Anne Bogart

Anne Bogart (born September 25, 1951) is an American theatre and opera director. She is currently one of the Artistic Directors of SITI Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She is a Professor at Columbia University where she runs the Graduate Directing Concentration and is the author of three books of essays on theater making: A Director Prepares; And Then, You Act; and What's the Story. She is a co-author, with Tina Landau of The Viewpoints Book, a "practical guide" to Viewpoints training and devising techniques. Conversations with Anne, a collection of interviews she has conducted with various notable artists was published in March 2012.

Bogart’s influence is felt throughout the contemporary theatre: through the widespread adoption of SITI’s training methods of Viewpoints and Suzuki, her oeuvre of groundbreaking productions, and her guidance at SITI as well as Columbia University of such diverse talents as Pavol Liska, Diane Paulus, James Dacre, Kim Weild, Jay Scheib, Sophie Hunter, Shura Baryshnikov, Darko Tresnjak, Robert O'Hara, Rachel Chavkin and many others.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Life and career

Bogart earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bard College in 1974, followed by a Master of Arts degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1977. She served as Artistic Director of the Trinity Repertory Company for its 1989–90 season. From 1990–92 she was president of TCG (Theater Communications Group). In 1992 together with Tadashi Suzuki she founded SITI Company with a mission to create new work, to train young theatre artists and to encourage international collaboration. She has served as SITI Company’s Artistic Director since 1992 and since 2011 she shares the leadership with Company members Ellen Lauren and Leon Ingulsrud.

From 1987 – 1992 Bogart served as the Artistic Director of Via Theater. Founded by Bogart and Brian Jucha, Via Theater created a number of highly regarded productions in New York City including Assimil, No Plays, No Poetry, and Cinderella/Cendrillon. The company led workshops and residencies around the United States.

Between 1980 and 1992, Bogart taught at the Max Reinhart Academy, The Bern Conservatory, The University of Alaska, Bennington College, The American Center (Paris, France), Williams College, New York University, University of California at San Diego, and Playwrights Horizons Theater School. Since 1993 she has served as a Professor at Columbia University where she heads the Graduate Directing Program.

Since 1992 Bogart has taught in residencies around the world and given workshops and master classes at institutions as diverse as La Mama, Umbria, the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, many US universities and colleges, as well as theaters and conservatories on many continents. Her skills as a speaker and public intellectual have garnered her over 50 speaking engagements since 1988.

Bogart has written A Director Prepares, And Then, You Act and co-authored The Viewpoints Book with Tina Landau, in which she outlines her theories of and approaches to making theatre. Shorter works have appeared in The Humana Festival – The Complete Plays (1996 and 1999), American Theatre magazine and The Drama Review.

In "Anne Bogart: Viewpoints", drama critic Mel Gussow refers to Bogart as “a director of the present moment and, one might add, the prescient moment. Relentlessly she searches for imaginative ways to renew the theatrical experience, to make it more relevant for herself and those who are receiving it.”

Bogart is the granddaughter of Admiral Raymond Ames Spruance, Commander of Task Force 16 and later the overall commander of US Naval Forces at the pivotal Battle of Midway.

Anne Bogart is married to Rena Chelouche Fogel.

Viewpoints and Suzuki

After working together with Mary Overlie at NYU in 1979, Bogart developed a version of an improvisational, ensemble-building technique called Viewpoints, based on Overlie's Six View Points of dance. Coupled with Suzuki, the intense physical acting training developed by Tadashi Suzuki and his Company, SCOT, SITI Company’s training methods have become widespread tools of theatre instruction with classes of various levels taught in Universities and colleges across the United States and in seasonal intensives led by SITI Company members in New York City, Saratoga Springs, New York and in cities around the world.

Awards and recognition

Bogart has won two Best Director Obie Awards, one for No Plays No Poetry But Philosophical Reflections Practical Instructions Provocative Opinions and Pointers From a Noted Critic and Playwright (1988) based on the theories of Bertolt Brecht and the other for Paula Vogel's The Baltimore Waltz (1990). In 1984, she was also honored with the Bessie Award for Choreographer/Creator for her work with South Pacific. In 1995 Bogart received an ATHE Career achievement award and in 2005 was honored with and American Theatre Wing award. In 1998 Bogart received a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. In 2000 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2006 she was awarded a US Artists Fellowship. She has received University awards from institutions around the world including Trinity College, Emory University, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Bard College, City University of New York, and the Yale Dramatic Association. Bogart has received three Honorary Doctorates, in 2011 from Skidmore College, in 2013 from Bard College and in 2015 from Cornish College. In 2012 she was one of the recipients of the inaugural round of Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards. Bogart is the 2012 recipient of the Richard B. Fisher Award presented at BAM. In 2018 London University awarded Bogart a Leverhulme Professorship ^[6].

Productions

• Bacchae by Euripedes, translated by Aaron Poochigian, co-produced by the SITI Company, Getty Villa, the Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater, Los Angeles, CA (August 2018)^[7]
• Alcina by George Frideric Handel, Washington National Opera, Washington D.C.(November 2017)
• Dimitrij by Antonín Dvořák, Fisher Center, Bard College NY (July 2017)
• Chess Match No. 5, Abingdon Theater, New York. (March 2017)
• Lost in the Stars by Kurt Weill, Royce Hall, Los Angeles, California (January 2017)
• The Exalted by Carl Hancock Rux, music by Theo Bleckmann, performed by Carl Hancock Rux and Theo Bleckmann, BAM, New York; also performed at The Kimmel Center and The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College (October 2015)
• Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi, Glimmerglass Opera, New York. (July 2015)
• the theatre is a blank page – co-directed by Anne Bogart and Ann Hamilton. Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio. (April 2015)
• Persians by Aeschylus translated by Aaron Poochigian, music by Victor Zupanc, The Getty Villa, California (September 2014)
• Steel Hammer – music and lyrics by Julia Wolfe, original text by Kia Corthron, Will Power, Carl Hancock Rux and Regina Taylor, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Kentucky (March 2014) and BAM, New York (December 2015)
• Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, Washington National Opera, Washington D.C. (March 2013) and Los Angeles Opera (November 2015)
• A Rite, a dance-theatre work based on Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, co-directed by Anne Bogart, Bill T. Jones and Janet Wong and performed by SITI Company and the Bill T.Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Carolina Performing Arts, North Carolina (January 2013)
• Trojan Women (after Euripides) – adapted by Jocelyn Clarke. BAM, New York. (November 2012)
• Café Variations – by Charles L. Mee Jr., music by George and Ira Gershwin, a co-production with SITI Company and ArtsEmerson, Boston, featuring students from Emerson College's BFA Musical Theatre program. (April 2012)
• Carmen – opera by Georges Bizet, Glimmerglass Opera, New York. (July 2011)
• Trojan Women – adapted from Euripides by Jocelyn Clarke, The Getty Villa. (August 2011)
• American Document, by Charles L. Mee, Jr., premiered at the Joyce in New York City – a co-production with SITI Company and the Martha Graham Dance Company. (2010)
• Antigone, by Jocelyn Clarke, premiered at the Getty Villa, Los Angeles. (2009)
• Under Construction, by Charles L. Mee, Jr. premiered at the Humana Festival and toured to Arizona and the Krannert Center in Illinois. (2009)
• Freshwater, a Comedy, by Virginia Woolf, a co-production with SITI Company and the Women's Project, NYC (2009)
• I Capuleti e i Montecchi, an opera by Vincenzo Bellini, Glimmerglass Opera, NY. (2008)
• Who Do You Think You Are, devised with SITI Company, premiered at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. (2008)
• Dead Man's Cell Phone, by Sarah Ruhl premiered at Playwrights Horizons in New York City. (2008)
• Radio Macbeth adapted from William Shakespeare, premiered at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. Also performed at the Public Theater, New York City, the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in Connecticut and the Dublin Theatre Festival. (2007)
• Hotel Cassiopeia by Charles L. Mee, Jr. with SITI Company premiered at the Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival of New American Plays. Toured to Chicago, University of Arizona, SUNY Purchase and BAM, New York (2006)
• An Evening with Sarah Bernhardt performed at the Jewish Museum in New York City featuring Cherry Jones, Debra Winger, Lauren Flanigan, Lynn Cohen, Ellen Lauren and others. (2005)
• For Saxophone by Sophie Treadwell premiered at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. (2005)
• Death and the Ploughman written by Johannes von Seas in 1401, a co-production of the SITI Company and the Wexner Center premiered at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio. (2004)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare with the SITI Company, San Jose Repertory Company in San Jose, California. (2004)
• Nicolas and Alexandra, a new opera by Deborah Drattell at the Los Angeles Opera, featuring Plácido Domingo as Rasputin, the SITI Company, conducted by Rostropovich. (2003)
• Marina, a Captive Spirit, a new opera by Deborah Drattell, American Opera Projects, premiere May 1 at the Daryl Roth 2 Theater in NYC. (2003)
• La Dispute by Pierre Marivaux at the American Repertory Theater with SITI Company, February in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (2003)
• Short Stories an original theater piece developed with the Kaleidosckop Theater Company in Copenhagen, Denmark. (2002)
• Score by Jocelyn Clarke, a co-production with the SITI Company, the Wexner Center and the Humana Festival. (2002)
• Hay Fever by Noël Coward, a co-production with the SITI Company and Actors Theatre of Louisville. January 3, 2002, in Louisville, Kentucky. (2002)
• Lilith, a new opera by Deborah Drattell, New York City Opera, premiere. (2001)
• bobrauchesnbergamerica, by Charles L. Mee, Jr., at the Human Festival of New American Plays. Later toured to Stamford, Connecticut and Chicago, BAM Next Wave Festival and the Bonn Biennale (2001).
• Room, by Jocelyn Clarke created in collaboration with the SITI Company at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio and City Theatre in Pittsburgh. In 2001–2003 seasons toured to Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City’s Classic Stage Company, and Theater Emory in Atlanta. (2000)
• War of the Worlds, by Naomi Iizuka, at the Humana Festival of New American Plays and toured to Edinburgh, Scotland and opened the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival, Oct. 4–8 in New York. (2000)
• Radio Play The Radio Play: War of the Worlds by Howard Koch, December 1999 at Joe's Pub and the West Bank, in New York City. Also the Kennedy Center in February 2000. (1999)
• Gertrude and Alice, by Lola Pasholinski and Linda Chapman, May, 1999 at the Signature Theater in New York City. Also performed in Manchester, England.
• Short Stories created and performed at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, May 1999. Also toured to Charlesville, France.
• Songs and Stories from Moby Dick, (co-direction with Laurie Anderson) by Laurie Anderson. Opened the Brooklyn Academy of Music 1999–2000 season and toured nationally and internationally.
• Cabin Pressure, created in collaboration with the SITI Company, opened March 18, 1999, at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky. Toured to the Columbus, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; and Los Angeles, California.
• Alice's Adventures Underground, written by Jocelyn Clarke and created in collaboration with the SITI Company at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio. Subsequent performances in New York City and Massachusetts (1998)
• Bob written with Jocelyn Clarke, performed by the SITI Company at New York Theatre Workshop, New York City and The Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio. Toured to Berlin, Paris, Tbilisi, Dublin, Minneapolis, Seattle, Chicago, Portland, Oregon, Amsterdam, London and upcoming, 2002, in San Francisco. (1998)
• Private Lives, by Noël Coward, performed by the SITI Company at Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, Kentucky. (1998)
• Culture of Desire created in collaboration with the SITI Company, performed at City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Portland Stage in Maine, the International Theater Festival in Bogotá, Colombia and ran for one month at New York Theatre Workshop. (1997)
• American Silents, original work performed at Raw Space in New York City, produced by Columbia University in May 1997.
• The Seven Deadly Sins, by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, at New York City Opera. (1997) Reprised in New York in September and October 1998.
• Miss Julie, by August Strindberg, Actors Theatre of Louisville and performed by the SITI Company. (1997)
• Go, Go, Go by Juliana Francis at PS 122, New York City. (1996)
• Going, Going, Gone created in collaboration with the SITI Company, performed at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Saratoga Springs, NY, Toga, Japan, the Magic Theatre in San Francisco and the Miller Theatre, New York City. (1996)
• The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice, Actors Theater of Louisville, KY. (1995)
• Small Lives/Big Dreams created in collaboration with the SITI Company, based on the five major plays of Anton Chekhov, performed In Toga Japan, Saratoga Springs, NY, Louisville KY, P.S. 122 in New York City, the 1996 Olympic Arts Festival in Atlanta Georgia, and the Miller Theater, New York City. (1994)
• Hot 'N Throbbing by Paula Vogel at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (1994)
• Marathon Dancing by Anne Bogart, Laura Harrington and Christopher Drobney at En Garde Arts, New York City. (1994)
• The Medium created in collaboration with the SITI Company, Toga, Japan, Saratoga Springs, NY, New York Theater Workshop, NY, Louisville KY, San Francisco, Dublin, Ireland (won best foreign production), City Theater in Pittsburgh, The Wexner Center, Columbus, Ohio and the Miller Theater, New York City. (1993)
• The Women by Clare Boothe Luce, Hartford Stage, Hartford, Connecticut. (1993)
• Picnic by William Inge, Actors Theater Of Louisville, Louisville, KY. (1993)
• Orestes by Charles L. Mee Jr., The Saratoga International Theater Institute, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and Toga-mura, Japan. (1993)
• The Women by Clare Boothe Luce, San Diego Rep, San Diego, Ca. (1993)
• American Vaudeville by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau, Alley Theatre, Houston. (1993)
• The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel, Circle Rep, New York, NY and the Alley Theater, Houston. (1993)
• In the Jungle of Cities by Bertolt Brecht at the Public Theater, New York, N.Y. (1991)
• Another Person is a Foreign Country by Charles L. Mee Jr., En Garde Arts, New York, NY (1991)
• In The Eye of the Hurricane by Eduardo Machado, Actors Theater of Louisville, Louisville, KY. (1991)
• Once in a Lifetime by Kaufman and Hart, ART, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (1990)
• On the Town by Bernstein, Comden and Green, Trinity Repertory Company, Providence, RI. (1990)
• Summerfolk by Maxim Gorky. Trinity Repertory Company, Providence, RI. (1989)
• Life is a Dream by Calderón de la Barca, American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (1989)
• Strindberg Sonata based on the works of August Strindberg. Developed and performed at UCSD at the Mandell Weiss Center for the Performing Arts, La Jolla, CA. (1989)
• Once in a Lifetime by Kaufman and Hart. River Arts Repertory, Woodstock, New York. (1988)
• Kaetchen von Heilbronn by Heinrich von Kleist, ART Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (1988)
• No Plays, No Poetry adapted from the theoretical writings of Bertolt Brecht. Produced by Via Theater, The Talking Band and Otrabanda Company. Ohio Theater. (1988)
• Cinderella/Cendrillon adapted from the opera “Cendrillon” by Jules Massenet, text by Eve Ensler. Via Theater and Music-Theatre Group, St. Clement's Church, NY. (1988)
• Assimil original dance theater work produced by Via Theater and the Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, NY. (1987)
• In His Eightieth Year by Gillian Richards. Produced by BACA Downtown and Cement Theater, Brooklyn, NY. (1987)
• Where's Dick? An opera by Stuart Wallace and Michael Korie.Opera Omaha, Nebraska. (1987)
• Babel, an original work performed by the Theater zum westlichen Stadthirschen (Berlin), produced by West Berlin’s 750th Anniversary Festival in four locations in West Berlin. (1987)
• The Dispute by Pierre Marivaux. UCSD at the Mandell Weiss Center for the Performing Arts, La Jolla, California. (1987)
• Danton's Death by Georg Büchner, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, NY. (1986)
• Cleveland by Mac Wellman. BACA Downtown, Brooklyn, NY. (1986)
• Between Wind by Jessica Litwak. Music-Theatre Group, Stockbridge, MA. (1986)
• 1951 written with Mac Wellman. New York Theatre Workshop, NY. (1986)
• 1951 written with Mac Wellman. UCSD, La Jolla, CA. (1986)
• 1951, Les Traces American Center, Paris, France. (1986)
• The Making of Americans based on the novel by Gertrude Stein, music by Al Carmines, libretto by Leon Katz. Music-Theatre Group, Stockbridge, MA and St. Clement's Church, NY. (1985)
• Four One Act Operas by new composers, Houston Grand Opera, Houston. (1985)
• The Women by Clare Booth Luce. Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont. (1985)
• Albanian Softshoe by Mac Wellman. River Arts Repertory, Woodstock, NY. (1985)
• Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind, with music by Leiber and Stoller. NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, NY. (1984)
• South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein. NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, NY. (1984)
• Inge: How They Got There based on texts by William Inge, co-directed with John Bernd. Performance Space 122, NY. (1984)
• History, an American Dream, an original dance theater piece. Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, NY. (1983)
• Grid, an original theater piece. Werkhaus Mosach, Munich, West Germany. Toured to Italy, Germany and Austria. (1983)
• Sommer Nachts Traum/Lost and Found, an original dance theater piece. Munich Theater Festival, West Germany. (1983)
• At the Bottom, an adaptation of The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky. New York University’s Experimental Theater Wing, NY. (1983)
• Cordial Panic, three plays by Noël Coward, performed simultaneously. University of the Streets, NY. (1983)
• Women and Men, A Big Dance, an original dance theater piece. P.S. 122, NY. (1982)
• The Ground Floor and Other Stories, an original theater piece. University of the Streets, NY. (1982)
• Small Town/Big Dreams, an original dance theater piece. Dance Gallery, Northampton, MA. (1982)
• Sehnsucht, an adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Abia Theater, Northampton, MA. (1982)
• Die Gier Nach Banalem, an original theater work. Theater Studio am Montag, Bern, Switzerland. (1982)
• Between the Delicate, an original theater work. Theater Studio am Montag, Bern, Switzerland. (1982)
• Leb Oder Tot, an original theater work. Hochschule de Kunste, Berlin, West Germany. (1981)
• I’m Starting Over, I’m Starting Over Again, an original theater work. August Moon Arts Festival, Catskill, NY. (1981)
• Exposed!, an original theater work based on the works of Alfred Hitchcock. New York University's Experimental Theater Wing, NY. (1981)
• Dance on the Volcano, an original theater work. New York University’s Experimental Theater Wing, NY. (1981)
• The Emissions Project, an original conception involving a new piece each week performed as a soap opera in different locations in New York City. (1980)
• Artourist, an original dance theater work, co-directed with Mary Overlie. New York University's Experimental Theater Wing, NY. (1980)
• Out of Sync, an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. Self-produced in New York City.
• Hauptstadt, an original theater work. NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing, NY. (1979)
• Inhabitat, an original theater work self-produced in New York City. (1978)
• RD1, The Waves, an adaptation of Virginia Wolf’s The Waves. Co-produced by Theater for the New City and The Iowa Theater Lab. Performed in New York, Canada, California, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. (1977)
• Two Portraits by Deirdre O'Connell. New York and San Francisco. (1976)
• Macbeth, a deconstruction of Shakespeare’s play. The Brook, New York. (1976)

Publications

• What's the Story: Essays about Art, Theater and Storytelling – Published by Routledge, London 2014
• Conversations with Anne – Published by TCG Publications, New York, 2012
• And Then You Act; Making Art in an Unpredictable World – Published by Routledge, London, 2007
• The Viewpoints Book; A Practical Guidebook to Viewpoints and Composition – co-written with Tina Landau, published by TCG Publications, New York, 2005
• A Director Prepares; seven essays on art and theater – Published by Routledge, London, 2001.
• "Notes on Cabin Pressure" – in The Humana Festival – The Complete Plays, Smith and Kraus, 1999
• "American Theater in the Twenties", in 500 Years of Theater History from the Brown-Forman Classics in Context Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Smith and Kraus, 1999.
• "Going, Going Gone": An Article – in The Humana Festival – The Complete Plays, Smith and Kraus 1996.
• "Terror, Disorientation and Difficulty", Anne Bogart, Viewpoints, Smith and Kraus, 1995
• American Theatre magazine – several frontispiece articles.
• The Drama Review – A theater manifesto published in 1980.

See also

• LGBT culture in New York City
• Opera director
• Theatrical director

References

• Bogart, Anne. 2001. A Director Prepares: Seven Essays on Art and Theatre. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-23832-3.
• Bogart, Anne. 2007. And Then, You Act: Making Art in an Unpredictable World. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-41142-4.
• Bogart, Anne and Tina Landau. 2005. The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition. New York: Theatre Communications Group. ISBN 1-55936-241-3.
• Dixon, Michael Bigelow and Joel A. Smith, eds. 1995. Anne Bogart: Viewpoints. Career Development Ser. Lyme, NH: Smith and Kraus. ISBN 1-880399-94-6.
• Lampe, Eelka. 2001. "SITI – A Site of Stillness and Surprise: Ann [sic] Bogart's Viewpoints Training Meets Tadashi Suzuki's Method of Actor Training." in Performer Training: Developments Across Cultures. Ed. Ian Watson. Contemporary Theatre Studies Ser. London: Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-5755-151-9. p. 171–189.