Scott Zigler

Director and educator Scott Zigler has worked in the theatre for more than 30 years. Hired in 1996 to supervise the acting program at the American Repertory Theater's Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University (IATT), he assumed leadership of the whole Institute in 2003. The program has been run in collaboration with the Moscow Art Theatre School (MXAT) since 1997.

He previously served as Artistic Director of the Atlantic Theater Company of New York and Burlington, Vt., and Executive Director of its training program, the Atlantic Acting School, a professional actor training program affiliated with New York University.

I passionately believe that the young theater artist should be exposed to a broad range of approaches and aesthetics and that every artist must ultimately create her or his own unique methodology, synthesizing a broad array of influences into a unique approach that best serves the individual’s own nature, creativity, imagination, and passion.

Scott Zigler

Credentials

  • Co-Author of “A Practical Handbook for the Actor,” translated into six languages and currently in its 5th printing
  • Has been a Lecturer in Dramatic Arts at Harvard since 1996 and previously served as Assistant Professor of Acting and Directing at Indiana University in Bloomington and Director of the Apprentice/Intern Company at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
  • Served as a guest teacher at National Institute of Dramatic Art (Sydney, Australia), University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Louisville and Philadelphia High School for the Arts.
  • More than 20 different courses taught in acting and directing, some of which include Contemporary Scene Study, Advanced Directing, Shakespeare, Performance Technique and Auditioning.
  • Was trained at and is a Charter Member of the Practical Aesthetics Workshop (now the Atlantic Theater Acting School), where he studied with David Mamet and William H. Macy.

Career Highlights

  • At American Repertory Theater, directed “Copenhagen,” “Animals and Plants,” “The Cripple of Inishmaan” and the world premiere of Ellen McLaughlin’s “Ajax in Iraq” (ART Institute).
  • At Atlantic Theater Company, directed the premiere of Tom Donaghy’s adaptation of “The Cherry Orchard,” “Strawberry Fields,” “Suburban News” (world premiere) and “As You Like It,” among others.
  • Strongly associated with the work of David Mamet, Zigler has directed numerous of his plays, including “The Old Neighborhood” (world premiere) on Broadway and “Ghost Stories: The Shawl and Prairie du Chien” at the Atlantic Theater Company, “November” at Center Theater Group/Mark Taper Forum, “Race” at Philadelphia Theatre Company, “Glengarry Glen Ross” at the McCarter Theatre and “The Cryptogram” at The Alley Theatre and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.