Degrees: DFA, 1998, Yale Univ; MFA, 1984, Yale Univ; BA, 1981, Univ Tennessee Knoxville

Bio:

Royston Coppenger (Styles, Directing, Modern Drama) is a writer, director and dramaturg known for his radical approach to the interpretation of classic plays. Recent writing credits include new English versions of Hedda Gabler  and Strindberg’s Playing with Fire for The Private Theatre in New York, and Chekhov’s The Seagull for Stella Adler Studios.  He contributed the original autobiographical piece Ghost/King for John Rubin’s 1968 as part of Labyrinth Theater’s Barn Series. He is also co-author (with Travis Preston) of The Last American in Paris/Le Dernier Americain Paris, Paradise Bound Part II, and The December Project.  His original theater works Hopper and Moses were produced at HERE in New York City. His translations of Roberto Zucco, In the Loneliness of the Cottonfields, and Key West, all by French playwright Bernard-Marie Koltes, have been produced in New York and across the country. In Switzerland, he conceived and directed Am Anfang war das Teater for the Teatro Palino in Baden and Projeto O’Neill for Teatro do Barraca in Lisbon. His extensive New York directing credits include his own adaptation of Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me at the Ohio Theater; Frank Wedekind's Earth Spirit at Theater Row Theater; Stanislaw Witkiewicz’ The Pragmatists in a gutted mansion on the Upper East Side; Two Small Bodies at the Samuel Beckett Theater; Dido and Aeneas/An Incomplete Education, The Tender land, Orpheus in the Underworld, and Don Pasquale for the Bronx Opera; The Importance of Being Earnest for Brave New World Repertory; and The Great White Hope and Fahrenheit 451 in the Prospect Park Bandshell as part of the annual "Celebrate Brooklyn" festival. His short film series Das Kapital: The Movie  has been screened at Anthology Film Archives, Pioneer Theater, and the Oakland Film Festival. Recent Hofstra directing credits include The Marriage of Bette and Boo, The White Devil,  and The War of the Roses, his original adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy. He has taught courses in theater and popular culture at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon and NYU. Professor Coppenger holds a Doctor of Fine Arts degree in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism from the Yale School of Drama.