BoD Episode 20: Robby Lutfy

BoD Episode 20: Robby Lutfy

Robby Lutfy (he/him) Sometimes an actor. Sometimes a producer. Mostly a director. Always an artist. He directs theatre at places like Cygnet Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, The John F Kennedy Center, and Burning Coal, etc. He was awarded the 2019 Craig Noel Award for Director of the Year. He was the 2012-2013 William R. Kenan, Jr. Directing Fellow at The John F. Kennedy Center as well as the 2014-2015 National New Play Network Producer-in-Residence at Marin Theatre.  He directed 20 shows and produced 39 others at Cygnet Theatre, where he was the Associate Artistic Director for seven seasons. At Cygnet, he was the head of new play development, where he commissioned 20 plays by writers including Miranda Rose Hall, Herbert Siguenza, Nathan Alan Davis, and Leah Nanako Winkler. This past year, he directed Dunsinane by David Greig at Marin Theatre Company, Witch by Jen Silverman at Charlotte Conservatory Theatre, God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza at Backyard Renaissance, and the world premieres of Sharon by Keiko Green and The Little Fellow by Kate Hamill at Cygnet. He acted in August: Osage County with Backyard Renaissance.  He has taught classes at San Diego State University, Grossmont College, UNCSA, and UCSD. Robby is a graduate of the directing program under Gerald Freedman at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. His work, Jean F: ritualizing a stranger, was exhibited at Goodyear Arts this summer, where he was an artist in residence. Up next: a residency with Arts on Site and The Rensing Center. Currently producing the 25th National Showcase of New Plays with NNPN @robby_the_artist Connect with us [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537133/fan_mail/new] This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world.  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537133/support] To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

BoD Episode 19: Irina Kruzhilina

Irina is an award-winning multi-hyphenate theater maker whose various hats include director, scenographer, experience designer, professor, playwright, and artistic director. Raised in Moscow in an intercultural household with a Ukrainian mother and Georgian father, Irina creates work that grapples with social issues, exploring identity, displacement, and belonging. Since 2000, Irina has created over two dozen performances spanning interdisciplinary downtown theatre, large-scale parades, opera, and site-responsive installations. Her work has been shown at Times Square, Tokyo Disney, BAM, Prague National Theatre, the NY Philharmonic, the XXI Commonwealth Games, and Barbican Center. Currently, her work centers on two primary forms: site-specific performances and socially engaged projects with community members to address issues like immigration, polarization, conflict, and peacebuilding. Relentless in her ambition and risk-taking, Irina pushes the boundaries of theatre to create work that is both artistically daring and socially urgent. Irina launched SpaceBridge, a theatre workshop and devised performance uniting 19 refugee and American children, most of whom had never been on stage. Leading a team of 60 collaborators, Irina transformed their stories into a fully realized Off-Broadway production. After being named a critics’ pick at the 2025 Under The Radar Festival, she is expanding her workshop curriculum to develop new SpaceBridge performances with local and refugee youth in the U.S. and globally. Irina is the founder of Visual Echo, a New York-based performance organization fostering generative dialogues among people from diverse backgrounds who rarely intersect. Irina is an associate professor at the New School of Drama, where she co-developed a new MFA program in Contemporary Theatre and Performance. She is a La MaMa resident artist and recipient of the 2024 Joan D. Firestone Fund Award and the 2024 Elliot Norton Award. https://irinakruzhilina.com/home/ Connect with us [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537133/fan_mail/new] This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world.  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537133/support] To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

The Board of Directors International Monthly Meet-Up Reminder

We invite you to this month’s International Directors’ Meet-Up, our monthly gathering of directors and theatre makers from around the world. It’s a space to share experiences, trade advice, and find support in what can often be a pretty isolating role. You can come and go as you need, drop in late, leave early, whatever fits your schedule. It’s simply a chance to set aside time each month to sit alongside others who understand the work. For dates, times, and details, head to boardofdirectors.world and pull up a chair at the table. Join the Board. Connect with us [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537133/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537133/support] To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

BoD Episode 18: Bill Rauch

Bill Rauch is the inaugural artistic director of the Perelman Performing Arts Center. His work as a theater director has been seen nationwide, from low-income community centers to Broadway, including the Tony Award-winning production of Robert Schenkkan’s All The Way and its sequel, The Great Society. His New York credits also include the world premiere of Naomi Wallace’s Night Is A Room at Signature Theatre, the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House at Lincoln Center Theater, and the site-specific Occasional Grace for En Garde Arts. From 2007 to 2019, Bill served as artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the country’s oldest and largest rotating repertory theater. There, he directed seven world premieres and more than 20 productions, including Shakespeare, classic musicals, and a queer reimagining of Oklahoma!. Among his signature initiatives was commissioning 37 new plays exploring moments of change in American history through “American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle.” The project produced landmark works, including Lynn Nottage’s Sweat, Paula Vogel’s Indecent, Lisa Loomer’s Roe, Universes’ Party People, Culture Clash’s American Night, and Robert Schenkkan’s LBJ plays. Bill is also co-founder of the Cornerstone Theater Company, where he served as artistic director from 1986 to 2006, directing more than 40 productions in collaboration with diverse rural and urban communities. He has directed world premieres at Portland Center Stage, Center Theatre Group, and South Coast Rep, and has worked with major theaters including American Repertory Theater, Yale Rep, Arena Stage, Seattle Rep, Berkeley Rep, and Pasadena Playhouse. His production of The Pirates of Penzance was staged with Portland Opera. His honors include the 2018 Ivy Bethune Award from Actors' Equity Association, a Ford Fellowship, the Fichandler Award, Theatre Communications Group’s Visionary Leadership Award, the Margo Jones Medal, and the United States Artists Prudential Award. He also received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for directing All The Way. Bill has taught at the University of California, Irvine, the University of Southern California, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He studied at Harvard College and lives in New York City with his husband, Christopher Liam Moore, and their two children. https://pacnyc.org/ Connect with us [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537133/fan_mail/new] This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world.  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537133/support] To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

BoD Episode 17: Chong Tze Chien

Tze Chien is a core member of The Finger Players and an award-winning playwright and director. He is the recipient of the Singapore Dramatist Award and multiple The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, with his play Oiwa: The Ghost of Yotsuya notably sweeping the awards, including Production of the Year and Best Director, in its year of presentation. His plays have been staged internationally, including in Singapore, the UK, Budapest, Taiwan, and Japan. His published collections with The Necessary Stage and Epigram Books feature critically acclaimed works such as Charged and PIE. In 2015, Charged was named by The Business Times as one of the top ten plays of all time in Singapore. Other notable works include Turn By Turn We Turn, Poop!, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and The Book of Living and Dying. He has also written for films and television, with credits on Singapore networks such as Channel 5, OKTO/Arts Central, and Vasantham. In recognition of his contributions to the arts, he was awarded the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council in 2006. On a national level, Tze Chien has held key creative leadership roles across major cultural events. He was the Creative Director of Singapore Pools’ float and performance at Chingay Parade in 2007 and 2008, Co-conceptualist and Writer for National Day Parade 2016, Creative Director of Island Adventures for the National Museum of Singapore’s Children’s Season 2012, Artistic Director of The Arts House’s 10th Anniversary in 2014, and Co-curator of The Studios: Fifty, a festival of 50 iconic Singapore plays presented by the Esplanade in 2015. He is currently the Festival Director of the Singapore International Festival of Arts.  An established arts educator, Tze Chien has conducted workshops and masterclasses for tertiary institutions and schools since 2001. He serves on several Curriculum Development Advisory Committees at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and is an Adjunct Lecturer at Nanyang Technological University/National Institute of Education, as well as a Principal Tutor at the National University of Singapore. He has also taught at institutions including LASALLE College of the Arts and NTU/NIE. Beyond academia, he has contributed significantly to arts education nationally, serving as an adjudicator for the Singapore Youth Festival Arts Presentation (Drama) for seven years and as Creative Director of the SYF Concert 2019. He has also been commissioned by Singapore’s Ministry of Education to conduct devising workshops and develop educational scripts for the OPAL teaching and learning portal. In addition to his artistic and educational work, Tze Chien contributes to the broader arts ecosystem through governance and advisory roles. He is a Board Member of Trustees of the University of the Arts Singapore, and serves on the Industry Advisory Group for LASALLE College of the Arts. https://sifa.sg/ Connect with us [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537133/fan_mail/new] This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world.  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537133/support] To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home