Lisa Peterson, Eddie Torres Among Directors For Nat'l Playwrights Conference

Wendy C. Goldberg, Artistic Director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center?s National Playwrights Conference, today announced the eight directors for plays previously selected for its 47th season.

Lisa Peterson is joining the O?Neill artistic staff once again to direct The Nether by Jen Haley; Peterson is credited with directing world premiere works by Tony Kushner, Beth Henley, and David Henry Hwang.

Eddie Torres,Co-Founder and current Artistic Director for Teatro Vista?Theatre with a View , will direct The Happiest Song Plays Last by Quiara Alegría Hudes, a collaboration with the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Robert Falls Artistic Director. Torres served as director for Kristoffer Diaz's Obie Award winning play, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity.

Mia Rovegno will direct Good Goods by Christina Anderson; Rovegno has directed new works for Soho Rep, Clubbed Thumb, the Harvard Playwrights Festival, and the Brown New Plays Festival.

Giovanna Sardelli will direct An Incident by Anna Ziegler; Sardellii has served as the director of numerous premiered works from coast to coast, including at Second Stage, ATL Humana Festival, and Old Globe.

Mark Wing-Davey, whose recent directing credits include the world premiere of Carson Kreitzer?s Behind the Eye at Cincinnati Playhouse, will direct Acquainted with the Night by Keith Reddin.

Wendy C. Goldberg, the Artistic Director of the National Playwrights Conference , will direct Leveling Up by Deb Laufer; Goldberg has directed productions Off Broadway and at leading regional theaters across the country including The Goodman, The Guthrie, and The Denver Center. She will direct the world premiere of Lisa Loomer's Two Things You Don't Talk About at Dinner at the Denver Center in this upcoming season.

Leveling Up will take the place of Tell Us of the Night by Keith Huff in the National Playwrights Conference season line-up. Performance dates and times are Friday, July 22, at 7:15PM; and Saturday, July 23, at 3:15PM.

Adam Greenfield, currently serving as the Director of New Play Development at Playwrights Horizons, will direct The Troublemaker Project by Dan LeFranc.

Martin Damien Wilkins will direct How We Got On by Idris Goodwin; one of Wilkins? most notable directing credits includes Step, a collaboration with Maxine Lyle and the NYC-based dance company, Soul Steps.

The O?Neill, which received the 2010 Regional Theater Tony Award, founded in 1964 in honor of Eugene O?Neill, four-time Pulitzer Prize Winner and America?s only playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, is the country?s preeminent organization dedicated to the development of new works and new voices for the American theater. The National Playwrights Conference is one of the O?Neill?s cornerstone programs.

Wendy C. Goldberg is in her seventh season as artistic director of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O?Neill Theater Center. During Goldberg?s tenure, forty-seven projects have been developed for the stage and many have gone on to great acclaim in New York and around the country. Included in that group is 2010 Susan Smith Blackburn Award Winner (Julia Cho?s The Language Archive), and two American Theatre Critics Association Citation Award winning plays (Lee Blessing?s Great Falls and Deborah Zoe Laufer?s End Days). In the 2007-2008 season, nine projects developed during Goldberg?s tenure saw their world premieres at theaters across the country. Other critically acclaimed work developed at the O?Neill during Goldberg?s tenure include Adam Bock?s The Receptionist, Rebecca Gilman?s The Crowd You?re in With, Jason Grote?s 1001, and Julia Cho?s Durango. Goldberg?s own directing credits include productions at the Goodman Theatre, the Guthrie Theater, Arena Stage, Actors Theater of Louisville, Denver Center, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, among others. Goldberg's latest directing project, the world premiere of Tony Glazer's Reading Under The Influence opened in mid-April at The DR2 Theater Off Broadway. She is the first woman in the O?Neill?s 47-year history to run the National Playwrights Conference.

The National Playwrights Conference, running from July 6 to 30, is dedicated to exploring and developing new voices and works for the American Theater. Over the past 45 years, the Conference has been artistic home to August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, John Patrick Shanley, and many other emerging and renowned American playwrights.

In announcing directors for this year?s National Playwrights Conference, Ms. Goldberg said: ?It is a joy to welcome new directors to the O'Neill this season --I look forward to their work on these fascinating and challenging new plays."

Box office (860.443.1238) and online ticket sales (www.theoneill.org) open Wednesday, June 8; advance ticket sales are currently available to O?Neill Members.

For further information on the National Playwrights Conference and scheduled public performances, email theaterlives@theoneill.org.

The Eugene O?Neill Theater Center has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and 2,500 emerging artists. Scores of projects developed at the O?Neill have gone on to full production at other theaters around the world, including Broadway, Off-Broadway and major regional theaters.

In addition to the National Playwrights Conference, O?Neill programs include the National Music Theater Conference, National Critics Institute, National Puppetry Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference, and National Theater Institute, which conducts semester-long, intensive undergraduate theater training programs and Theatermakers, a six-week summer program. Credits are awarded for all NTI programs.

In addition, the O?Neill owns and operates Monte Cristo Cottage as a museum open to the public. Childhood summer home of Eugene O?Neill, the Cottage is a National Historic Landmark.

In addition to the 2010 Tony, the O?Neill received a special Tony Award for Theatrical Excellence in 1979, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award for Theatre Excellence, and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. For more information, visit www.theoneill.org or email theaterlives@theoneill.org.

2011 National Playwrights Conference Director Bios

LISA PETERSON
Lisa Peterson has directed world premieres by Donald Margulies, Tony Kushner, Beth Henley, Naomi Wallace, Chay Yew, Luis Alfaro, Culture Clash, Jane Anderson, David Henry Hwang, Stephen Belber, William Bolcom and Arnold Weinstein, Ellen McLaughlin, Marlane Meyer, Annie Weisman, Philip Gotanda, John Belluso, David Bucknam, Caryl Churchill, Janusz Glowacki, and many others at theaters including New York Theater Workshop, The Public, The Vineyard, MCC, MTC, Primary Stages, Guthrie, Actors Theater of Louisville, Arena Stage, Seattle Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, Huntington, Yale Rep, Intiman, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, McCarter, and more. She was Associate Director at La Jolla Playhouse for 3 years and Resident Director at Mark Taper Forum for 10 years. Ms. Peterson has developed new work at Sundance Theater Lab, O?Neill Playwrights Festival, Playwrights Center, New Dramatists, and the Royal Court. She is a graduate of Yale College, and is a member of EST and the executive board of SDC.

EDDIE TORRES
Edward Torres is the Co-Founder and the current Artistic Director for Teatro Vista...Theatre with a View (in association with the Goodman Theatre). As Artistic Director, Mr. Torres has produced over 25 plays in the last twelve years. One of Mr. Torres? most notable honors includes receiving the 2010 Jeff Award (Equity Wing) for Best Direction and Best Production for the The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Victory Gardens/Teatro Vista), which Off Broadway premiere was also under his direction at Second Stage (2010 NYC Lortel for Outstanding Play and Obie for Best Play). In 2011, Mr. Torres will direct the West Coast premiere of Chad Deity at the Geffen Theatre, as well as make his Goodman Theatre/Teatro Vista directing debut with Fish Men by Candido Tirado. Mr. Torres holds a BA in theatre from Roosevelt University in Chicago and an MFA in Film from Columbia College. Mr. Torres currently serves on the Illinois Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts-Theatre Panel (2005-2007 and on the MAP Fund-Theatre Panel (2008). Additional directorial credits for Teatro Vista include: The Show Host and Aurora?s Motive (Jaime Pachino), Ambrosio (Romulus Linney), Icarus (Edwin Sanchez), and The Boiler Room (Rubin Gonzales). Directorial credits for Latino Chicago includes Lolita De Lares (Migdalia Cruz).

MIA ROVEGNO
Mia Rovegno has directed new work for Soho Rep, The Civilians, Ars Nova, A.R.T., Clubbed Thumb, Dixon Place, Hangar Theatre, Summer Playwrights Rep, The Tank, Harvard Playwrights Festival, Brown New Plays Festival and others. As a playwright, her work has been developed by P73, Culture Project, New Georges, Perishable Theater, and foolsFURY. She is a recipient of the P73 Yale Summer Residency, SDC Directing Observership, and MTC?s Jonathan Alper Directing Fellowship. Ms. Rovegno is an alum of The Drama League, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab and Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and a current member of The Women?s Project Directors Lab, The Civilians R and D Group, and The Jam/New Georges Affiliated Artist. She serves as the Assistant Professor in the Hunter College Theatre Department. Ms. Rovegno holds a bachelor of science degree from Northwestern and a master of fine arts degree from Brown University/Trinity Rep Consortium. Her upcoming collaborations include: Burnt Umber by Erik Ehn (LaMaMa); The Tenant by Bekah Brunstetter, Dylan Dawson, Paul Cohen, Sarah Burgess, Tommy Smith, and Steven Levenson, with music by Duncan Sheik (Woodshed Collective); and We Play For The Gods (Women?s Project).

GIOVANNA SARDELLI
Giovanna Sardelli has directed the world premieres of Rajiv Joseph?s plays, The North Pool (TheatreWorks), Animals Out of Paper (Joe A. Callaway Award for Outstanding Director), All This Intimacy (both for Second Stage), The Leopard and The Fox (Alter Ego), and Huck & Holden (Cherry Lane). Ms. Sardelli directed the West Coast premiere of The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez (Old Globe); the New York premiere of Lynn Rosen?s Apple Cove (Women?s Project); and world premieres of James McLindon?s Salvation (Hudson Stage Co), Christopher Wall?s Dreams of the Washer King (Playwrights Realm), Lila Rose Kaplan?s Wildflower (Second Stage), Zoe Kazan?s Absalom (ATL Humana Festival), and Adriana Sevan?s Taking Flight (CTG & others). Ms. Sardelli has developed plays with The Lark, EST, Sundance, and the Playwrights? Center among others. She is an MFA Acting graduate from the NYU, as well as a graduate of the NYU Director?s Lab. She is on the faculty of the Graduate Acting Program at NYU. Somewhere by Matthew Lopez (Old Globe) is Ms. Sardelli?s upcoming collaboration.

MARK WING-DAVEY
Mr. Wing-Davey?s most recent credits include the world premiere of Carson Kreitzer?s Behind the Eye at Cincinnati Playhouse; Sarah Ruhl?s Passion Play at Epic (NYC), Yale Rep, and Goodman (Chicago); and the world premiere of Unconditional (LAByrinth), Craig Lucas's The Singing Forest (NYSF/Public Theater), workshops of Brett C. Leonard?s musical Harold?s Harem, and Stephen Adly Guirgis? new work about St Paul and homosexuality: Untitled Ass Play. He has also directed at New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center, Playwright?s Horizons, American Conservatory Theater, American Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Mark Taper Forum, McCarter Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Pittsburgh Public, NYSF/Delacorte, Playmaker?s Rep, Seattle Rep, London?s Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, the Actors Center, as well as in the West End, the Edinburgh Festival, and Australia. He has directed new work by such playwrights as Caryl Churchill, Amy Freed, Naomi Iizuka, Jose Rivera, Anna Deveare Smith, and Tony Kushner, among others. Mr. Wing-Davey is currently the Chair of Graduate Acting at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

ADAM GREENFIELD
Adam Greenfield is currently Director of New Play Development at Playwrights Horizons, prior to which he was Literary Manager at La Jolla Playhouse. Most recently he directed the premiere of Madeleine George?s The Zero Hour for 13P. From 1997-2006, he was Associate Artistic Director at Empty Space Theatre in Seattle, where he directed west coast premieres of John C. Russell?s Stupid Kids, Daniel Goldfarb?s Adam Baum and The Jew Movie, W. David Hancock?s The Convention of Cartography and Glen Berger?s Underneath the Lintel. He has also directed and developed new works with Portland Center Stage, Seattle Rep, ACT Theatre, Printer?s Devil, Hartford Stage, The Playwrights? Center, Orlando Shakespeare, Cornish College, Sundance Theatre Lab, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, New Dramatists, The Lark, Harvard, Clubbed Thumb and Soho Rep. Mr. Greenfield attended the University of Michigan and Reed College.

MARTIN DAMIEN WILKINS
Martin Damien Wilkins returns to the O?Neill after assisting Wendy C. Goldberg during her first two seasons as Artistic Director of the National Playwrights Conference. His directing credits include Step, conceived by Maxine Lyle, the Artistic Director of the NYC-based dance company, Soul Steps (Ars Nova?s A.N.T. Fest, New York Musical Theatre Festival); Darren Canady?s Muddy The Water (The BE Company); and Lisa B. Thompson?s Single Black Female (Toronto Centre for the Arts). Martin has developed new work with playwrights Darren Canady and Katori Hall, including Ms. Hall?s 2010 Olivier Award winning play, On the Mountaintop, at institutions such as Primary Stages, the Lark Play Development Center, and the Classical Theatre of Harlem. He has served as Associate Director to Colman Domingo on productions of Lisa Ramirez?s Exit Cuckoo (Working Theater, PlayMakers Repertory Company, and INTAR) and Single Black Female (New Professional Theatre). He has also assisted some of the theater?s most prominent directors including Ms. Goldberg, Charles Randolph-Wright, Molly Smith, Tazewell Thompson, and Kate Whoriskey. Mr. Wilkins has been the recipient of Arena Stage's Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellowship and a Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) Observership. He has also been a finalist for SDCF?s Mike Ockrent Fellowship. A native of Charlotte, NC, Martin holds a BA in Music from Duke University.