Edward Berkeley

Shakespearean Scene Study | Classical Text Analysis |

Modern Text Analysis

 

berkeleyEdward Berkeley teaches Shakespearan Scene Study, Classical Text Analysis, and Modern Text Analysis at Circle in the Square Theatre School. He is also the Director of the Aspen Opera Theater Center and a faculy member (primarily as director of undergraduate opera studies) at The Juilliard School. He is the founding artistic director of The Shade Company and Willow Cabin Theater Company where he directed Tony Award – and Drama Desk–nominated Wilder, Wilder, Wilder and other heralded productions. Mr. Berkeley’s New York Shakespeare Festival productions include Pericles and best revival winner The Tempest. He directed Beatrice and Benedick at the New York Philharmonic (Sir Colin Davis), and John Adams’s El Niño with Atlanta Symphony and at Ravinia (Robert Spano). Mr. Berkeley has also directed at the Library of Congress, Williamstown Theater Festival (Ah! Wilderness, Summer and Smoke and The Man who Came to Dinner), and Old Globe Theater.

Shakespearean Scene StudyAs director of the Aspen Opera Theater Center, he has directed classics as well as new operas by Bright Sheng, Augusta Read Thomas, Michael Torke, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Bernard Rands. In New York theater Mr. Berkeley directed the premieres of Tennessee Williams’ Comfessional, Derek Walcott’s The Odyssey, Israel Horovitz’ The Primary English Class and many other revivals and premieres. He also directed the premieres of Ned Rorem’s Our Town, Thomas Adès’s Powder Her Face, and The Kaiser from Atlantis. He was an acting consultant for the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program, returning guest faculty at Princeton University and Williams College, and a Dayton-Hudson and Benedict Distinguished Professor at Carleton College. Mr. Berkeley directed his adaptation of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at New York Philharmonic (Sir Neville Marriner) and for Baltimore Symphony (Marin Alsop), Two Faces of Romeo and Juliet and Madama Butterfly for Houston Grand Opera, John Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer and A Concert of Comic Operas at Juilliard, and other classical operas. Recently he directed Macbeth in Marseille, France and his own adaptation of Romeo and Juliet with Baltimore Symphony.

“Why Shakespeare? When young actors come to Circle they have an exciting chance to grow in a risk-free environment.

The unique thing I’ve found with Circle actors is a creativity that blossoms and informs their character choices after being challenged by the remarkable world of Shakespeare.”


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