Vivienne benesch biography

As a director, actor and producer, I am as much at home with the classics, modern masterpieces and brand new work and have a particular interest in originating.
Vivienne Benesch is a theatre director and former artistic director of the Chautauqua Theatre who is currently artistic director at North Carolina's PlayMakers Repertory Company, a position she has held since 2016.
Vivienne is a graduate of Brown University and NYU's Graduate Acting Program.

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Vivienne Benesch Biography

is in her fourth season with the Festival. N.J.S.F. credits: Rosalind in AS YOU LIKE IT, the Princess of France in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST and Isabella in MEASURE FOR MEASURE. New York credits: VIENNA: LUSTHAUS (REVISITED) at the New York Theatre Workshop; PERICLES and ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL at New York Shakespeare Festival; THE DEEP BLUE SEA at the Roundabout; HURRICANE at the Classic Stage Company; ANCIENT HISTORY at Primary Stages; TROILUS AND CRESSIDA at Theatre for a New Audience; and TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA with the Blue Light Theatre Company. Regional credits: EDWARD II at A.C.T.; SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL and THE MATCHMAKER at McCarter Theatre; DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH with Gene Wilder at Westport Country Playhouse; DUTCHMAN at Hartford Stage; SIGHT UNSEEN at Long Wharf; HENRY V at the Shakespeare Theatre; and ARMS AND THE MAN at the Alley. Film and television: SEX AND THE CITY, LAW AND ORDER, MAX BICKFORD, THE DIVISION, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, TWO WEEK'S NOTICE and TRIFLING WITH FATE. Vivienne is a graduate of Brown University and New York University's M.F.A.

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Meet Vivienne Benesch

Dear Friends,

Greetings of expectation!

It’s been my privilege to direct three productions for PlayMakers: Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) in 2011, John Logan’s Red in 2012 and Deborah Salem Smith’s Love Alone in 2014. And I’m extremely excited to bring you the premiere of Libby Appel’s version of Chekhov’s Three Sisters in January as I begin my new role as your Producing Artistic Director.

It’s rare to discover a profound affinity with an organization—its artistic mission, its community, its artists and its values. But such was the case, I happily found, here at PlayMakers from the first time I stepped off the plane at RDU.

What life journey brought me here? Well, I dove into theater at a very early age, actually wanting to become a dancer, like both my mother and grandmother, but with flat feet that wasn’t in the cards. A life engaged with words, movement, ideas, space and emotions, however, was. In other words, my life has been a thread of stories. And moreover, I’ve been very privileged to make a career of storytelling

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Producing Artistic Director

Vivienne is in her eighth full season as a company member and Producing Artistic Director with PlayMakers, where she has helmed productions of The Game, Hamlet, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Storyteller, Dairyland, Life of Galileo, Leaving Eden, The May Queen, Three Sisters, Love Alone, RED and In The Next Room.

In her time with the company, she is particularly proud to have produced 12 world premieres and launched PlayMakers Mobile, a touring production aimed at reaching under-served audiences around the Triangle. For 12 seasons, she served as Artistic Director of the renowned Chautauqua Theater Company and Conservatory, presiding over the company’s transformation into one of the country’s best summer theatres and most competitive summer training programs.

Vivienne directed both the world premiere of Noah Haidle’s Birthday Candles for Detroit Public Theatre and, in 2022, its Broadway production starring Debra Messing. She has also directed for the Folger Shakespeare Theatre (Helen Hayes nomination for best direction 2019), The Sha