Published in American Theatre magazine:
"You Say You Want a Revolution?"
https://www.americantheatre.org
For the complete Director's Cut, click the REVOLUTION tab above.
"You Say You Want a Revolution?"
https://www.americantheatre.org
For the complete Director's Cut, click the REVOLUTION tab above.
Founding Artistic Director of the American Globe Center
DIRECTOR • CONSULTANT • EDUCATOR
ASC Founder and former Artistic Director
DIRECTOR • CONSULTANT • EDUCATOR
ASC Founder and former Artistic Director
Jim Warren is the Founding Artistic Director of the nascent American Globe Center (AGC) which will include the world’s only timber frame re-creation of Shakespeare’s 1614 Globe theatre, the AGC Playhouse (a modern performing arts and education center with state-of-the-art mainstage and blackbox), an amphitheatre, gathering areas, gardens, and green space. The American Globe Center campus will be an inclusive home for the arts, rooted in its community and reaching across the world to bring lovers of theatre and Shakespeare together in one of several New England locations under consideration. The AGC is the culmination of Jim’s experience as a director, a leader, and a visionary. He knows the Globe will work because the first 30 years of his career, as the founder of the American Shakespeare Center, are proof of concept.
In addition to being its Founder, Jim is former Artistic Director of the American Shakespeare Center (ASC) and Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, VA, where he directed 128 productions (including 32 of Shakespeare's 38 plays) and produced/cast over 280 shows. Jim started the ASC in 1988 (with Shakespeare scholar Ralph Alan Cohen) as the traveling troupe Shenandoah Shakespeare Express. He grew the ASC annual touring scope from fourteen performances of Richard III in Virginia to over two hundred performances of three full-length Shakespeare plays and one modern classic in six countries during 1995; by the end of the millennium, the ASC had performed in 47 states and one U.S. territory in more than 500 venues. In 2001, the ASC opened the Blackfriars Playhouse, the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre. In 2008, Governor Tim Kaine awarded Jim Warren the Virginia Governor’s Award for the Arts. Since opening in 2001, the Blackfriars has welcomed over a million guests to over 6,000 performances. By the end of the 2016/17 Artistic Year, the ASC operating budget, under Jim's leadership, had grown to more than $3.5 million and the company was offering over 360 performances of sixteen titles annually.
Before retiring from the ASC in 2017 to pursue a solo career as a consultant, director, author, and educator, Jim created Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries for the ASC, a groundbreaking undertaking to develop a new canon of 38 plays that are inspired by and in conversation with Shakespeare’s work. This project was conceived as an opportunity for playwrights of every gender, race, and creed to partner with Shakespeare and become the next generation of the world’s greatest playwrights; it will serve as the inspiration for an even more robust new plays program at the American Globe Center.
Jim is a member of the Theatre Communications Group and Shakespeare Theatre Association who now enjoys traveling the country making art, sharing his experience and expertise, and empowering a new generation of artists, leaders, and students to explore their humanity and make the most of every moment.
In addition to being its Founder, Jim is former Artistic Director of the American Shakespeare Center (ASC) and Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, VA, where he directed 128 productions (including 32 of Shakespeare's 38 plays) and produced/cast over 280 shows. Jim started the ASC in 1988 (with Shakespeare scholar Ralph Alan Cohen) as the traveling troupe Shenandoah Shakespeare Express. He grew the ASC annual touring scope from fourteen performances of Richard III in Virginia to over two hundred performances of three full-length Shakespeare plays and one modern classic in six countries during 1995; by the end of the millennium, the ASC had performed in 47 states and one U.S. territory in more than 500 venues. In 2001, the ASC opened the Blackfriars Playhouse, the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre. In 2008, Governor Tim Kaine awarded Jim Warren the Virginia Governor’s Award for the Arts. Since opening in 2001, the Blackfriars has welcomed over a million guests to over 6,000 performances. By the end of the 2016/17 Artistic Year, the ASC operating budget, under Jim's leadership, had grown to more than $3.5 million and the company was offering over 360 performances of sixteen titles annually.
Before retiring from the ASC in 2017 to pursue a solo career as a consultant, director, author, and educator, Jim created Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries for the ASC, a groundbreaking undertaking to develop a new canon of 38 plays that are inspired by and in conversation with Shakespeare’s work. This project was conceived as an opportunity for playwrights of every gender, race, and creed to partner with Shakespeare and become the next generation of the world’s greatest playwrights; it will serve as the inspiration for an even more robust new plays program at the American Globe Center.
Jim is a member of the Theatre Communications Group and Shakespeare Theatre Association who now enjoys traveling the country making art, sharing his experience and expertise, and empowering a new generation of artists, leaders, and students to explore their humanity and make the most of every moment.
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If there were ever a time in this country for new Shakespeares to emerge, as we wrestle with the many challenges that face us, that time is now. ‘Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries’ is a timely, brilliant, and innovative competition, one that will attract both emerging and established playwrights. Like Shakespeare himself, who was inspired by earlier dramatists, these playwrights will help us grapple with the present while shaping our future.
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- James Shapiro, Columbia University