GARY M. ENGLISH

Gary English is a Stage Designer and Director with credits that include creative work in Regional Theatre, Broadway, Off-Broadway, Television, and University Theatre.  Born in Evanston, Illinois Gary studied at the University of Arizona and later received an M.F.A. in Stage Design from Northwestern University, in 1979.

After graduating from Northwestern, Mr. English began designing professionally in New York first for the Puerto-Rican Traveling Theatre, and the Equity Library Theatre.  Since 1980 he has designed scenery and costumes for over 100 productions at many of America’s major repertory theaters including The Pittsburgh Public Theatre, The Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Buffalo Studio Arena, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, The Merrimack Repertory Theatre, George St. Playhouse, The American Stage Festival, Brunswick Music Theatre, (now the Maine State Theatre), , The Barter Theatre, the State Theatre of Virginia, North Shore Music Theatre, Carnegie-Mellon Repertory Theatre, the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, the John Drew Theatre of Guild Hall, in Easthampton, N.Y., The Sacramento Theatre Co., The Berkshire Theatre Festival, and Interlochen Center for the Arts, in Interlochen, Michigan.  He also served on the design staff for Saturday Night Live, during the 1984 season.

In 1982, Gary English joined the design faculty at Carnegie-Mellon University where his work on Sunday in the Park with George, and The Odyssey, were singled out by the Pittsburgh Drama Critics as the Best Scene Design for 1986.  He also designed A Little Night Music, for The Merrimack Repertory Theatre that was honored as Best Production of a Musical, by the Boston Drama Critics Circle.  In 1993, he was honored with the first Paul Tsongas Artistic Achievement Award, as the most outstanding contributing artist for the first 15 years of the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, MA.

In 1988, he left Carnegie-Mellon to head Scene Design Studies in the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut.  In 1993, he became Head of the Department of Dramatic Arts and founded the Connecticut Repertory Theatre, a professional theater in residence at UCONN, under an Actor’s Equity URTA contract in 1994.   Mr. English built a university theatre program with less than 1000 subscribers and an operating budget of under one million dollars into a major regional arts organization with over 5,000 subscribers with a budget of nearly five million and selling over 40,000 tickets a year.  Income from ticket sales over the first seven years grew from just over $180,000 a year in 1994 to over $450,000 in the current fiscal year.  As Artistic Director, he led CRT for fifteen years, producing several award winning productions, and established a new play lab that has helped develop or commission and produce several world premieres.  Connecticut Repertory Theatre has won several awards from the Connecticut Drama Critics Circle for its productions of Moliere’s The Miser, The Boys Next Door, Once on this Island, King Lear, Wings and Tom Stoppard’s, Arcadia. The New England Theatre Conference recently honored CRT for its contributions to professional theatre in Connecticut.  The unique blend of academic and professional theatre programming was recently hi-lighted in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.  CRT is the only University based theatre in the State to receive support from the Connecticut State Commission for the arts for both educational and professional programming.

As a director and producer Gary English works in a variety of production styles including musicals, contemporary plays and classics.   In 1997, his production of Man of La Mancha, won the Best Production of a Musical Award by the Connecticut Drama Critics Circle.  He recently finished directing a production of A Little Night Music, starring Florence Lacey, and is currently working on several projects including direction for Galileo, by Bertolt Brecht and the scene design for A Light In The Piazza, at the Pioneer Theatre Co. in Salt Lake, City.  Gary English is a member of United Scenic Artists of America., the Society for Stage Directors and Choreographers, the National Theater Conference and is currently serving his second term as Immediate Past President of The University Resident Theater Association.  He serves regularly as a panelist and site evaluator for The Connecticut Commission for the Arts.

In 2003, Gary English was honored by the University of Connecticut for his contributions to the university by being promoted to the rank of Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, the highest academic honor at the University of Connecticut.