Les Waters
Encyclopedia
Les Waters is a notable British
theatre director. He has served as associate artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre
for the last six years.
and Charles Mee, and champions important new voices such as Will Eno
, Jordan Harrison, Sarah Ruhl
and Anne Washburn.
His productions at Berkeley Rep include the world premieres of Fêtes de la Nuit, Finn in the Underworld, In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)
and To the Lighthouse
; the American premiere of Tragedy: a tragedy; the West Coast premiere of Eurydice
; and extended runs of The Glass Menagerie
, The Pillowman
, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
, and Yellowman
. In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) is heading to Broadway
this fall.
His New York credits include Classic Stage Company
, the Connelly Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club
, Playwrights Horizons
, The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival
, Second Stage Theatre
and Signature Theatre Company
. Elsewhere in America, he has directed for A Contemporary Theatre, American Conservatory Theater
, American Repertory Theatre
, Arena Stage
, Guthrie Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse
, the Mark Taper Forum, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
and Yale Repertory Theatre
.
In his native England, Waters has worked with the Bristol Old Vic
, Hampstead Theatre Club, Joint Stock Theatre Group, National Theatre
, Royal Court Theatre
and Traverse Theatre Club.
Waters formerly led the M.F.A. directing program at UC San Diego, and is an associate artist of The Civilians
, a theatre group based in New York.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
theatre director. He has served as associate artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1968, as the East Bay’s first resident professional theatre. Michael Leibert was the founding artistic director, who was then succeeded by Sharon Ott in 1984. The company runs seven...
for the last six years.
Career
Waters has a history of collaborating with prominent playwrights like Caryl ChurchillCaryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill is an English dramatist known for her use of non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, the abuses of power, and sexual politics. She is acknowledged as a major playwright in the English language and a leading female writer...
and Charles Mee, and champions important new voices such as Will Eno
Will Eno
Will Eno is an American playwright based in Brooklyn, New York.His plays include Tragedy: a tragedy, The Flu Season, King: a problem play, Thom Pain , Middletown, Oh, the Humanity and other good intentions and an adaptation of Ibsen's Peer Gynt titled Gnit...
, Jordan Harrison, Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl is an American playwright. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.-Biography:Ruhl was born in Wilmette, Illinois. Originally, she intended to be a poet. However, after she studied under Paula Vogel at Brown University , she was convinced to switch to playwrighting...
and Anne Washburn.
His productions at Berkeley Rep include the world premieres of Fêtes de la Nuit, Finn in the Underworld, In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)
In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)
In the Next Room is a play by Sarah Ruhl. It concerns the early history of the vibrator, when doctors used it as a clinical device to bring women to orgasm as treatment for "hysteria." Other themes include Victorian ignorance of female sexual desire, motherhood and breastfeeding, and jealousy...
and To the Lighthouse
To the Lighthouse
To the Lighthouse is a novel by Virginia Woolf. A novel set on the Ramsays and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920, it skilfully manipulates temporal and psychological elements....
; the American premiere of Tragedy: a tragedy; the West Coast premiere of Eurydice
Eurydice
Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,...
; and extended runs of The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
, The Pillowman
The Pillowman
The Pillowman is a 2003 play by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. It received its first public reading in an early version at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 1995...
, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
The Lieutenant of Inishmore is a black comedy by playwright Martin McDonagh, first produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London in 2001.-Plot:...
, and Yellowman
Yellowman
Yellowman is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, widely known as King Yellowman...
. In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) is heading to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
this fall.
His New York credits include Classic Stage Company
Classic Stage Company
Classic Stage Company, or CSC, is a classical Off-Broadway theater dedicated to reimagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience, presenting plays from the past that speak directly to today's issues. Founded in 1967, Classic Stage Company is one of Off-Broadway's...
, the Connelly Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
, Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
, The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...
, Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...
and Signature Theatre Company
Signature Theatre Company
Signature Theatre Company, founded in 1991 by James Houghton, exists to honor and celebrate the playwright. Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright’s body of work, and during this journey, the writer is engaged in every aspect of the creative process...
. Elsewhere in America, he has directed for A Contemporary Theatre, American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. A.C.T. was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Tech by theatre and...
, American Repertory Theatre
American Repertory Theatre
The American Repertory Theater is a professional not-for-profit theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to neglected works of the past; and to established classical texts...
, Arena Stage
Arena Stage
Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest Washington, D.C. Its declared mission"is to produce huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit. Arena has broad shoulders and a capacity to produce anything from vast epics...
, Guthrie Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse
La Jolla Playhouse
La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. -Background:...
, the Mark Taper Forum, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
and Yale Repertory Theatre
Yale Repertory Theatre
The Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of the Yale School of Drama in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented students. In the process it has become one of the...
.
In his native England, Waters has worked with the Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
, Hampstead Theatre Club, Joint Stock Theatre Group, National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
and Traverse Theatre Club.
Waters formerly led the M.F.A. directing program at UC San Diego, and is an associate artist of The Civilians
The Civilians
The Civilians is an investigative theatre company in New York City founded in 2001 by Artistic Director Steve Cosson. The Civilians artists pursue their inquiries using interviews, community residencies, research, and other methods...
, a theatre group based in New York.
Honors
- Top 10 Theater Productions of 2007 in Time Magazine for Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice
- Best Theater of 2006 in the New York Times for Eurydice
- Top 10 Plays of 2005 in TimeOut New York
- He won an Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
in 2002 for Big Love, staging its premiere at the Humana Festival and subsequent runs at Berkeley Rep, the Brooklyn Academy of MusicBrooklyn Academy of MusicBrooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....
, the Goodman TheatreGoodman TheatreThe Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
and Long Wharf TheatreLong Wharf TheatreLong Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared....
. - Drama-Logue AwardDrama-Logue AwardThe Drama-Logue Award was a theater award established in 1977, given by the publishers of Drama-Logue newspaper, a weekly west-coast theater trade publication. Winners were selected by the publication's theater critics, and would receive a certificate at an annual awards ceremony...
- Edinburgh FringeEdinburgh FringeThe Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
First Award - KPBS Patte
- Several awards from critics’ circles in the Bay Area, Connecticut and Tokyo.