Arden Theatre Company Names Edward Sobel As Associate Artistic Director

Arden Theatre Company announced Edward Sobel has been hired as Associate Artistic Director. Sobel previously was the Director of New Play Development at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, where he oversaw the development of more than 40 new plays including the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning drama August: Osage County. Sobel also developed the Pulitzer Prize finalists Red Light Winter and Man from Nebraska, and the Joseph Jefferson Award winner The Pain and the Itch.

"I'm thrilled Ed Sobel is joining us here at the Arden. I have long admired his work at Steppenwolf and am very excited about the opportunity to work with him. Not only will Ed bring new perspective and passions to our theatre but, given his tremendous experience, he will play a major role in furthering the Arden's commitment to playwrights and to the development of their work. Ed is a great addition to the Arden and to the Philadelphia theatre community," said Arden's Producing Artistic Director Terrence J. Nolen.

Ed's Broadway credits as dramaturg include August: Osage County and the upcoming Superior Donuts. At Steppenwolf, he also created and was the director of the First Look Repertory of New Work, a new play development program that readies new plays for future production at theaters across the country and provides unprecedented access to the development process for audiences. Sobel received the Elliot Hayes Award from the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas for outstanding contribution to the field for this program

His recent directing credits include The Chosen and A Lesson Before Dying at Steppenwolf, the world premieres of Cadillac (which garnered five Joseph Jefferson nominations including best director) at Chicago Dramatists and Weapon of Mass Impact at A Red Orchid. Previous directing work in Chicago includes Below the Belt, American Dead, and Heritage (all at American Theater Company), A Man For All Seasons and Harmless at Timeline Theatre, and Faulkner's Bicycle and Be Aggressive for Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. In Philadelphia, he directed the workshop of Arden Kass' Appetite for PlayPenn this past summer.

Ed teaches directing and dramatic literature in the department of theatre at Temple University. He has taught directing, playwriting, and dramatic literature at DePaul University, Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in directing from Northwestern. His first day at the Arden is October 9.

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