Michael Kahn (born September 9, 1937) is an American theater director and drama educator. He was the artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. from 1986 until his retirement in 2019.^[1] He held the position of Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School from 1992 to 2006.^[2][3]

After beginning his career off-off-Broadway in 1964, directing experimental theater and other works, including Shakespeare, Kahn had both notable failures and successes with Broadway projects, winning acclaim especially for productions of The Royal Family (1975–76) and Show Boat (1983). He joined the Juilliard School's faculty in 1968, becoming the head of its drama school. During his long tenure as artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Kahn has overseen its growth, including initiating its Free For All productions. He has also acted as artistic director for several other companies, continued to direct regional theater and opera, and received various awards and honors.

Early life and career

Kahn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended the High School for the Performing Arts^[4] and received a Bachelor of Arts from the Columbia College of Columbia University.^[5]

Kahn's career began off-off-Broadway by directing Jean-Claude van Itallie's War Sex and Dreams and America Hurrah at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in 1964–65.^[6] He directed the Wallace Grey play Helen which ran off-Broadway at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre in December 1964^[7] and the Thornton Wilder one-act plays The Long Christmas Dinner, Queens of France, and The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden in September to November 1966 at the off-Broadway Cherry Lane Theatre.^[8] He won critical praise for his direction of the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Measure for Measure in 1966 at the Delacorte Theater.^[9] He next directed The Rimers of Eldritch at the off-Broadway Cherry Lane Theatre in February and March 1967.^[10] After this, he directed his first project for Broadway, The Freaking Out of Stephanie Blake (1967), a troubled production that never opened.^[11] His second Broadway play, Here's Where I Belong, closed after one performance, in March 1968.^[12] Additional Broadway credits include several Shakespeare plays and revivals of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1974–75), The Royal Family (1975–76), Whodunnit (1982–83), and Show Boat (1983), among others. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for Show Boat, and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival as producing director of The Royal Family.^[13]

Kahn has also directed opera and regional theater.^[14] He was the artistic director for both the American Shakespeare Theatre (in 1969) and The Acting Company (1978–1988),^[15] producing director for the McCarter Theatre (1974),^[2] and founder and head of The Chautauqua Theater Company in 1983.^[16] In 2012, he accepted the Regional Theatre Tony Award as artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company.

Juilliard School

Kahn joined the Juilliard School faculty in 1968 and became the Richard Rodgers Director of Juilliard Drama, head of the school, in 1992. He resigned as the head of the school in 2005 and continued as Teacher of Acting.^[17]

Shakespeare Theatre Company

In 1986, Kahn became artistic director of what was then known as The Folger Theatre Group or The Folger Theatre,^[18][19] now the Shakespeare Theatre Company.^[2] During his time with the company, Kahn has supervised its move from the Folger Shakespeare Library to the Lansburgh Theatre, and the creation of the Shakespeare Theatre Company Free For All at Rock Creek Park's Carter Barron Amphitheatre. Kahn joined forces with George Washington University in 2000 to create the Academy for Classical Acting. This Masters of Fine Arts degree is a comprehensive one-year program that trains actors for the classical theater, with an emphasis on Shakespeare.^[20] Kahn oversaw the company's name change and construction of Sidney Harman Hall, part of the new Harman Center for the Arts, which expands artistic opportunities for the Shakespeare Theatre Company and other arts groups.^[21]

On February 8, 2017, Kahn announced that he will be resigning as artistic director in July 2019.^[22]

Kahn's Shakespeare Theatre Company directing credits include Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 in repertory,^[23] Wallenstein, The Government Inspector, Strange Interlude, The Heir Apparent (world premiere), Old Times, All's Well That Ends Well, The Liar, Richard II, The Alchemist, Design for Living, The Way of the World, Antony and Cleopatra, Tamburlaine, Hamlet, Richard III, The Beaux' Stratagem, Love's Labour's Lost, Othello, Lorenzaccio (world premiere), Macbeth, Cyrano, Five by Tenn, The Winter's Tale, The Silent Woman, The Oedipus Plays, The Duchess of Malfi, Timon of Athens, Don Carlos, Hedda Gabler, King Lear, Coriolanus, Camino Real, A Woman of No Importance, King John, The Merchant of Venice, Peer Gynt, Sweet Bird of Youth, combined Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 & 3, Mourning Becomes Electra, Henry V, Volpone, combined Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2, Richard II, The Doctor's Dilemma, Mother Courage and Her Children, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, Richard III, Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor, As You Like It, All's Well That Ends Well, and Romeo and Juliet.

Other work

Honors and awards

References

External links

• Official Biography at Shakespeare Theatre Company website
• Credits, broadwayworld.com
• Internet Off-Broadway Database listing
• Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Michael Kahn from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Michael Kahn papers. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.