Art Manke
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Art Manke directed the world premiere of David Rambo’s The Ice-Breaker for the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, and will direct its Southern California premiere for The Laguna Playhouse in 2007.
Manke is an award-winning, Los Angeles-based director most recently directed the West Coast premiere of Itamar Moses’s Bach at Leipzig at South Coast Repertory. Previous work for SCR includes the world premiere of a new musical version of The Wind in the Willows, and choreography for numerous plays including last season’s The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, and the 1930’s Hollywood-musical-inspired Much Ado About Nothing (L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for outstanding choreography). He is also set to direct Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife for the Pasadena Playhouse in 2007, where he previously directed Noel Coward’s Private Lives (L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award nominee for best revival) and the American Premiere of Coward’s Star Quality. He served as associate director and choreographer, respectively, for Brian Bedford’s productions of The School for Scandal and The Moliere Comedies at the Mark Taper Forum.
Mr. Manke is a co-founder of A Noise Within, L.A.’s acclaimed classical theatre company, where he served as artistic director for the first ten seasons (1991-2001) overseeing more than fifty productions, state-wide touring and a full roster of educational programs. Among the plays he directed for the company are The Winter’s Tale (winner of 5 L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards including best production and direction), Hay Fever, Pericles, Oedipus the King, Cymbeline, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Importance of Being Earnest, Tartuffe, The School for Wives, Romeo & Juliet, Volpone, The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet.
Other credits include work with the American Conservatory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Santa Fe Stages, American Players Theatre, Chicago’s Court and Lincolnshire theatres, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, the Grove, VITA, Berkeley and California Shakespeare Festivals, and Maui’s Studio H’Poko. He is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conservatories throughout the country, and he teaches acting privately in Los Angeles. For television, he directs for the hit sitcoms, Eve and One on One. Originally from Chicago, Mr. Manke holds a B.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an M.F.A. from the American Conservatory Theatre.
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