Stanley Wojewodski, Jr.

Stan Wojewodski, Jr. is a Distinguished Professor of Directing in the Division of Theatre at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, and was appointed chair of theatre on June 1, 2010. Wojewodski joined SMU in 2005 as the Distinguished Artist-in-Residence in theatre, and was named Distinguished Professor two years later. At SMU he has taught directing and also directed numerous student productions, including Betrayed, Trouble in Mind, The Overwhelming, Fabulation and She Stoops to Conquer.

From 1991-2002, Wojewodski was artistic director of Yale Repertory Theatre and dean of the Yale School of Drama. During his tenure, he nourished the careers of playwrights Suzan-Lori Parks (winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for drama) and Eric Overmyer and presented innovative dance-theatre by choreographer Ralph Lemon, whose cross-cultural interdisciplinary Geography trilogy received the 1999 Alpert Award. His own productions at Yale included the premieres of David Edgar’s Pentecost, Dawn Powell’s Big Night and Figaro/Figaro, and Eric Overmyer’s adaptations of Beaumarchais and Odon von Horvath.

Prior to Yale, Wojewodski served as artistic director of Baltimore’s Center Stage from 1975 to 1991, directing over 40 productions including the American premieres of plays by Edward Bond, Odon von Horvath, Vaclav Havel and Antonio Buero -Vallejo. While at Center Stage, he also produced over a dozen world premieres by now-established American playwrights including James Yoshimura, Grace McKeaney and Russell Davis.

During his career, Wojewodski has also staged productions at, among others, the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Old Globe, Mixed Blood, and Williamstown Theatre Festival, where he was an associate director. He also developed an exhibition and reading series, Lily’s Downfall, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publication of Edith Wharton’s novel The House of Mirth for the Edith Wharton Restoration and the Museum of the City of New York.

Wojewodski has served on the board of directors for Theatre Communications Group, and he has been a frequent panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. He has also been a member of the standards & membership committee for the League of Theatre Training Programs.