Jim Warren
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JIM WARREN
540.849.0465
jimwarren.director@gmail.com ​ 

JW Directing Resume
JW  Curriculm  vitae

In 2008, Governor Tim Kaine awarded Jim Warren and Ralph Alan Cohen the Virginia Governor’s Award for the Arts for their work with the American Shakespeare Center, which they founded in 1988.  In 2015, The Folger Shakespeare Library awarded the ASC with its Shakespeare Steward Award for its contributions in Shakespeare education.  In 2016, the Arts Council of the Shenandoah Valley awarded the ASC its Circle of Excellence Award.  In 2017, the Virginia Commission for the Arts named the ASC one of its “50 for 50 Arts Inspirations” in the category of Bedrock Institutions.

Jim Warren is the Founding Artistic Director of the American Shakespeare Center.  He directed the ASC’s first show, Richard III (in which he played Buckingham), and a total of 128 productions, including 32 of Shakespeare’s 38 plays; he produced and cast over 280 shows during his tenure.  Jim co-founded the ASC in 1988 as the traveling troupe Shenandoah Shakespeare Express.  He grew the ASC 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 touring arm had also performed in 47 states and one U.S. territory.  In 2001, the ASC opened the Blackfriars Playhouse, the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre.  By the end of the 2016/17 Artistic Year, the ASC operating budget was over $3.5 million and the company was offering over 360 performances of sixteen titles annually. 

Before retiring from the ASC in 2017 to launch a solo career as a consultant, director, and educator, Jim created Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries, a groundbreaking undertaking to develop a new canon of 38 plays that are inspired by and in conversation with Shakespeare’s work.  The project integrates Jim’s passion for the classics, new plays, and an inclusive expansion of the artistic community.

FOR THE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER
    Director    2017    Peter and the Starcatcher adapted for the stage by Rick Elice
    Director    2017    Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) by Ann-Marie MacDonald
    Director    2017    Shakespeare’s Sister by Emma Whipday Professional Premiere
    Director    2016    A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren
    Director    2016    The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2016    Our Town by Thornton Wilder
    Director    2016    The Rise of Queen Margaret (Henry VI, part 2)
    Director    2016    Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson by Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman    
    Director    2016    Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw
    Director    2015    A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren
    Director    2015    The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2015    The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Ginna Hoben
    Director    2015    The Life of King Henry the Fifth
    Director    2015    Shakespeare’s Joan of Arc (Henry VI, part 1)
    Director    2015    Antony and Cleopatra
    Director    2015    Wittenberg by David Davalos
    Director    2014    A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren
    Director    2014    The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2014    The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Ginna Hoben
    Director    2014    Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
    Director    2014    Hamlet
    Director    2014    Pericles
    Director    2014    Edward II by Christopher Marlowe
    Director    2014    Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmund Rostand, translated by Anthony Burgess
    Director    2014    Macbeth
    Director    2013    A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren
    Director    2013    The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2013    The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Ginna Hoben
    Director    2013    Henry IV, part 1
    Director    2013    Othello
    Director    2013    She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith
    Director    2013    Troilus and Cressida
    Director    2013    Return to the Forbidden Planet by Bob Carlton
    Director    2013    Romeo and Juliet
    Director    2012    A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren
    Director    2012    The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2012    The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Ginna Hoben
    Director    2012    The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
    Director    2012    Love’s Labour’s Lost
    Director    2012    King John
    Director    2012    Cymbeline
    Director    2012    The Lion in Winter by James Goldman
    Director    2012    The Merchant of Venice
    Director    2011    The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Ginna Hoben
    Director    2011    A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren
    Director    2011    The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2011    ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore by John Ford
    Director    2011    The Winter’s Tale
    Director    2011    Tamburlaine the Great by Christopher Marlowe
    Director    2011    Hamlet
    Director    2011    The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
    Director    2011    The Tempest
    Director    2010    The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Ginna Hoben World Premiere
    Director    2010    A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren
    Director    2010    The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2010    Measure for Measure
    Director    2010    As You Like It
    Director    2010    Macbeth
    Director    2010    The Fair Maid of the West by Thomas Heywood    
    Director    2010    Wild Oats by John O’Keeffe
    Director    2010    Othello    
    Director    2010    The Taming of the Shrew
    Director    2009    A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren
    Director    2009   The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2009    All’s Well That Ends Well
    Director    2009    The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont
    Director    2009    Romeo and Juliet
    Director    2009    The Rehearsal by George Villiers and others
    Director    2009    Titus Andronicus
    Director    2009    The Merry Wives of Windsor
    Director    2009    Much Ado about Nothing
    Director    2008    A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren
    Director    2008    The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2008    Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
    Director    2008    Hamlet
    Director    2008    King Lear
    Director    2007    A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren World Premiere
    Director    2007    Antony and Cleopatra
    Director    2007    The Taming of the Shrew
    Director    2007    Romeo and Juliet
    Director    2006    The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello    
    Director    2006    Othello
    Director    2006    Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmund Rostand, translated by Anthony Burgess
    Director    2006    As You Like It
    Director    2006    Greater Tuna by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, Ed Howard
    Director    2005    The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2005    Return to the Forbidden Planet by Bob Carlton
    Director    2005    The Three Musketeers adapted by David Richmond
    Director    2005    The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)
    Director    2004   The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
    Director    2004    Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Christopher Hampton
    Director    2004    She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith
    Director    2004    A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    Director    2004    Falstaff adapted by Ralph Alan Cohen
    Director    2003    Tartuffe by Moliere, translated by Christopher Hampton
    Director    2003    The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont
    Director    2003    Henry IV, part 1
    Director    2002    Coriolanus
    Director    2002    Julius Caesar
    Director    2002    Macbeth
    Director    2001    An American Christmas Carol, 1852 by Robert Smalls
    Director    2001    Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw    
    Director    2001    The Comedy of Errors
    Director    2001    As You Like It
    Director    2001    Hamlet
    Director    2001    Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
    Director    2000    The Roaring Girl by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker
    Director    2000    Othello
    Director    2000    Richard II    
    Director    1999    The Merchant of Venice
    Director    1999    Much Ado about Nothing
    Director    1999    Hamlet
    Director    1998    Measure for Measure
    Director    1998    The Taming of the Shrew
    Director    1998    Romeo and Juliet
    Director    1997    Henry IV, part 1
    Director    1997    Macbeth
    Director    1997    A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    Director    1996    Henry V
    Director    1996    The Comedy of Errors
    Director    1995    The Tempest
    Director    1995    Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
    Director    1994    Othello
    Director    1993    Romeo and Juliet
    Director    1992    Macbeth
    Director    1991    Twelfth Night
    Director    1989    The Taming of the Shrew
    Director    1988    Richard III
    
    Road Director    1995    Hamlet
    Road Director    1995    Twelfth Night
    Road Director    1994    Much Ado about Nothing
    Road Director    1994    The Taming of the Shrew
    Road Director    1993    Antony and Cleopatra
    Road Director    1993    A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    Road Director    1992    The Merchant of Venice
    Road Director    1991    Measure for Measure, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    Road Director    1991    A Midsummer Night’s Dream


New Works Developed and Produced for the ASC 
The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Ginna Hoben World Premiere
Shakespeare’s Sister by Emma Whipday Professional Premiere
Sense and Sensibility adapted by Emma Whipday World Premiere
A Christmas Carol adapted by Jim Warren World Premiere
Falstaff by Ralph Alan Cohen World Premiere
The Brats of Clarence by Paul Menzer World Premiere

​
New Plays Brainchild:  Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries
Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries is an industry-changing undertaking to develop a new canon of 38 plays that vibe off of and are inspired by Shakespeare’s work.  The project provides an opportunity for playwrights of every gender, race, and creed to partner with Shakespeare.  It’s our chance to find the next generation of the world’s greatest playwrights. ​

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.               - James Shapiro, Columbia University


Directing World Premiere Plays Outside ASC
               Director    2001    Bliss, by Cleve Lamison
                                                   Blackbird Theatre Company, off-Broadway, NYC
               Director    1997    The Persistence of Memory, by Harry Kollatz, Jr.
                                                   the Firehouse Theatre Project; Richmond, VA
               Director    1997    The Black Bird, by Cleve Lamison
                                                   Blackbird Theatre Company, off-Broadway, NYC


POST  ASC  ADVENTURES

C O N S U L T I N G

2019 Nashville Shakespeare Festival; Nashville, TN 
• supplied extensive input to the NSF Artistic Director and Board of Directors heading into a new     ​chapter, hiring their first full-time Managing Director in thirty years, planning their first state-wide tour, and considering the possibility of building their own space

2018 Vintage Theatre Company; Clarksburg, WV
• led a strategic planning retreat for senior staff to review/recognize past accomplishments, conduct SWOT analysis, and plan for the future

2018 Baltimore Shakespeare Factory; Baltimore, MD
• consulted extensively with the BSF Artistic Director (a retired high-school English teacher who started his company 10-ish years ago after being inspired by my company), networked with local colleges for future BSF partnerships, and created four hour-long Shakespeare scripts to increase grant opportunities for Baltimore area schools

2018 Semester Davis and Elkins College; Elkins, WV
• collaborated with administration and theatre faculty, advised former ASC actor, now heading the D&E Theatre Program, on how best to revitalize a small department in a rural college


D I R E C T I N G

Director       2021    Much Ado about Nothing, The Santaland Diaries, and The Twelve Dates of Christmas
                                          Vintage Theatre Company; Clarksburg, WV

Director       2021    Twelfth Night
                                          Nashville Shakespeare Festival; Nashville, TN

Director       
2021    Hamlet and A Midsummer Nightʼs Dream
                                          Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival; Flagstaff, AZ

Director       2020    No Spring Chicken, by Ginna Hoben West Coast Premiere
                                          directed for filmed live performance
                                          Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival; Flagstaff, AZ
 
Director       
2020    Shakespeare's Mixtape, adapted and directed for filmed live performance 
                                          The Performing Arts Conservatory at Notre Dame High School; Clarksburg, WV 

Director       2020    A Midsummer Night's Dream, adapted and directed for filmed live performance
                                          to be distributed to every 
middle school and high school in West Virginia  
                                          Vintage Theatre Company; Clarksburg, WV 

Director       
2020    all-female Hamlet, adapted and directed for live Zoom performance
                                          Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center; Loch Sheldrake, NY

Director       
2020    Lady Balthasar, by Ginna Hoben World Premiere staged reading for Zoom
                                          Southwest Shakespeare Company; Mesa, AZ 

Director       2019    Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and then some!), by Michael Carleton, etc.
                                          Nashville Shakespeare Festival; Nashville, TN

Director       2019    The Tempest
                                          Centenary College; Shreveport, LA

Director       2019    Romeo and Juliet
                                          Nashville Shakespeare Festival; Nashville, TN

Director       2019    A Midsummer Nightʼs Dream, adapted and directed
                                          Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center; Loch Sheldrake, NY

Director        2019    Twelfth Night, adapted and directed
                                          Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center; Loch Sheldrake, NY

Director        2019    As You Like It
                                          Vintage Theatre Company; Clarksburg, WV

Director        2019    Henry VI, Part 1, Pop-UpRight Shakespeare
                                          Nashville Shakespeare Festival; Nashville, TN

Director       2018    The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, adapted by Le Clanche du Rand
                                          Randolph College; Lynchburg, VA

Director       2018    A Midsummer Nightʼs Dream, adapted and directed
                                          Hollins University; Roanoke, VA

Director       2018    The Scarlet Letter, adapted and directed
                                          Shakespeare Forum; East Harlem, NY

Director       2018    Romeo and Juliet, adapted and directed
                                          Shakespeare Forum; East Harlem, NY

Co-Director  2018   King John, directed by Tom Delise
                                          Baltimore Shakespeare Factory; Baltimore, MD

Director        2018    Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen,
                                          ​Davis and Elkins College; Elkins, WV


T E A C H I N G

2020 January Term Hollins University; Roanoke, VA
• creating the curriculum/syllabus for “Shakespeare Boot Camp”

2019 Summer Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center;
Loch Sheldrake, NY

• taught eight classes, including Shakespeare’s Verse and Tablework, Cold Readings,
and
The Art of Auditioning

​2018 Fall Semester Hollins University; Roanoke, VA
• created the curriculum/syllabus for and taught a 300-level hybrid Theatre/English class:
“Shakespeare:  Page to Stage”

2018 Spring Semester Davis and Elkins College; Elkins, WV
• taught classes in Acting, Directing, and Stage Management


W R I T I N G

“You Say You Want a Revolution...Rebuilding the Theatre Industry from the Ground Up After Covid-19” published October 2020 in American Theatre magazine
• a Jerry Maguire moment (without the morning-after regret) to lay out the harsh realities of the structure we have created and the hopeful possibilities of where we could go if we stop talking and start walking

“A Runaway American Dream:  The Birth of the ASC” 
• the preface to Shakespeare in the Light:  Essays in Honor of Ralph Alan Cohen

Looking Back with the Lights On:  A History of the American Shakespeare Center by the Artists Who Built It
• a full-length book in the works to tell the story of the ASC’s first three-decade era interlaced with actor stories 

​
ONGOING PROJECT:  A M E R I C A N  G L O B E  C E N T E R  IN STRATFORD, CT

The former grounds of the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre will soon house the world’s only historically accurate re-creation of Shakespeare’s 1614 Globe Theatre, along with the Stratford Playhouse, our modern performing arts and education center.
 
Stratford will become home to a true destination for the region, the nation, and the world – presenting engaging, inclusive, entertainment-guaranteed classical theatre, alongside the best of today’s hits, to thousands of visitors from all around the world.
www.americanglobecenter.org


G R A N T S
• Facilitator and Actor Liaison, “Center for Renaissance and Shakespearean Staging,”
    funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
• Facilitator and Actor Liaison, “Women on the Page and Stage,”
    funded by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
• Facilitator and Actor Liaison, Folger Institute Workshop
• Facilitator and Actor Liaison, “Bringing Shakespeare Home,”
    funded by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities



E D U C A T I O N
    M.F.A. Shakespeare in Performance
    Mary Baldwin University
    expected completion 2022


    B.S. double major in Theatre and English
    James Madison University
          University of London Semester Abroad
          Magna Cum Laude with Distinction in Theatre
          Honors Thesis:  “Love Somebody:  Process of directing Romeo and Juliet”
​


JIM WARREN
540.849.0465
jimwarren.director@gmail.com 

JW Directing Resume
JW  Curriculm  vitae
j i m w a r r e n . d i r e c t o r @ g m a i l. c o m
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