Machinal by Sophie Treadwell     Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Scenery: Russell Metheny    Costumes: Devon Painter    Lighting: Victor en Yu Tan        Sound/Music: Michelle Di Bucci

Pictured: Kate Goehring, Ted Swetz      Photo: Bob Barrett

RISA BRAININ - BIOGRAPHY

Risa Brainin is a freelance director and the Director of Performance / Professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. Through her program LAUNCH PAD at UCSB, she has developed and directed six plays with the playwright in residence: Sarah Ruhl’s Melancholy Play, John Walch’s The Dinosaur Within, and the world premieres of Barbara Lebow’s Plumfield, Iraq and La Niñera: The Nursemaid, Sheri Wilner’s Kingdom City and most recently the world premiere musical Biederman’s Match (based on Max Frisch’s Biederman and the Firebugs) by Beau Willimon, music by Michelle DiBucci, lyrics by Portia Kamons.  Other premieres include the reading/workshop of Agnes Under the Big Top by Aditi Kapil at the Leon Katz Rhodopi International Theatre Lab in Bulgaria,  Mr. Wonder Boy by Bob Stromberg with Palm Tree Productions in Minneapolis, CT and Des Moines, Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman at the Commonweal Theatre and John Walch’s In The Book Of... at the New Harmony Project.

She served as Artistic Director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz (2001-03) where she directed The Sea Gull, Hamlet and the world premiere of Brad Carroll’s The Emperor's New Clothes. Prior to SSC, she held the position of Associate Artistic Director for both Kansas City Repertory Theatre (2000-2002) and Indiana Repertory Theatre (1997-2000.) From 1987-1997, she resided in Minneapolis and had a rich association with the Guthrie Theater, serving as Resident Director (1991-93), Associate Company Director (1995-96) and acting instructor in the company's outreach program (1987-97.)

Brainin’s directorial credits include The Merchant of Venice, Short Plays (Tone Clusters, Naomi in the Living Room and Zoo Story), A Christmas Carol, and Mystery of the Rose Bouquet at the Guthrie Theater; To Kill a Mockingbird, The Herbal Bed, Macbeth, One Thousand Cranes, Talley's Folly, Blithe Spirit, Noises Off, Pygmalion, …A Young Lady from Rwanda and Tuesdays with Morrie at Indiana Repertory Theatre; Machinal, Morning Star and Indian Ink at Kansas City Repertory Theatre; The Comedy of Errors at Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Uncle Vanya and The Government Inspector at American Players Theatre; Honk at PCPA TheatreFest; Lots of Love Gertrude, Ever Thine Thornton and Greater Tuna at the Actors' Theatre of Louisville; The Underpants and Intimate Apparel at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre; Julius Caesar, Measure for Measure, Othello and As You Like It at the Great Lakes Theatre Festival; Iron Kisses at Portland Stage Company; Talley & Son at Actors' Theatre of Kansas City; The Roof at the New Harmony Project, the world premiere of Aditi Kapil’s Love Person at Mixed Blood, As You Like It at the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, King Lear, Julius Caesar, Othello and Measure for Measure at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Timon of Athens with UCSB’s Theatre Artist Group as part of the Lit Moon World Shakespeare Festival, Gunmetal Blues at the Ensemble Theatre and Secret Order at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Over ten years in the Twin Cities, Brainin directed for many companies including Illusion Theatre, History Theatre, SteppingStone Theatre and the Cricket Theatre.

The former director of education for SteppingStone Theatre for Youth Development, Brainin has taught and /or directed at University of Minnesota, MFA Program, University of Missouri-Kansas City MFA Program, UC Santa Cruz, and Butler University. A graduate of the Carnegie-Mellon University Drama Program, Brainin has served on grant panels for the Theatre Communications Group and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has been a member of the National Theatre Conference since 2002 and Chaired NTC’s Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwriting Award Committee from 2007-10.

RECENT and UPCOMING PROJECTS: 

The Music Man at the Clarence Brown Theatre - April, 2011

A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the University of Utah - September, 2011

World premiere of John Walch’s In the Book of... at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival - January 2012

World premiere of Lila Rose Kaplan’s Entangled - A LAUNCH PAD production at UC Santa Barbara - March 2012