Richard Hamburger
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Richard Hamburger (born 1951) is an American
theater director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...
. He has directed an extensive range of plays in theaters nationwide, and from 1987 to 1992 was Artistic Director of the Portland Stage Company before being named the fifth Artistic Director of the
Dallas Theater Center The Dallas Theater Center is a major regional theater in Dallas, Texas, United States. It produces classic, contemporary, and new plays and was the 2017 Tony Award recipient for Best Regional Theater. Dallas Theater Center produces its original ...
(DTC) in 1992. He left the DTC in 2007, and continues to direct plays in theaters nationwide.


Early life and career

Hamburger was born and raised in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. He obtained his high school diploma from
The Putney School The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive Education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-e ...
in
Putney, Vermont Putney is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,617 at the 2020 census. The town's historic core makes up the Putney Village Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. His ...
, in 1969, and his
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in drama from the
Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in ...
at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
in 1972. Hamburger next received formal training as a clown and spent a year as a featured clown with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Hamburger worked at a number of theaters and directed plays in a wide range of venues between 1974 and 1986, including
The Acting Company The Acting Company is a professional theater company that tours the United States annually, staging and performing one or two plays in as many as fifty cities, often with runs of only one or two nights. Drama critic Mel Gussow has called it "the m ...
,
The American Place Theatre The American Place Theatre was founded in 1963 by Wynn Handman, Sidney Lanier, and Michael Tolan at St. Clement's Church, 423 West 46th Street in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, and was incorporated as a not-for-profit theatre in that year. Tenness ...
,
Circle in the Square Theatre School Circle in the Square Theatre School is a non-profit, tax exempt drama school associated with Circle in the Square Theatre; it is the only accredited conservatory attached to a Broadway theatre. It offers two 2-year full-time programs: a Professi ...
,
Great Lakes Theater Festival Great Lakes Theater, originally known as the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, is a professional classic theater company in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1962, Great Lakes specializes in large-cast classic plays, often performing th ...
, the
Yale Repertory Theatre Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of Yale School of Drama, in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented stud ...
, and the Juilliard Theatre Center (where he also taught drama). ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' praised his direction of Thomas Strelich's ''Neon Psalms'' at The American Place Theater in 1986, saying its "staging subtly veers away from overstatement." He was appointed the Artistic Director of the Portland Stage Company in
Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...
, in 1987. He directed a wide range of avant-garde productions, experimental plays, and modern theater while at Portland Stage, including
Mac Wellman John McDowell Wellman (born March 7, 1945), is an American playwright, author, and poet.Mac Wellman pape ...
's ''Terminal Hip'' in the 1989-1990 season (which later won an
Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...
) and
Erik Ehn Erik Ehn is an American playwright and director known for proposing the Regional Alternative Theatre movement. The former dean of theater at CalArts, the California Institute of Arts, he is the former head of playwriting and professor of theatre ...
's '' Wolf at the Door'' in the 1990-1991 season.


Dallas Theater Center

In 1992, Hamburger was named the fifth Artistic Director of the Dallas Theater Center. His philosophy at the DTC was that the company should feature "fabulous young writers exploring theatrical forms." Having grown up in New York City, and spending much of his professional life there or in Portland, he never learned to drive a car. He walked, bicycled, or took a taxi cab. "I learned to drive in Dallas," he said, and purchased his first automobile. While at the DTC, Hamburger directed or produced several notable plays, including ''
Topdog/Underdog ''Topdog/Underdog'' is a play by American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks which premiered in 2001 off-Broadway in New York City. The next year it opened on Broadway, at the Ambassador Theatre, where it played for several months. In 2002, Parks rece ...
'' (which won the
Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...
in 2002) and ''
Anna in the Tropics ''Anna in the Tropics'' is a play by Nilo Cruz. It won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Plot The play is set in Ybor City, a section of Tampa and the center of the cigar industry. When Cuban immigrants brought the cigar-making industry to Fl ...
'' (which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2003), both in 2004.Dallas Theatre Center
His 1999 production of ''
South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
'' won national praise for its design and production, and was called "a virtual reinvention of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical" by ''
D Magazine ''D Magazine'' is a monthly magazine covering Dallas–Fort Worth. It is headquartered in Downtown Dallas. ''D Magazine'' covers a range of topics including politics, business, food, fashion and lifestyle in the city of Dallas. The first issue ...
''. ''D Magazine'' also highly praised his 2001 production of ''
Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...
'' and 2006 direction of ''
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' is a 1955 American three-act play by Tennessee Williams. The play, an adaptation of his 1952 short story "Three Players of a Summer Game", was written between 1953 and 1955. One of Williams's more famous works and his ...
''. Preferring to hire New York City actors rather than local talent, he dissolved the acting company that had been assembled by Adrian Hall, DTC artistic director from 1983 to 1989, and mostly retained by Hall's successor, Ken Bryant. His time at the helm of the DTC was not without problems. Staff claimed he was difficult to work for, he staged numerous mediocre shows with production designs imported from other playhouses (most notably ''
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg ''A Day in the Death of Joe Egg'' is a 1967 play by the English playwright Peter Nichols, first staged at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland, before transferring to the Comedy Theatre in London's West End. Synopsis The play centres o ...
'' and '' The Illusion'' in the 2005-2006 season), and he hired a director of marketing whose stormy tenure was short and very costly. Hamburger abruptly left the DTC in August 2006 after 15 years with the company. Hamburger denied that he was forced out, but also admitted that he had clashed with unnamed individuals over several issues (which he also refused to discuss).


Post-DTC work

DTC named Hamburger Artistic Director Emeritus upon his departure, and he moved to New York City. He has continued to direct plays nationwide in a variety of theaters and venues. Among his more notable productions was the 2006-2007
Salzburg Marionette Theatre Salzburg Marionette Theatre was established in 1913 and is one of the oldest continuing marionette theatres in the world. It is based in the city of Salzburg, Austria. Original productions featured live actors and musicians. Today soundtracks are r ...
production of ''
The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...
'', which toured Europe; his 2008 direction of Michael Feingold's ''Japanoir'' at the
Ensemble Studio Theatre The Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) is a non-profit membership-based developmental theatre located in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. It has a dual mission of nurturing individual theatre artists and developing new American plays. Overview The E ...
in New York City (which Leonard Jacobs of the ''
New York Press ''New York Press'' was a free alternative weekly in New York City, which was published from 1988 to 2011. The ''Press'' strove to create a rivalry with the ''Village Voice''. ''Press'' editors claimed to have tried to hire away writer Nat Hento ...
'' praised for its "brisk direction"); and the 2012 production of ''
Curse of the Starving Class ''Curse of the Starving Class'' is a play by Sam Shepard, considered the first of a series on family tragedies. Some critics consider it part of a Family Trilogy that includes '' Buried Child'' (1979) and '' True West'' (1980). Others consider i ...
'' for the Wilma Theater in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
(the first time he had ever directed a play by
Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, ...
). In September 2014, Hamburger was named by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) to the 2014-2015 Committee for the Joe A. Callaway Award, the only peer-given award for excellence in direction and choreography in the theater.


Personal life

Hamburger is married to Melissa Cooper, a former performance artist, actress, and playwright who co-founded the Echo Theatre. The couple lives in New York City with their son.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamburger, Richard 1951 births Living people American theatre directors David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni The Putney School alumni