Murray Ross
As Artistic Director of THEATREWORKS, a unique regional theatre company sponsored by UCCS, my job is to help create the best possible theatre for the widest possible audience of the Pikes Peak Region—this means collaborating with other organizations, integrating students and professionals, and working with our staff and artists to create memorable evenings of theatre. As an instructor, I now primarily teach history and directing, as well as in the humanities core curriculum classes. My current research and creative projects include Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, which I am directing this spring; Hamlet, which I will direct in Virginia in the early summer, and Prince of Haiti/King of Paris a new theatre project which combines French baroque and native Haitian dance in a musical play set in Haiti before the revolution of 1791. Further information on this can be found at www.princeofhaiti.org.
EDUCATION
M.A. University of California, Berkeley, in English and Theater
B.A. Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts (with honors)
PLAYWRITING AND ADAPTATIONS
Treasure Island, Theatreworks, 2004
The Cherry Orchard (Trans. From Chekhov) Theatreworks, 2003
The Lady of the Camellias (from Dumas and Verdi), Theatreworks, 2002
The Bauhaus Follies (based on Bauhaus documents), Theatreworks, 2001
The Last Night of Don Juan (with Jesse Borrego), San Antonio Symphony, 2000
Lewis & Clark (adapted from the journals), Theatreworks, 1999
All about Love (a musical adaptation of Platos Symposium), Theatreworks, 1997
The Bourgeois Gentleman (with music by Lilly and Strauss), San Antonio Symphony, 1996; The Concert Royal and New York Baroque Dance Company, 1999.,
New York ,Alliance Francais, 2000.
The Wanderings of Odysseus (from Homer, with John O?Keefe and Fred Curchack), Smokebrush Center, Colorado Springs, 1996
The Mystery Plays (adaptations of Medieval cycle plays), Theatreworks, 1996, 2000
The Tempest (with Sibelius? music), Colorado Springs and San Antonio Symphonies, 1995
Peer Gynt (with Grieg’s music), Colorado Springs Symphony, 1994; San Antonio Symphony (1998); Cincinnati Symphony and Werner Klemperer
(1997)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (with the Mendelssohn music), Colorado Springs Symphony, 1993; San Antonio Symphony, 1995, Phoenix Symphony, 1999
A Christmas Carol (many adaptations & variations), Theatreworks, 1993-Present
Venus & Adonis (from Shakespeare's poem), Los Angeles Theater Center, 1990
Monkey Business (a musical deconstruction of the Scopes Trial), Theatreworks, 1987; Wake Forest University, 2004.
Presenting Mr. Douglass (a one man show with Fred Morsell), National Tour, 1986- present.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (adapted from Twain's novel), Theatreworks, 1982
RECENT DIRECTING
Over 80 productions, including:
Treasure Island, Theatreworks, 2004
The Merchant of Venice, Shenandoah Shakespeare, 2004
A Streetcar Named Desire, Theatreworks, 2004
Romeo and Juliet, Theatreworks, 2003
The Cherry Orchard, Theatreworks, 2003
King Lear, Theatreworks and Shakespeare tour, 2002
The Lady of the Camellias (with Martile Rowland), Theatreworks, 2002
The Good Woman of Szechuan, Theatreworks, 2001
All’s Well That Ends Well, Theatreworks & Colorado tour, 2001
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shenandoah Shakespeare, 2001
The Bauhaus Follies, Theatreworks, 2001
The Bourgeois Gentleman, New York, 2000
The Mystery Plays: Creation, Theatreworks, 2000
The Mystery Plays: Nativity, Theatreworks, 2000
The Last Night of Don Juan, San Antonio, 2000
A Christmas Carol, Theatreworks, 2000
Lewis & Clark, Theatreworks, 1999
Titus Andronicus, Theatreworks, 1999
A Doll House, Theatreworks, 1998
Henry V, Theatreworks, 1998
PAPERS AND PUBLICATIONS
Theatreworks Propaganda, brief essays on our productions, appearing 5-7 times a year,1998-2005
Football Red and Baseball Green: the Heroics and Bucolics of American Spor-- an essay on spectator sport as theater, anthologized in over 40 books,
1982-present.
Inescapable Melodrama: Ibsen’s Doll House--forthcoming in Modern Drama
The Judge, The Professor, William Shakespeare and a Missile in the Night- The Clarence Thomas Hearings as Shakespearean Drama, 1991
TEACHING
Full Time Faculty member University of Colorado, 1975-2001. Courses taught include: Directing, Acting, Shakespeare, Great Books, Comedy, History of
Theater, American Drama, Film, Melodrama, Interdisciplinary topics such as : Beauty, Minority Voices, 1848, Technology, The Renaissance
Professor of Theater, University of Greenwich, London, England, 1989
Leader of annual 7 London Theatre Tours, 1998-2005.
HONORS AND AWARDS
Colorado Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, 1994
Outstanding Instructor, College of Letters, Arts and Science, 1998
Denver Post Ovation nominations for Best Season by a Theatre Company, and Best Production (A Streetcar Named Desire), 2004
Best Theater, Colorado Springs Gazette Annual Awards, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004.
Best Theater- Colorado Springs Independent, 2001, 2003
Best Thatre Production, King Lear, 2002
Best Theater Production, Colorado Springs Gazette, A Doll House, 1998
Best Theater Production, Colorado Springs Gazette, The Mystery Plays, 2000
Most Engrossing Production, Denver Post, The Wanderings of Odysseus, 1997