Madison Repertory Theatre Appoints New Artistic Director
Madison Repertory Theatre is proud to announce that Richard Corley has been appointed the company's new artistic director. Corley will take over leadership of Madison Rep on July 1. "This is a banner day for the Rep," said Tim Christen, president of Madison Repertory Theatre's board of directors. "Rick Corley is a man with great vision who will lead the company well. We were fortunate to have a very strong field of candidates, and Rick was the best match for Madison Repertory Theatre and, we think, for the Madison community. He is an engaging, personable and gifted artist who will bring a clear, distinct vision to Madison Rep."
Corley has served for the last four years as the associate producing director of The Acting Company. Based in New York City, The Acting Company is America's foremost classical touring theater. During his tenure there, he has been instrumental in the creation of "The American Century," the first new play development program in the company's 30-year history. Corley will continue as an associate artist with The Acting Company, and in the 2002-2003 season will direct As You Like It and adapt Studs Terkel's book, American Dreams: Lost and Found.
Prior to joining The Acting Company, he was the producer of the Unicorn Theatre at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Corley has extensive directing experience; his most recent credits include the world premieres of Marlane Meyer's The Mystery of Attraction at Actors Theatre of Louisville's 2002 Humana Festival and Jeffrey Hatcher's Mercy of a Storm at Pittsburgh's City Theatre. Corley's 1996 New York premiere of Tom Dulack's Kennedy Center Award-Winning play Incommunicado with Tom Aldredge received a Drama Desk nomination. In 1998, he directed the Russian premiere of Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings at Moscow's Sovremennik Theatre. In addition, he has directed for the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Berkshire Theatre Festival's mainstage, American Stage Company, Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre, the Mint Theatre Company, and Philadelphia Theatre Company, among others. Corley's full biography is attached.
"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join Tony [Forman, Managing Director] in leading Madison Repertory Theatre as it begins its fifteenth season as a professional company and prepares to move into its new home, the Overture Center," Corley said. "I feel that Madison will not only be a fulfilling place for me to work, but also an enriching city in which to raise our family. " Corley will relocate to Madison this summer with his wife, Susan Geer, and three daughters.
Corley anticipates that he will adjust the direction of Madison Repertory Theatre. He said, "Most of the new plays performed at the Rep from now on will be either Midwestern, American, or world premieres. In other words, many of the plays you will see on our stage will not have been seen anywhere else. There will be a greater emphasis on the commissioning of new work as our theater seeks to find the great playwrights of tomorrow. We will also look harder at plays being presented regionally, and seek to give second productions of plays that show promise. This would not preclude doing last year's Broadway or off-Broadway hit, but it would mean that the Rep would be the first in the Midwest to do it. I am excited by the new small-cast musicals being created lately in theaters across America, and I will look for opportunities to bring composers and new musicals to Madison. I have a particular fondness for theatrical adaptations of literature, and we may commission some of that work, which I believe will connect strongly to audiences as smart and literate as those in Madison. Alongside its commitment to the immediate, theater must continually explore its past. It must seek to measure our contemporary art against the great, foundation works of the theatrical canon in inventive, fresh, modern productions. To that end, Madison Rep will produce foreign classics in new translations. We will also produce work by the great American and English playwrights, and we will hire top-notch, exciting directors who truly have a vision for that particular work. And we will, for the first time in the history of Madison Repertory Theatre, produce the work of our greatest playwright, Shakespeare, especially focusing on bringing his plays to young audiences."
Madison Repertory Theatre announced its 2002-2003 season prior to Corley's appointment. Managing Director Tony Forman said, "Anne-Marie Cammarato, the Rep's acting artistic director, has planned a dynamic season and has staffed it with exciting artists, including five distinguished guest directors. Rick will support the upcoming season while he plans for the future of Madison Repertory Theatre." Corley said, "I look forward to working with Anne-Marie to make sure that each production in the season is a special event. It will be important for me to spend a few months getting acquainted with the Madison community and refining the direction that the Rep will take." As of July 1, Cammarato will resume her position as the Rep's associate artistic director. Madison Repertory Theatre's 2002-2003 season opens July 26 with the musical, The Marvelous Wonderettes.
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Richard Corley Biographical Information
Richard Corley's most recent directing credits include two world premieres: Marlane Meyer's The Mystery of Attraction at Actors Theatre of Louisville's 2002 Humana Festival, and Jeffrey Hatcher's Mercy of a Storm at Pittsburgh's City Theatre. Richard has served for the last four years as the associate producing director of The Acting Company, America's foremost classical touring theatre, during which time he was instrumental in the creation of The American Century, the first new play development program in the company's 30 -year history. For The Acting Company, he directed Darrah Cloud and Kim Sherman's adaptation of Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, and in the 2002-2003 season will direct As You Like It and adapt Studs Terkel's book, American Dreams: Lost and Found.
Before joining The Acting Company, Richard served as Producer of the Unicorn Theatre at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, where he directed his own translation of Marivaux's The Game of Love and Chance, his adaptation of David Goodis' novel, Shoot the Piano Player, Tony Kushner and Corneille's The Illusion (Best Production of the Berkshires), and Quills (Best Production of the Berkshires).
His extensive classical directing credits include The Merchant of Venice at New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms for the Berkshire Theatre Festival's Mainstage, The Glass Menagerie at American Stage Company, Shaw's Heartbreak House for the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre, Rutherford and Son at the Mint Theatre Company in New York. He has also directed productions of Shakespeare, Turgenev, Moliere, Beaumarchais, Wilder, Brecht, Chekhov, Williams, Dostoevsky, and others at major theatre training programs across America, including Juilliard, NYU/Tisch, Brandeis, SUNY Purchase, and the Old Globe School in San Diego.
Corley has directed numerous new plays, including Sight Unseen, A Question of Mercy, Broken Glass, and The Woods at Philadelphia Theatre Company, the world premiere of Cintra Wilson's XXX Love Act at San Francisco's Magic Theatre, the world premiere of The Cover of Life at American Stage Festival and Hartford Stage, and his own adaptation of Larry Brown's novel Dirty Work for Dallas Theatre Center and Arena Stage. Corley's 1996 New York premiere of Tom Dulack's Kennedy Center Award-Winning play Incommunicado with Tom Aldredge received a Drama Desk nomination. In 1998, he directed the Russian premiere of Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings at Moscow's Sovremennik Theatre.
He has directed opera nationally, and was director of productions for two seasons at Badia di Cava, a music festival on the Amalfi coast of Italy. A graduate of Goddard College and The North Carolina School of the Arts, Richard is the recipient of the TCG/NEA Director Fellowship. He and his wife, Susan Geer, are the proud parents of Emma, Rose and Nell.