Mark Brokaw
Encyclopedia
Mark Brokaw is a stage director. He won the Drama Desk Award
, Obie Award
and Lucille Lortel Award as Outstanding Director of a Play for How I Learned to Drive
.
Brokaw was raised in Aledo, Illinois
and graduated from the Yale Drama School. He received a Drama League fellowship and was initially given directing work through Carole Rothman and Robyn Goodman, artistic heads of the Second Stage Theatre
.
He has directed many off-Broadway productions, and his New York work includes premieres by Lynda Barry (The Good Times Are Killing Me), Douglas Carter Beane (As Bees in Honey Drown), Neal Bell, Eric Bogosian, Keith Bunin, Jeremy Dobrish, Kevin Elyot
, Lisa Kron (2.5 Minute Ride), Lisa Loomer, Kenneth Lonergan (This Is Our Youth, Lobby Hero), Craig Lucas (Dying Gaul), Eduardo Machado, Patrick Marber (After Miss Julie), Robert Schenkkan, Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive, Long X-Mas Ride Home) and Wendy Wasserstein. He has directed in New York at Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard Theatre, New Group, Second Stage, Lincoln Center, NYSF/Public, Manhattan Theatre Club and the Roundabout. He spent five seasons with the Young Playwright's Festival (1989–1995). Brokaw was also a member of the Drama Dept. theatre company.
In regional theatre he has directed at the Guthrie
(A Month in the Country, Racing Demon, 1997–1998), Seattle Repertory Theatre
(The Lisbon Traviata, 1991; The Good Times Are Killing Me, 1992) Long Wharf
, Yale Rep, Hartford Stage, South Coast Repertory
, Huntington, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the O'Neill Conference, Sundance, Berekley Rep, Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse
and New York Stage and Film. He directed A Little Night Music
for the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration in 2002.
On Broadway
he directed Reckless (2004), The Constant Wife (2005), the musical Cry-Baby
(2007), and After Miss Julie (2009).
His work has also been seen at London's Donmar Warehouse and Dublin's Gate Theatre.
He directed the out-of-town production of the musical version of Marty
in 2002.
Brokaw served as vice president, Executive Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. He is the Artistic Director, Yale Institute for Music Theatre, 2009, and is an associate artist of the Roundabout Theatre.
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
, Obie Award
Obie Award
The 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...
and Lucille Lortel Award as Outstanding Director of a Play for How I Learned to Drive
How I Learned To Drive
How I Learned to Drive is a play written by American playwright Paula Vogel. The play premiered on March 16, 1997 off-broadway at the Vineyard Theatre...
.
Brokaw was raised in Aledo, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
and graduated from the Yale Drama School. He received a Drama League fellowship and was initially given directing work through Carole Rothman and Robyn Goodman, artistic heads of the 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...
.
He has directed many off-Broadway productions, and his New York work includes premieres by Lynda Barry (The Good Times Are Killing Me), Douglas Carter Beane (As Bees in Honey Drown), Neal Bell, Eric Bogosian, Keith Bunin, Jeremy Dobrish, Kevin Elyot
Kevin Elyot
Kevin Elyot is a British playwright and screenwriter. His most notable works include the play My Night with Reg and the film Clapham Junction.-Sources:*-External links:...
, Lisa Kron (2.5 Minute Ride), Lisa Loomer, Kenneth Lonergan (This Is Our Youth, Lobby Hero), Craig Lucas (Dying Gaul), Eduardo Machado, Patrick Marber (After Miss Julie), Robert Schenkkan, Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive, Long X-Mas Ride Home) and Wendy Wasserstein. He has directed in New York at Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard Theatre, New Group, Second Stage, Lincoln Center, NYSF/Public, Manhattan Theatre Club and the Roundabout. He spent five seasons with the Young Playwright's Festival (1989–1995). Brokaw was also a member of the Drama Dept. theatre company.
In regional theatre he has directed at the Guthrie
Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in...
(A Month in the Country, Racing Demon, 1997–1998), Seattle Repertory Theatre
Seattle Repertory Theatre
Seattle Repertory Theatre is a major regional theatre located in Seattle, Washington, at the Seattle Center. It is a member of Theatre Puget Sound and Theatre Communications Group. Founded in 1963, it is led by Artistic Director Jerry Manning and Managing Director Benjamin Moore...
(The Lisbon Traviata, 1991; The Good Times Are Killing Me, 1992) Long Wharf
Long Wharf Theatre
Long 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....
, Yale Rep, Hartford Stage, South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California.Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...
, Huntington, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the O'Neill Conference, Sundance, Berekley Rep, Center Theatre Group, 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:...
and New York Stage and Film. He directed A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade...
for the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration in 2002.
On 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...
he directed Reckless (2004), The Constant Wife (2005), the musical Cry-Baby
Cry-Baby (musical)
Cry-Baby is a musical based on the 1990 John Waters movie of the same name. The music is by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger, and the book is by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan. O'Donnell and Meehan also adapted Waters' film Hairspray for the musical stage...
(2007), and After Miss Julie (2009).
His work has also been seen at London's Donmar Warehouse and Dublin's Gate Theatre.
He directed the out-of-town production of the musical version of Marty
Marty (film)
Marty is a 1955 American film directed by Delbert Mann. The screenplay was written by Paddy Chayefsky, expanding upon his 1953 teleplay of the same name. The film stars Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair. The film enjoyed international success, winning the 1955 Academy Award for Best Picture and...
in 2002.
Brokaw served as vice president, Executive Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. He is the Artistic Director, Yale Institute for Music Theatre, 2009, and is an associate artist of the Roundabout Theatre.
Works (selected)
- "The Language Archive" (South Coast Rep, 2010)
- Distracted (Roundabout Theatre, 2008)
- The Busy World is Hushed (Playwrights Horizons, 2006)
- "Constant Wife" (Roundabout, 2006)
- "Reckless" (Manhattan Theatre Club, 2004)
- The Long Christmas Ride Home" (Vineyard Theatre, 2003)
- "Lobby Hero" (Donmar Warehouse, 2002)
- Old Money (Lincoln Center Theatre, 2000)
- "2.5 Minute Ride" (Public Theatre, 1999)
- This is Our Youth (Second Stage Theatre, 1999)
- The Dying Gaul (Vineyard Theatre, 1998)
- The Glass Menagerie (Steppenwolf Theatre CompanySteppenwolf Theatre CompanySteppenwolf 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...
, 1998) - As Bees in Honey Drown (Drama Department, 1997)
- "How I Learned to Drive" (Vineyard Theatre, 1997)
- "The Good Times Are Killing Me" (Second Stage, 1991)
- The Rimers of Eldritch (Second Stage Theatre, 1988)