dorian Gray. His work as an actor includes roles with most of the major theatres in Ireland, receiving awards for his performance as Salieri in Amadeus, Astrov in Uncle Vanya, Higgins in Pygmalion and Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. His interpretation of Herod in Salome received international acclaim. With the Gate Theatre's Beckett Festival he performed as Pozzo in Waiting for Godot, and as Hamm in Endgame, performances he repeated at the Lincoln Centre in New York and in Toronto, Melbourne, London, Beijing and Shanghai and two tours of the USA, including a performance in Pittsburgh. For The Abbey Theatre he has played Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest.

Alan is in his sixth season with PICT Theatre, where his performance credits include The Pitmen Painters, Chekhov Celebration, and The Importance of Being Earnest (as Lady Bracknell). He has directed a number of PICT Productions including Salome, Betrayal, Celebration, The Kreutzer Sonata, and Don Juan Comes Back From the War, as well as PICT Theatre's record-breaking production of The Mask of Moriarty. His recent production of Lady Windermere's Fan was a financial and critical success for the company, further building his reputation as a skilled interpreter of the plays of Oscar Wilde.

Upon hearing of his confirmation by the board of directors, Alan commented that he was both deeply honored and humbled by the board's decision, and pledges to help PICT Theatre to grow in both quality and popularity during his tenure. "I am particularly dedicated to giving Pittsburgh audiences access to the highest quality of classic - and the very finest of Irish - theatre. I promise to expand and develop PICT's educational program to a whole-of-life experience, for our youngest and oldest patrons."

PICT Theatre (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre) was founded in 1996 to diversify the region's theatrical offerings by providing Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania audiences with high-quality, text-driven, affordable productions of classical theatre and the works of classical and contemporary Irish playwrights and to significantly improve employment opportunities for local talent in all facets of theatrical presentation and production. PICT is a Small Professional Theatre (SPT) affiliated with Actors' Equity Association, and a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. PICT is the Professional Theatre in Residence at the University of Pittsburgh and PICT Productions at The Charity Randall and Henry Heymann Theatres are presented in cooperation with the University of Pittsburgh - Department of Theatre Arts.

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