{"title":"Vivienne Benesch","role":"Director","image":"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/roundabout-theatre-company\/image\/upload\/c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,h_880,q_auto,w_880\/v1\/Headshots\/2019-2020-Season\/Birthday-Candles\/Vivienne-Benesch.jpg","lede":null,"content":"
VIVIENNE BENESCH<\/strong> (Director<\/em>). As a director, producer, educator, and an OBIE winning actor (Lee Blessing\u2019s Going to St. Ives<\/em>), Vivienne Benesch has had the great fortune to collaborate with extraordinary theater artists of many generations on all sides of the table. The 2017 recipient of the Zelda Fichandler Award given by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, Vivienne is currently the Producing Artistic Director of PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. At PlayMakers, she has directed acclaimed productions of Thornton Wilder\u2019s The Skin of Our Teeth,<\/em> Brecht\u2019s Life of Galileo<\/em>, Mike Wiley and Laurelyn Dossett\u2019s Leaving Eden<\/em> (world premiere), Molly Smith Metzler\u2019s The May Queen<\/em>, Deborah Salem Smith\u2019s Love Alone<\/em>, John Logan\u2019s RED<\/em>, Sarah Ruhl\u2019s In The Next Room<\/em> and Libby Appel\u2019s adaptation of Three Sisters<\/em>. From 2005 to 2016 she was the Artistic Director of the renowned Chautauqua Theater Company and Conservatory, presiding over the company\u2019s transformation into one of the best summer theatres and most competitive summer training programs in the country. At Chautauqua she directed over twenty productions including the world premiere of Metzler\u2019s The May Queen<\/em> and workshop productions of Zayd Dohrn\u2019s The Profane and Sick<\/em>, Noah Haidle\u2019s Birthday Candles<\/em>, Michael Golamco\u2019s Build<\/em>, Kate Fodor\u2019s Rx<\/em>, and Anna Ziegler\u2019s An Incident<\/em>. Vivienne has also directed for the Folger Theatre, Detroit Public Theater, Trinity Rep, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and extensively for the Juilliard Drama Division. As an actress, Ms. Benesch has worked on and Off-Broadway, in film and television and at many of the country's most celebrated theaters. She made her Broadway acting debut at the Roundabout in 1997 with Terrence Rattigan\u2019s Deep Blue Sea<\/em> and returned in 2004 in Arthur Miller\u2019s After The Fall<\/em>. She holds a BA from Brown University and an MFA from NYU\u2019s Graduate Acting Program where she had the great fortune to study under Zelda Fichandler and Ron Van Lieu among so many others. She has served as a faculty member at NYU\u2019s Tisch School of the Arts, Juilliard, Trinity-Brown and UNC Chapel Hill\u2019s Professional Actor Training Program.<\/span><\/p>","website":"","alt":"Vivienne Benesch has light skin, blue eyes, black thin-rimmed glasses, and very curly blonde hair. She wears dangly blue earrings and a dark turquoise shirt."}