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[[Image:Bill Rauch.jpg|thumb|upright|Bill Rauch.]] |
[[Image:Bill Rauch.jpg|thumb|upright|Bill Rauch.]] |
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Bill Rauch is an award-winning American theatre director. He was named the inaugural artistic director of the [[Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center]] at the World Trade Center in 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/arts/world-trade-center-arts-space-gets-a-lease-and-a-leader.html|title=World Trade Center Arts Space Gets a Lease, and a Leader|last=Cooper|first=Michael|date=2018-02-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-03|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Currently in development, the Perelman is the final piece of the plan to revitalize the World Trade Center site and will create work which inspires hope.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/arts/music/world-trade-center-arts-perelman.html|title=World Trade Center Arts Project Finds New President|last=Coleman|first=Nancy|date=2019-07-11|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-03|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> |
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'''Bill Rauch''' (born 1962) became the fifth artistic director of the [[Oregon Shakespeare Festival]] in June 2007. He is responsible for selecting eleven plays each season as well as their directors, design teams and cast. |
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Previously, Rauch served as the fifth artistic director of the [[Oregon Shakespeare Festival]] (OSF), from June 2007 through August 2019, where he commissioned several critically acclaimed, diverse plays that transferred to Broadway including [[Lynn Nottage]]’s Pulitzer Prize-winning ''Sweat'', [[Paula Vogel]]’s ''Indecent,'' [[Robert Schenkkan]]’s Tony Award-winning ''[[All the Way (play)|All The Way]],'' the Go Go’s musical [[Head Over Heels (musical)|''Head Over Heels'',]] and Robert Schenkkan’s ''[[All the Way (play)|All The Way]]'' sequel, ''The Great Society.'' |
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==Biography== |
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Rauch graduated from [[Harvard College]], United States, in 1984 where he was a recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize for outstanding graduating artist. Rauch has directed plays at [[South Coast Repertory]], [[the Mark Taper Forum]], [[Yale Repertory Theatre]], [[Guthrie Theater]], [[Lincoln Center Theater]], [[Arena Stage]], [[Oregon Shakespeare Festival]] and many others. He co-founded the community-based, touring [[Cornerstone Theater Company]] which now resides in Los Angeles. He was Cornerstone's artistic director from 1986 to 2006, during which time he directed over forty plays.<ref>{{cite web | author=Bill Rauch | title=Face Art Changes Lives: Cornerstone's Bill Rauch Testifies Before Congress | url=http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/1999/09/how_facetoface.php | publisher=American Theatre Magazine | date=September 1999|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720140931/http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/1999/09/how_facetoface.php|archive-date=March 27, 2018}}</ref> He has taught at [[University of California, Los Angeles]], [[University of Southern California]], [[California State University, Los Angeles]] and the [[University of California, Irvine]] as a Professor of Directing and Community Based Theater.{{cn|date=August 2018}} |
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Rauch is also the founder of the Cornerstone Theater Company, a traveling company that brought theater to rural communities across the United States before settling in Los Angeles to work with urban communities. |
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Rauch is the recipient of the 2009 Margo Jones Award, founded by ''Inherit the Wind'' authors [[Jerome Lawrence]] and [[Robert Edwin Lee]] and presented annually by [[Ohio State University]]. The award honors “that citizen-of-the theatre who has demonstrated a significant impact, understanding, and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, with a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theatre everywhere.”<ref>{{cite web | author=Jones, Kenneth | title=Bill Rauch Gets Margo Jones Award for Encouraging "Living Theatre" | url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/134097-Bill_Rauch_Gets_Margo_Jones_Award_for_Encouraging_Living_Theatre | accessdate=2009-11-06| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20091025234702/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/134097-Bill_Rauch_Gets_Margo_Jones_Award_for_Encouraging_Living_Theatre| archivedate= 25 October 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | author=[[Propst, Andy]] | title=Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Bill Rauch to Receive 2009 Margo Jones Award | url=http://www.theatermania.com/oregon/news/10-2009/oregon-shakespeare-festival-artistic-director-bill_22246.html | accessdate=2009-11-06}}</ref> In 2010, he received the Theatre Communications Group Visionary Leadership Award. Other honors include a United States Artists Prudential Fellowship, Emmy and Ovation nominations, and Garland, [[Connecticut Critics Circle]], Drama-Logu, Garland, Helen Hayes and “Leadership for a Changing World” award. Rauch was the 2012 recipient of the $5000 Zelda Fichandler Award given by the State Directors and Choreographers Foundation that recognizes past work, future promise, and commends community commitment.<ref>{{cite web | title=Rauch wins national award |url=http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121029/NEWS02/210290304 | date=29 October 2012 | accessdate=2012-11-10}}</ref> |
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==Education== |
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In 2015 Rauch was named a Ford Foundation ''Art of Change'' Fellow.{{cn|date=August 2018}} |
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Rauch (born 1962) graduated from [[Harvard College]] in 1984, where he was a recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize for outstanding graduating artist. |
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==Cornerstone Theater and Other Directorial Work== |
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Rauch co-founded the community-based, touring [[Cornerstone Theater Company]] in 1986, where he directed more than 40 productions, most of them collaborations with diverse rural and urban communities across the United States, and served as artistic director from 1986 to 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cornerstonetheater.org/ensemble/bill-rauch/|title=Cornerstone Theater Company - Bill Rauch|website=cornerstonetheater.org|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> |
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Rauch has directed a number of world premieres, including Naomi Wallace’s Night is a Room at New York’s Signature Theatre<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2015/legit/reviews/night-is-room-review-1201646146/|title=Off Broadway Review: ‘Night is a Room’|last=Stasio|first=Marilyn|last2=Stasio|first2=Marilyn|date=2015-11-23|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref>; The Body of an American at Portland Center Stage<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pdxmonthly.com/articles/2012/10/15/review-portland-center-stages-body-of-an-american-october-2012|title=Review: Portland Center Stage's Body of an American|website=Portland Monthly|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> which, along with All the Way, was co-winner of the inaugural Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kennedyprize.columbia.edu/archives/67|title=2013 Winners Announced|last=Libraries|first=Columbia University|date=2013-02-22|website=Edward M. Kennedy|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref>; The Clean House at Yale Repertory Theatre; and Living Out and For Here or To Go? at the Mark Taper Forum. He also directed the New York premiere of The Clean House at Lincoln Center Theater<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/31/theater/reviews/31clea.html|title=The Clean House - Theater - Review|last=Isherwood|first=Charles|date=2006-10-31|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-03|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>. Work elsewhere includes productions at South Coast Repertory, Guthrie Theater, Arena Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Great Lakes Theater and En Garde Arts. |
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He has taught at [[University of California, Los Angeles|University of California, Los Angeles,]] [[University of Southern California|University of Southern California,]] [[California State University, Los Angeles]] and the [[University of California, Irvine]] as a Professor of Directing and Community Based Theater. |
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==Work at Oregon Shakespeare Festival== |
==Work at Oregon Shakespeare Festival== |
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Bill Rauch became the [[Oregon Shakespeare Festival|Oregon Shakespeare Festival’]]<nowiki/>s fifth artistic director in 2007, after five seasons at the Festival as a guest director<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/busy-regional-director-is-named-new-artistic-director-of-oregon-shakespeare-fest-com-134399|title=Busy Regional Director Is Named New Artistic Director of Oregon Shakespeare Fest|last=Jones|first=Kenneth|date=Fri Aug 18 16:13:00 EDT 2006|website=Playbill|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref>. As visiting director at OSF, Rauch directed ''Handler'' (2002), ''[[Hedda Gabler]]'' (2003), ''[[The Comedy of Errors]]'' (2004), ''[[By the Waters of Babylon]]'' (2005) & ''[[The Two Gentlemen of Verona]]'' (2006). |
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{{third-party|section|date=August 2018}} |
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As visiting director at the [[Oregon Shakespeare Festival]], Rauch directed ''[[Handler (play)|Handler]]'' (2002), ''[[Hedda Gabler]]'' (2003), ''[[The Comedy of Errors]]'' (2004), ''[[By the Waters of Babylon]]'' (2005) & ''[[The Two Gentlemen of Verona]]'' (2006). In his first six years as artistic director, he personally directed ''[[The Little Clay Cart|The Clay Cart]]'' & ''[[The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler]]'' (2008), ''[[Equivocation (play)|Equivocation]]'' & ''[[The Music Man]]'' (2009), ''[[Hamlet]]'' & ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' (2010), ''[[Measure for Measure]]'' & ''[[Pirates of Penzance]]'' (2011), and ''[[All the Way (play)|All the Way]]'' & ''[[Medea/MacBeth/Cinderella]]'' (2012). Known as a risk-taker, he is moved by programming that combines Shakespeare, other classics, contemporary work, and plays commissioned for the company. His vision for OSF includes classical musicals and important plays outside the [[Western Canon]], leading to the selection of the Sanskrit ''[[The Little Clay Cart|The Clay Cart]]'', and the Chinese ''[[Madame White Snake|White Snake]]'' for production. He is reaching out to youth and is committed to continuing OSF's reputation for fostering new work with the production of at least one new play per season. He initiated the Black Swan Lab for experimental work. Most ambitious of all, he launched ''American Revolutions: the U.S. History Cycle.'' Inspired by Shakespeare’s history plays and funded in part by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon, Collins Family, and Paul G. Allen Family Foundations, the goal is to develop 37 new plays about momentous changes in U.S. history.<ref>{{cite web | author=Bill Rauch|title=About, People: Bill Rauch | website=osfashland.org | url=http://www.osfashland.org/about/people/bio.aspx?id=203| accessdate=2011-08-25}}</ref> |
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During his 17 seasons at OSF, Rauch directed seven world premieres including, ''Mother Road, LA Comedia of Errors, Off the Rails, Roe, Fingersmith, The Great Society, All the Way, Equivocation'' and ''By the Waters of Babylon''. He also directed 19 other plays at the Festival including; By Shakespeare: ''Othello, Richard II, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, Cymbeline, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona'' and ''The Comedy of Errors''; Others: ''Oklahoma!, Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, The Pirates of Penzance, The Music Man, The Clay Cart, Hedda Gabler, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler and Handler.'' |
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On February 16, 2018, Rauch announced that his directorship will come to an end in August 2019 when he leaves to take the position of artistic director for The Ronald O. Perelman Center for Performing Arts in New York.<ref>https://www.broadwayworld.com/portland/article/Bill-Rauch-To-Leave-OSF-In-2019-To-Lead-NYCs-Perelman-Center-20180216</ref> |
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Rauch directed several OSF plays at other theatres, including ''Equivocation, All the Way and The Great Society'' at Seattle Rep; ''The Pirates of Penzance'' at Portland Opera; ''Equivocation and Roe'' at Arena Stage; ''Roe'' at Berkeley Rep; and ''Othello, Fingersmith and All the Way'' at the American Repertory Theater for which he twice won the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) award for Best Director. ''All the Way'' then moved to the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway in 2014, where it won the Tony Award for Best Play and also earned Drama Desk<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/2014-annual-drama-desk-awards-nominations-announced-gentlemans-guide-earns-12-nominations-com-217625|title=2014 Annual Drama Desk Awards Nominations Announced; Gentleman's Guide Earns 12 Nominations|last=Gans|first=Andrew|date=Fri Apr 25 13:28:00 EDT 2014|website=Playbill|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for directing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/64th-annual-outer-critics-circle-award-winners-announced-gentlemans-guide-wins-four-awards-com-218223|title=64th Annual Outer Critics Circle Award Winners Announced; Gentleman's Guide Wins Four Awards|last=Gans|first=Andrew|date=Mon May 12 02:00:00 EDT 2014|website=Playbill|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> The Great Society moved to the Vivian Beaumont Theater on Broadway in 2019 and opened October 1, 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/theater/plays-musicals-critics-picks.html|title=Theater This Season: A Show (or 10) for Every Mood|last=McElroy|first=Steven|date=2019-09-11|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-03|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> |
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{{BLP unsourced section|date=August 2018}} |
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In 2014 Rauch directed the Broadway production of ''[[All the Way (play)|All the Way]]''. This production won two Tony Awards: the 2014 [[Tony Award for Best Play]] and the 2014 [[Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play|Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play]], which went to [[Bryan Cranston]]. This limited-engagement production opened on March 6, 2014 and concluded on June 29, 2014. Rauch directed ''All the Way'' at OSF in 2012 and OSF had commissioned the original play during Rauch's tenure as Artistic Director of OSF. |
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During his time at OSF, Rauch was known for his passionate dedication to diversifying the company and the audience. A risk-taker, Rauch put together programming that combined Shakespeare, other classics, contemporary work, and plays commissioned for the company. His vision for OSF included classical musicals and important plays outside the [[Western canon|Western Canon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.osfashland.org/ErrorMain.html|website=www.osfashland.org|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> |
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{{reflist}} |
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Among his initiatives at OSF, Rauch commissioned 37 new plays as part of American Revolutions: the U.S. History Cycle, to dramatize moments of change in American history, inspired by Shakespeare’s history plays and funded in part by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon, Collins Family, and Paul G. Allen Family Foundations.[5] He also initiated the Black Swan Lab for New Work and a community-based format for the Green Show.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ashlandtidings.com/news/top-stories/bill-rauch-says-farewell-to-oregon-shakespeare-festival|title=Parting is such sweet sorrow|last=Tidings|first=John Darling For the|date=2019-05-07|website=Ashland Tidings|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rauch, Bill}} |
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[[Category:1962 births]] |
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On February 16, 2018, Rauch announced that his directorship would come to an end in August 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/02/16/bill-rauchs-next-once-in-a-lifetime-move/|title=Bill Rauch’s Next Once-in-a-Lifetime Move|last=Weinert-Kendt|first=Rob|date=2018-02-16|website=AMERICAN THEATRE|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> |
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[[Category:Living people]] |
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[[Category:People from Ashland, Oregon]] |
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[[Category:Harvard College alumni]] |
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In 2014, Rauch directed the Broadway production of ''[[All the Way (play)|All the Way]]'' by Robert Schenkkan, after originally commissioning and directing the play at OSF in 2012. This limited-engagement production opened on March 6, 2014 at the Neil Simon Theatre and concluded on June 29, 2014<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadway.com/shows/all-way/|title=All the Way|website=Broadway.com|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref>. The production won two Tony Awards, the 2014 ''Tony Award for Best Play'' and the ''2014 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play'', which went to Bryan Cranston.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2014/legit/awards/tony-award-winners-2014-tonys-winner-list-1201215961/|title=Tony Award Winners 2014 — Full List|last=Staff|first=Variety|last2=Staff|first2=Variety|date=2014-06-08|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> The play also won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Play. Rauch was nominated for both a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for his direction. |
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[[Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty]] |
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[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]] |
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In 2019, Rauch again worked with Schenkkan on ''The Great Society'', the sequel to ''All the Way'', which ran for a twelve week limited-engagement on Broadway at The Vivian Beaumont Theater, beginning September 6, 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/theater/great-society-broadway-schenkkan-johnson.html|title=‘The Great Society,’ About L.B.J., Is Coming to Broadway|last=Paulson|first=Michael|date=2019-07-18|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-03|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The play starred Emmy-winner Brian Cox as President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
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[[Category:University of Southern California faculty]] |
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[[Category:California State University, Los Angeles faculty]] |
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==Leading The Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center == |
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[[Category:University of California, Irvine faculty]] |
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In February 2016, Rauch was named the inaugural artistic director of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center, a new, flexible midsize performance space at The World Trade Center that will produce theater, dance, music, and chamber opera.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-bill-rauch-oregon-shakespeare-festival-20180907-story.html|title=After revolutionizing West Coast theater, Bill Rauch takes his inclusive vision to New York|date=2018-09-07|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> Of his appointment Rauch said, “I'm humbled and honored...to be part of fostering a place for transformative art...[and] to bring this cutting edge performing arts facility to downtown Manhattan, modeling hope by making art that connects us across all types of communities."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/arts/world-trade-center-arts-space-gets-a-lease-and-a-leader.html|title=World Trade Center Arts Space Gets a Lease, and a Leader|last=Cooper|first=Michael|date=2018-02-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-03|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> |
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[[Category:American theatre directors]] |
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[[Category:Artistic directors]] |
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The Perelman, currently under construction, is located adjacent of the 9/11 Memorial north reflecting pool. It was conceived as the keystone in Daniel Libeskind’s 2003 master plan for the rebuilding of the 16-acre World Trade Center site.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/24/nyregion/one-world-trade-center.html|title=At 374,000 Pounds, ‘Big Boy’ Plays Vital Supporting Role at Ground Zero|last=Barron|first=James|date=2019-03-24|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-03|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A state-of-the-art venue and global hub for creation and rebirth, the Perelman’s flexible theaters can be reconfigured into dozens of different stage environments <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aiany.org/membership/oculus-magazine/article/fall-2018/staged-right/|title=Staged Right|website=AIA New York|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> to accommodate the creative vision of and collaboration amongst emerging, established, and non-traditional artists. |
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[[Category:Festival directors]] |
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==Awards and Honors== |
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In 2018 Rauch received the Ivy Bethune Award from Actors’ Equity Association for diversity and inclusion in hiring, casting and producing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.actorsequity.org/aboutequity/awards/IvyBethuneAward/|title=Ivy Bethune Award · Actors' Equity Association|website=www.actorsequity.org|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> Other honors include the inaugural “Guiding Star” Award (2017) <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://calshakes.org/guiding-star-award-recipient-bill-rauch-keynote-address/|title=Guiding Star Award Recipient Bill Rauch: Keynote Address - Cal Shakes|website=https://calshakes.org/|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref>, two Independent Reviewers of New England Awards (2017, 2014)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatermania.com/boston-theater/news/bryan-cranston-cherry-jones-patina-miller-and-more_68176.html|title=Bryan Cranston, Cherry Jones, Patina Miller, and More Win Boston's 2014 IRNE Awards {{!}} TheaterMania|website=www.theatermania.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref>, a Falstaff Award (2013), the 2012 Zelda Fichandler Award , TCG’s Visionary Leadership Award (2010) <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/TCG-Announces-2010-TCG-Award-Recipients-20100729-page7|title=TCG Announces 2010 TCG Award Recipients|last=Desk|first=BWW News|website=BroadwayWorld.com|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref>, Connecticut Critics Circle, L.A. Weekly, and Helen Hayes Awards. He is also the only artist to have won the inaugural “Leadership for a Changing World” award (2001). |
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Rauch is also the recipient of the 2009 Margo Jones Award, founded by ''Inherit the Wind'' authors [[Jerome Lawrence]] and [[Robert E. Lee (playwright)|Robert Edwin Lee]] and presented annually by [[Ohio State University]]. The award honors “that citizen-of-the theatre who has demonstrated a significant impact, understanding, and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, with a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theatre everywhere.”[2][3] |
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In 2015 Rauch was named a Ford Foundation ''Art of Change'' Fellow in 2015<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/ford-foundation-launches-art-of-change-fellowship-program|title=Ford Foundation Launches 'Art of Change' Fellowship Program|last=Candid|website=Philanthropy News Digest (PND)|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> and was awarded a United States Artists Prudential Fellowship in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://usartists.squarespace.com/fellows|title=Awards|website=United States Artists|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> |
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Bill Rauch is an award-winning American theatre director. He was named the inaugural artistic director of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center in 2016.[1] Currently in development, the Perelman is the final piece of the plan to revitalize the World Trade Center site and will create work which inspires hope.[2]
Previously, Rauch served as the fifth artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), from June 2007 through August 2019, where he commissioned several critically acclaimed, diverse plays that transferred to Broadway including Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat, Paula Vogel’s Indecent, Robert Schenkkan’s Tony Award-winning All The Way, the Go Go’s musical Head Over Heels, and Robert Schenkkan’s All The Way sequel, The Great Society.
Rauch is also the founder of the Cornerstone Theater Company, a traveling company that brought theater to rural communities across the United States before settling in Los Angeles to work with urban communities.
Rauch (born 1962) graduated from Harvard College in 1984, where he was a recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize for outstanding graduating artist.
Rauch co-founded the community-based, touring Cornerstone Theater Company in 1986, where he directed more than 40 productions, most of them collaborations with diverse rural and urban communities across the United States, and served as artistic director from 1986 to 2006.[3]
Rauch has directed a number of world premieres, including Naomi Wallace’s Night is a Room at New York’s Signature Theatre[4]; The Body of an American at Portland Center Stage[5] which, along with All the Way, was co-winner of the inaugural Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History[6]; The Clean House at Yale Repertory Theatre; and Living Out and For Here or To Go? at the Mark Taper Forum. He also directed the New York premiere of The Clean House at Lincoln Center Theater[7]. Work elsewhere includes productions at South Coast Repertory, Guthrie Theater, Arena Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Great Lakes Theater and En Garde Arts.
He has taught at University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California, California State University, Los Angeles and the University of California, Irvine as a Professor of Directing and Community Based Theater.
Bill Rauch became the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s fifth artistic director in 2007, after five seasons at the Festival as a guest director[8]. As visiting director at OSF, Rauch directed Handler (2002), Hedda Gabler (2003), The Comedy of Errors (2004), By the Waters of Babylon (2005) & The Two Gentlemen of Verona (2006).
During his 17 seasons at OSF, Rauch directed seven world premieres including, Mother Road, LA Comedia of Errors, Off the Rails, Roe, Fingersmith, The Great Society, All the Way, Equivocation and By the Waters of Babylon. He also directed 19 other plays at the Festival including; By Shakespeare: Othello, Richard II, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, Cymbeline, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Comedy of Errors; Others: Oklahoma!, Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, The Pirates of Penzance, The Music Man, The Clay Cart, Hedda Gabler, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler and Handler.
Rauch directed several OSF plays at other theatres, including Equivocation, All the Way and The Great Society at Seattle Rep; The Pirates of Penzance at Portland Opera; Equivocation and Roe at Arena Stage; Roe at Berkeley Rep; and Othello, Fingersmith and All the Way at the American Repertory Theater for which he twice won the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) award for Best Director. All the Way then moved to the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway in 2014, where it won the Tony Award for Best Play and also earned Drama Desk[9] and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for directing.[10] The Great Society moved to the Vivian Beaumont Theater on Broadway in 2019 and opened October 1, 2019.[11]
During his time at OSF, Rauch was known for his passionate dedication to diversifying the company and the audience. A risk-taker, Rauch put together programming that combined Shakespeare, other classics, contemporary work, and plays commissioned for the company. His vision for OSF included classical musicals and important plays outside the Western Canon.[12]
Among his initiatives at OSF, Rauch commissioned 37 new plays as part of American Revolutions: the U.S. History Cycle, to dramatize moments of change in American history, inspired by Shakespeare’s history plays and funded in part by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon, Collins Family, and Paul G. Allen Family Foundations.[5] He also initiated the Black Swan Lab for New Work and a community-based format for the Green Show.[13]
On February 16, 2018, Rauch announced that his directorship would come to an end in August 2019.[14]
In 2014, Rauch directed the Broadway production of All the Way by Robert Schenkkan, after originally commissioning and directing the play at OSF in 2012. This limited-engagement production opened on March 6, 2014 at the Neil Simon Theatre and concluded on June 29, 2014[15]. The production won two Tony Awards, the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play and the 2014 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, which went to Bryan Cranston.[16] The play also won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Play. Rauch was nominated for both a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for his direction.
In 2019, Rauch again worked with Schenkkan on The Great Society, the sequel to All the Way, which ran for a twelve week limited-engagement on Broadway at The Vivian Beaumont Theater, beginning September 6, 2019.[17] The play starred Emmy-winner Brian Cox as President Lyndon B. Johnson.
In February 2016, Rauch was named the inaugural artistic director of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center, a new, flexible midsize performance space at The World Trade Center that will produce theater, dance, music, and chamber opera.[18] Of his appointment Rauch said, “I'm humbled and honored...to be part of fostering a place for transformative art...[and] to bring this cutting edge performing arts facility to downtown Manhattan, modeling hope by making art that connects us across all types of communities."[19]
The Perelman, currently under construction, is located adjacent of the 9/11 Memorial north reflecting pool. It was conceived as the keystone in Daniel Libeskind’s 2003 master plan for the rebuilding of the 16-acre World Trade Center site.[20] A state-of-the-art venue and global hub for creation and rebirth, the Perelman’s flexible theaters can be reconfigured into dozens of different stage environments [21] to accommodate the creative vision of and collaboration amongst emerging, established, and non-traditional artists.
In 2018 Rauch received the Ivy Bethune Award from Actors’ Equity Association for diversity and inclusion in hiring, casting and producing.[22] Other honors include the inaugural “Guiding Star” Award (2017) [23], two Independent Reviewers of New England Awards (2017, 2014)[24], a Falstaff Award (2013), the 2012 Zelda Fichandler Award , TCG’s Visionary Leadership Award (2010) [25], Connecticut Critics Circle, L.A. Weekly, and Helen Hayes Awards. He is also the only artist to have won the inaugural “Leadership for a Changing World” award (2001).
Rauch is also the recipient of the 2009 Margo Jones Award, founded by Inherit the Wind authors Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee and presented annually by Ohio State University. The award honors “that citizen-of-the theatre who has demonstrated a significant impact, understanding, and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, with a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theatre everywhere.”[2][3]
In 2015 Rauch was named a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow in 2015[26] and was awarded a United States Artists Prudential Fellowship in 2008.[27]
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