The Board of Directors

Adam Marple

5.0 (2)
Performing Arts

A Bi-monthly interview series with the world’s leading theatre directors, exploring how they navigate their artistry both inside and outside the rehearsal room, creating an international platform for dialogue on directing practice, leadership, and the evolving role of the director in contemporary theatre, expanding access to professional knowledge-sharing, and fostering community among emerging and established directors worldwide.

4d ago

BoD Episode 18: Bill Rauch

Bill Rauch is the inaugural artistic director of the Perelman Performing Arts Center. His work as a theater director has been seen nationwide, from low-income community centers to Broadway, including the Tony Award-winning production of Robert Schenkkan’s All The Way and its sequel, The Great Society. His New York credits also include the world premiere of Naomi Wallace’s Night Is A Room at Signature Theatre, the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House at Lincoln Center Theater, and the site-specific Occasional Grace for En Garde Arts. From 2007 to 2019, Bill served as artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the country’s oldest and largest rotating repertory theater. There, he directed seven world premieres and more than 20 productions, including Shakespeare, classic musicals, and a queer reimagining of Oklahoma!. Among his signature initiatives was commissioning 37 new plays exploring moments of change in American history through “American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle.” The project produced landmark works, including Lynn Nottage’s Sweat, Paula Vogel’s Indecent, Lisa Loomer’s Roe, Universes’ Party People, Culture Clash’s American Night, and Robert Schenkkan’s LBJ plays. Bill is also co-founder of the Cornerstone Theater Company, where he served as artistic director from 1986 to 2006, directing more than 40 productions in collaboration with diverse rural and urban communities. He has directed world premieres at Portland Center Stage, Center Theatre Group, and South Coast Rep, and has worked with major theaters including American Repertory Theater, Yale Rep, Arena Stage, Seattle Rep, Berkeley Rep, and Pasadena Playhouse. His production of The Pirates of Penzance was staged with Portland Opera. His honors include the 2018 Ivy Bethune Award from Actors' Equity Association, a Ford Fellowship, the Fichandler Award, Theatre Communications Group’s Visionary Leadership Award, the Margo Jones Medal, and the United States Artists Prudential Award. He also received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for directing All The Way. Bill has taught at the University of California, Irvine, the University of Southern California, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He studied at Harvard College and lives in New York City with his husband, Christopher Liam Moore, and their two children. https://pacnyc.org/ Connect with us This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world. Support the show To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

1h 8m
May 11

BoD Episode 17: Chong Tze Chien

Tze Chien is a core member of The Finger Players and an award-winning playwright and director. He is the recipient of the Singapore Dramatist Award and multiple The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, with his play Oiwa: The Ghost of Yotsuya notably sweeping the awards, including Production of the Year and Best Director, in its year of presentation. His plays have been staged internationally, including in Singapore, the UK, Budapest, Taiwan, and Japan. His published collections with The Necessary Stage and Epigram Books feature critically acclaimed works such as Charged and PIE. In 2015, Charged was named by The Business Times as one of the top ten plays of all time in Singapore. Other notable works include Turn By Turn We Turn, Poop!, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and The Book of Living and Dying. He has also written for films and television, with credits on Singapore networks such as Channel 5, OKTO/Arts Central, and Vasantham. In recognition of his contributions to the arts, he was awarded the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council in 2006. On a national level, Tze Chien has held key creative leadership roles across major cultural events. He was the Creative Director of Singapore Pools’ float and performance at Chingay Parade in 2007 and 2008, Co-conceptualist and Writer for National Day Parade 2016, Creative Director of Island Adventures for the National Museum of Singapore’s Children’s Season 2012, Artistic Director of The Arts House’s 10th Anniversary in 2014, and Co-curator of The Studios: Fifty, a festival of 50 iconic Singapore plays presented by the Esplanade in 2015. He is currently the Festival Director of the Singapore International Festival of Arts. An established arts educator, Tze Chien has conducted workshops and masterclasses for tertiary institutions and schools since 2001. He serves on several Curriculum Development Advisory Committees at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and is an Adjunct Lecturer at Nanyang Technological University/National Institute of Education, as well as a Principal Tutor at the National University of Singapore. He has also taught at institutions including LASALLE College of the Arts and NTU/NIE. Beyond academia, he has contributed significantly to arts education nationally, serving as an adjudicator for the Singapore Youth Festival Arts Presentation (Drama) for seven years and as Creative Director of the SYF Concert 2019. He has also been commissioned by Singapore’s Ministry of Education to conduct devising workshops and develop educational scripts for the OPAL teaching and learning portal. In addition to his artistic and educational work, Tze Chien contributes to the broader arts ecosystem through governance and advisory roles. He is a Board Member of Trustees of the University of the Arts Singapore, and serves on the Industry Advisory Group for LASALLE College of the Arts. https://sifa.sg/ Connect with us This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world. Support the show To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

1h 10m
Season 2 Trailer

The Board of Directors International Monthly Meet-Up Reminder

We invite you to this month’s International Directors’ Meet-Up, our monthly gathering of directors and theatre makers from around the world. It’s a space to share experiences, trade advice, and find support in what can often be a pretty isolating role. You can come and go as you need, drop in late, leave early, whatever fits your schedule. It’s simply a chance to set aside time each month to sit alongside others who understand the work. For dates, times, and details, head to boardofdirectors.world and pull up a chair at the table. Join the Board. Connect with us Support the show To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

1 min
Apr 27

BoD Episode 16: Anne Hamburger

Anne Hamburger is the Founding Artistic Director of En Garde Arts, which she established in 1986. Widely credited with pioneering the site-specific theatre movement in the United States, Hamburger has spent four decades redefining how and where performance happens, transforming city streets, historic landmarks, and public spaces into stages for ambitious, large-scale work. Under her leadership, En Garde Arts has developed and produced groundbreaking projects with artists who have gone on to shape the field, including Anne Bogart, Charles L. Mee, Jonathan Larson, and Reza Abdoh, while continuing to champion a new generation of changemakers such as Jared Mezzocchi, Aya Ogawa, Hansol Jung, and The Pack. Her work defines a model of performance that expands beyond traditional venues, engaging directly with the physical fabric of New York City. It has been recognized with six Obie Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, and an Outer Critics Circle Award. Anne holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and is the proud mother of two children, Hannah and Owen. https://www.engardearts.org/ Connect with us This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world. Support the show To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

52 min
Apr 13

BoD Episode 15: Bryan Doerries

Bryan Doerries is a writer, director, and translator who currently serves as Artistic Director of Theater of War Productions, a company that presents charged performances of seminal texts, led by acclaimed actors, for audiences with something at stake to catalyze crucial dialogue about pressing, current issues. A self-described evangelist for ancient stories and their relevance to our lives today, Doerries uses age-old approaches to help individuals and communities heal from trauma and loss. During his tenure at Theater of War Productions, the company has presented diverse projects across the United States and the world, that regularly take place in homeless shelters and jails, military bases and hospitals, housing projects, churches, public parks, and rival gang territories, but also in cultural spaces, on the radio, and on Zoom. These free events are all designed to be authentic, community-driven exchanges that culminate in guided audience discussions about challenging, often divisive subjects, such as the visible and invisible wounds of war, end-of-life care, racism, incarceration, gun violence, domestic violence, the climate crisis, sexual assault, immigration, and addiction. Doerries’ books include The Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today, The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan, All That You’ve Seen Here is God, and Oedipus Trilogy. Among his awards, he has received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Kenyon College, was named Public Artist in Residence for the City of New York, was elected a Hastings Center Fellow, and is a 2025 recipient of the Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize. https://theaterofwar.com/ Connect with us This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world. Support the show To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

1h 19m
Season 2 Trailer

The Board of Directors International Monthly Meet-Up Reminder

We invite you to this month’s International Directors’ Meet-Up, our monthly gathering of directors and theatre makers from around the world. It’s a space to share experiences, trade advice, and find support in what can often be a pretty isolating role. You can come and go as you need, drop in late, leave early, whatever fits your schedule. It’s simply a chance to set aside time each month to sit alongside others who understand the work. For dates, times, and details, head to boardofdirectors.world and pull up a chair at the table. Join the Board. Connect with us Support the show To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

1 min
Mar 30

BoD Episode 14: Mikhael Tara Garver

Mikhael Tara Garver is a pioneering force in immersive storytelling and fandom-driven experience design, shaping how audiences gather, participate, and imagine together at the intersection of live experience, technology, and culture. For over two decades, her work has brought thousands into transformative worlds inside rock clubs and national parks, international theme parks and stadiums, and even a galaxy far, far away. Mikhael’s work centers on immersive experiences as engines for connection, empathy, and collective possibility. Her career places her at the heart of many of immersive storytelling’s defining moments, including serving as a director on the American Repertory Theater’s initial production of Sleep No More and as Creative Director for the band Great Caesar, where she designed an 18-show immersive journey unfolding over eight days at SXSW. Most recently, Mikhael served as Director of Immersive Experience for the THEA Award–winning Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser, realizing her long-held vision of a two-day, three-night live immersive journey that gently draws participants into epic narrative agency. Though not a Star Wars fan at the outset, she has always believed in immersive storytelling’s power to foster transformation and remains deeply grateful to the fandom whose passion continues to carry that force forward. Her award-winning body of work spans projects for AMC Television, Amazon, the National Park Service, Bloomberg, BBDO, Hormel, Tentrr, Viacom, Warner Bros., The La River, Smirnoff, IDEO, Facebook, and Virgin. She has delivered keynotes and advisory leadership across the experiential landscape, including at the World Experience Summit, and has served as a Lead Creative Consultant for Walt Disney Imagineering. A recognized leader in the field, Mikhael is a founding board member of the Immersive Experience Institute, a recipient of the first-ever immersive commissions from The Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, the Public Theater, and the National Theatre of Scotland, a multi-year grantee of the Pop Culture Collaborative where she was named a Pop Culture Leader driving culture change, and an International Sacatar Fellow in Bahia, Brazil, where she began writing her book on immersive practice. She is currently the Founder and CEO of Culture House Immersive, a creative studio dedicated to shaping the future of experiential entertainment where technology, story, and human connection meet. https://www.mikhaeltaragarver.com/ Connect with us This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world. Support the show To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

1h 28m
Mar 16

BoD Episode 13: Matt Torney

Matt Torney is an Irish-born theatre director and the Artistic Director of Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, where he leads one of the Southeast’s most respected regional theatre companies, Theatrical Outfit. Originally from Belfast, Torney began his career as a freelance director in Ireland before moving to the United States in 2006 to complete an MFA in Directing at Columbia University. He has directed extensively across the U.S. and internationally, working on both new plays and bold reimaginings of classical texts, with a practice grounded in rigorous collaboration with actors and a strong visual partnership with designers. His productions have received numerous award nominations, including multiple Suzi Bass and Helen Hayes Award nominations. Recent and notable work includes The Honey Trap at the Irish Repertory Theatre (New York Times Critic’s Pick), The Lehman Trilogy by Stefano Massini, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, and upcoming productions of The Glass Menagerie and The Price at Theatrical Outfit. His forthcoming projects also include The Lehman Trilogy at Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Before joining Theatrical Outfit, Torney served as Associate Artistic Director of Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, and as Director of Programming for Origin Theatre Company in New York. He was also an Associate Director at Rough Magic in Dublin for eight years. Torney’s work is driven by a belief that live theatre is an essential counterbalance to an increasingly digital world, capable of bringing communities together to wrestle with complexity, celebrate joy, and sit honestly with uncertainty. As an artistic leader, he is deeply committed to new work, regional artists, and theatre that speaks directly to the moment in which it is made. https://www.matttorney.com/ Connect with us This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world. Support the show To submit a question: Voice- https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBoardofDirectors Email- adam@boardofdirectors.world Show Credits Host: Adam Marple Music: https://www.purple-planet.com/home

1h 17m

See All (21)

5

out of 5

2 Ratings

One of a Kind

10/08/2025

Awestruck Onlooker

THE podcast to listen to for theater directors. Honest, insightful, and answering questions I didn't even know I had.

A Bi-monthly interview series with the world’s leading theatre directors, exploring how they navigate their artistry both inside and outside the rehearsal room, creating an international platform for dialogue on directing practice, leadership, and the evolving role of the director in contemporary theatre, expanding access to professional knowledge-sharing, and fostering community among emerging and established directors worldwide.

Creator

Adam Marple
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

21
Rating

Explicit
Show Website

The Board of Directors

The Board of Directors

BoD Episode 18: Bill Rauch

BoD Episode 17: Chong Tze Chien