Ari Edelson

Director

Agent

Katie Haines
  • +44 (0)20 7467 0115

Ari Edelson is a director and producer who has worked both in the United States and internationally. He has worked with companies such as La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf, the Old Vic, Circle in the Square, the Royal National Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket, The Vineyard, The New Group, and the Westport Country Playhouse. Ari is currently the Artistic Director of the Off-Broadway theatre company The Exchange, which produces new work in New York and runs the internationally renowned Orchard Project development centre. He is also the co-founder of Culture Craver, a social recommendation engine for culture that is working to transform the way people connect with and discover culture. He has been a guest director on attachment at New Dramatists, The National Theatre Studio, a Directing Fellow of the Drama League of New York, and has taught at Northwestern University, Fordham University and in Japan. Ari graduated from Yale University and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

In development

JOURNEY TO THE LAND OF NO by Roya Hakakian,
stage adaptation by Lydia Diamond (BLUEST EYE, HARRIET JACOBS and STICK FLY).
Spanning 1977 to 1984, it’s a remarkable and illuminating memoir of childhood and adolescence set in the shadow of the Iranian revolution.

THE SCARIEST
Classic horror tales reworked into short contemporary pieces by a mixture of new and established playwrights

LITTLE BLACK DRESS by Ronan Noone

Theatre

THE SCARIEST (The Exchange, 45 Bleecker, NY) Spring 2008

VENGEANCE (The Cherry Lane Theatre, NY) Autumn 2007

EXPATS (The New Group, NY) Spring 2007

JUMP! (The Exchange, 45 Bleecker, NY) Spring 2007
US Premiere. By Lisa McGee

REALISM Spring 2007
US Premiere

THE ATTIC Winter 2007
English Language Premiere
Winner of the Obie Award 2007

THE ATHEIST (Theatre 503) Winter 2007
UK Premiere

BLOOD WEDDING (Theatre Project, Tokyo, Japan) Summer 2006
Winner of the Yomiuri Award 2006

TAPE (Tokyo Globe and National Tour) Winter 2004
Foreign Premiere

SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO (Theatre Project, Tokyo, Japan) Summer 2004

TRUE WEST (Tokyo Glove and NHK Osaka Hall, Japan) Spring 2004

RAPE OF LUCRETIA (English National Opera; Barbican, UK/Luxmbourg) Autumn 2003

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (Theatre Project Tokyo, Japan) Spring 2002

I’M DREAMING BUT AM I? (Drama League DirectorFest, HERE, NY) Autumn 2001

THE SUICIDE (Northwestern University, Illinois) Summer 2001

ENRICO IV (Young Vic) Winter 2001

BRIXTON MARKET (BAC / British Festival of Visual Theatre) Autumn 2000

PROMETHEUS BOUND (Young Vic / British Festival of Visual Theatre) Autumn 2000

PHILOCETES (Chandler Studio Theatre, Glasgow) Autumn 1999

THE BIRDS (GOD LOVES THATCHER!) (Edinburgh Fringe) Summer 1999

DOWN BY THE GREENWOOD SIDE (Alexander Gibson Opera Studio, Glasgow) Spring 1999

THE FEVER (New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas) Summer 1998

Other Professional Experience

Artistic Director, The Exchange Production Company, NY 2007 – present
Founding Artistic Director, The Orchard Project, NY 2005 – present
Founder and Artistic Director, Old Vic/New Voices US/UK Programme 2002 – present
Guest Staff Director, ENO 2000-2003
Faculty Member, Northwestern University Summer Theatre Arts Programme 2001-2003
Directing Fellow, Drama League of New York 2001
Director on Attachment, New Dramatics, NY Autumn 2001
Visiting Fellow to Theatre Project Tokyo, Japanese Bunka-Cho Award for Artists from Abroad Winter 2001
Scottish Opera/Scottish Television Bruce Millar Memorial Trust Award for Young Directors 2000
Director, Broadway Division, TVT (Grammy-nominated, made 5 Broadway cast albums) 1998-1999

Selected Workshops and Development
Steven Belber, Jordan Harrison, Lucy Thurber, John Walch, Betty Shamieh, Henry Adam, Richard Bean, Joe Hortua, Chris O’Connell, Joel Horwood, Roberto Aguirre Sacasa, Theresa Rebeck, Roundabout Theatre, Vineyard Theatre, The Play Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, The New Group, Old Vic Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket, Caird Company

Training Credits

Yale Repertory Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, Long Wharf, Al Pacino, Robert Lepage, Peter Brook, Andre Serban, Anne Bogart, Kenneth Branagh, William Gaskill, Giles Havergal, James Luse, Donald Margulies, Arvin Brown, Richard Foreman, Michael Boyd, Doug Hughes, W.H.Macy, Earle Gister, Des McAnuff, Graham Vick, David McVicar, Francesca Zambello, Keith Warner, James Kerr, Improbable Theatre Company

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Call Katie to discuss Ari or other Directors

+44 (0)20 7467 0115