Laura Kepley Named Associate Artistic Director at The Cleveland Play House

By: Jun. 24, 2010
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The Cleveland Play House is pleased to announce that after a national search, Laura Kepley has been selected as the Associate Artistic Director. Kepley, who starts the position on September 1, comes to Cleveland from Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI where she served as a Resident Director and Artistic Associate for four seasons.

"We are delighted to have Laura Kepley join The Play House family," said Play House Artistic Director Michael Bloom. "It's rare to find a new Associate Artistic Director with such stellar credentials and notoriety within the national theatre community. Given her experience at Trinity and with new work, I know she will have a major impact in our community."

Next season's production of My Name is Asher Lev will mark Kepley's directing debut at The Play House.

Kepley says, "My work is always striving to entertain, enlighten and exhilarate the audience with stories that are deeply personal and socially relevant. I am thrilled to be joining The Cleveland Play House at such a transformational moment in its esteemed history."

For Trinity Rep she directed The Clean House, The Syringa Tree and Shapeshifter. With playwright Deborah Salem Smith, Kepley co-created and directed the world premiere docudramas Boots on the Ground, which examined the local impact of the war in Iraq, and Some Things Are Private, which used the beautiful and unsettling photographs of American photographer Sally Mann to explore parenting and First Amendment issues.

In her career, Kepley has directed the world premieres of over 20 plays including Jennifer Haley's Breadcrumbs (Contemporary American Theatre Festival), George Brant's shop talk (Drama League's DIRECTORFEST), Elephant's Graveyard (The University of Texas-Austin), Laura Schellhardt's The K of D (Kennedy Center and Orlando Shakespeare Festival), and Trista Baldwin's Falling Up (Perishable Theatre.) She has workshopped new plays with New York's Public Theater, Play Penn, Naked Angels, and WordBRIDGE Playwright's Lab.

A native Ohioan, Kepley received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and her Masters in Fine Arts from Brown University/Trinity Rep. She is a Drama League Fellow and a recipient of the 2009-2011 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors.



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