Eric Rosen
Artistic Director
Eric Rosen is a nationally recognized playwright, director and producer and the fourth artistic director in the 47-year history of Kansas City Repertory Theatre. He is also co-founder and former artistic director of Chicago’s acclaimed About Face Theatre, where he developed nearly 30 world premieres in his thirteen seasons there.
His KC Rep credits include direction of Metamorphoses (also Australia and regional tour) and The Trip to Bountiful prior to his appointment, and direction of Clay (prior to its New York premiere at Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3, winner of Chicago’s Jefferson Award and nominee for the Drama Desk Award in New York); Winesburg, Ohio (for which he also wrote book and lyrics, winner of the Jeff Award for Best New Work and Philadelphia’s Barrymore Award for Best Musical); the world premiere of A Christmas Story, The Musical! (transfer to 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle); the world premiere of Venice, a new musical he co-wrote with Matt Sax (co-production with Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, Fall of 2010; currently in development for a New York premiere in 2012, named Best Musical of the Year in TIME magazine) and the acclaimed hits Cabaret and August: Osage County.
Eric has also written other works including Dream Boy (Jeff Award for best direction and production, produced nationally), Wedding Play (Jeff nomination for best new work, produced at Steppenwolf), Dancer from the Dance, Whitman and Undone (About Face). His other directing credits include the world premieres of M. Proust by Mary Zimmerman (Jeff nomination for best new play) and Theater District (Jeff Award for best new play), and the Chicago premiere of Take Me Out, all in About Face/Steppenwolf co-productions. Regional credits include work at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles; Steppenwolf, the Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago; the Prince Music Theatre; Hartford Stage; Cincinnati Playhouse; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; 7 Stages in Atlanta; and workshops at the Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, the O’Neill, and Sundance Theatre Lab.
He produced the pre-New York premiere of Doug Wright’s play I Am My Own Wife, winner of the Tony Award for best play and the Pulitzer Prize; Eleven Rooms of Proust created by Mary Zimmerman; and was dramaturg for Frank Galati and Stephen Flaherty’s Loving Repeating at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Moisés Kaufman's One Arm at Steppenwolf Theatre and Kaufman’s Tony nominated 33 Variations at Sundance Theatre Lab.
Eric earned his Ph.D. in performance studies from Northwestern University, and held a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)/Theatre Communication Group (TCG) Career Development Fellowship for Directors. He has twice served as a theatre panelist for the NEA and has participated in the TCG/Pew Charitable Trusts’ National Theatre Artists Residency Program. Rosen has taught at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Brooklyn College and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, his alma mater.