As Actors Theatre of Louisville’s artistic director, Marc Masterson is in charge of all creative activity at the theater — choosing the plays, the actors, the directors. This year he will be directing Shakespeare’s The Tempest and one production in the Humana Festival of New American Plays.
Book you are reading now
Three to five new plays a week, plus The Tempest, by William Shakespeare?
“As the father of two teenage girls, the play is important to me on a personal level because it’s a play about letting go. It’s the story of a creative artist who gives his daughter the gift of freedom and lets go of her to the love of her life.”
Book you plan to read next
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, by Barack Obama ?
“I want to know more about him personally.”
Book you’d recomm/files/storyimages/to a fri/files/storyimages/to take along on vacation
Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette, by Sena Jeter Naslund
“It’s a smart and dramatic story, and there’s something to be learned about power and history told from this personal perspective.”
Favorite book or author when you were 21
The Collected Works of William Shakespeare
“It’s a lifelong pursuit, but it was performing it, learning it as a performance text, that really engaged me.”
Great book you know you ought to have read but never have
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
“Although I have seen four adaptations of it for the stage.”
Book you think ought to be required reading for high school
American Dreams: Lost and Found, by Studs Terkel
“It’s a book about dreams, what might be possible, and how difficult yet fundamentally American pursuing your dreams is.”
Book that has most guided your professional outlook or artistic vision
The Empty Space, by Peter Brook
“An inquisitive and daring director, he redefined possibilities for the theater.”
