CHARLES NEWELL (Director/Court Artistic Director) has been Artistic Director of Court Theatre since 1994, where he has directed over 25 productions. He made his Chicago directorial debut in 1993 with The Triumph of Love, which won the Jefferson Award for Best Production. Directorial credits at Court include The Importance of Being Earnest, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Cyrano, Guys and Dolls, James Joyce’s “The Dead,” Hamlet, Piano, The Invention of Love, The Little Foxes, The Cherry Orchard, Nora, Misanthrope, and Travesties. Mr. Newell has also directed at the Guthrie Theatre (Resident Director: The History Cycle, Cymbeline), Arena Stage, John Houseman’s The Acting Company (Staff Repertory Director), the California and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals, Juilliard, and New York University; he is the recipient of the 1992 TCG Alan Schneider Director Award and is a multiple Jeff Award recipient/nominee. He sits on the Board of Directors of Theatre Communications Group and has served on several panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. Last season he made his directorial debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with Marc Blitzstein’s Regina, and he will be directing Rigoletto at Opera Theatre of St. Louis this Spring.