Today, Actors Theatre of Louisville has announced that Les Waters will become the new artistic director at the theater on Jan. 9. Waters comes to Actors from the Berkeley California Repertory Theatre, where he served as Associate artistic director since 2003.
Waters is familiar to Actors Theatre, directing two Humana productions: “Big Love” by Charles Mee in 2000 and “At the Vanishing Point” by Naomi Lizuka in 2004.
Waters, (59), brings with him his wife Annie Smart, an artist in her own right being a theater-set and costume designer, and their three children.
He has prior professional commitments that the will honor, including directing a production of John Logan’s “Red” at Berkeley Repertory that opens in March 2012, and a concert performance of a musical at The Public Theater in New York. January he starts part time, however later in the season he will take on full time duties.
Waters Experience: (Bachelor of Arts from Manchester University, England 1974), was the former head of the Master of Fine Arts’ directing program at University of California San Diego’s department of theater and dance and the Associate Artistic Director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Waters won an Obie Award for “Big Love” by Charles Mee, which premiered at the Humana Festival of New American Plays, and had runs at other theaters including, Berkeley Repertory, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Goodman Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre. He directed the 2009 debut of playwright Sarah Ruhl’s “In the Next Room.”
Todd Lowe, a board member on the search committee said, “This is a hire that has a tremendous amount of expectations behind it, he added that he and his colleagues had a “pretty exhaustive list of characteristics that we were looking for. Among them, he said, was the ability to work well with managing director Jennifer Bielstein, a demonstrated ability to produce artistically superior work, as well as being able and willing to work in the larger theater community and be involved in Louisville’s communities in many areas, including education.”
The theater is hosting a reception from 4.30 to 6.30 p.m. Tuesday (today) at 316 W. Main St. for the public to meet Waters.
http://actorstheatre.org/calendar/2011-2012/
Actors Theatre of Louisville
316 West Main St.
Louisville, KY 40202
502-584-1205
502-371-0956 TDD
