Stephen Porter (director)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stephen Winthrop Porter (b. July 24, 1925) is an American stage and television director, producer, set designer, and writer. Porter has directed more than thirty Broadway plays over his long career and has received multiple Tony Award nominations and Drama Desk Award nominations.
[edit] Biography
Stephen Porter was born on July 24, 1925 in Ogdensburg, New York to Charles Talbot and Anna Martin. His father was an engineer and his mother a school teacher. Porter began his career as a Director and designer for McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He worked at the university from 1952-1955 and while there directed productions of Measure for Measure, The Caprice of Marianne, The Cenci, The Seagull, and Much Ado About Nothing. In 1956, Porter moved to New York City to direct and produce a production of The Misanthrope at the Theatre East. Porter would remain in New York for the next three years directing and/or producing several Broadway and off-Broadway plays including productions of The Country Wife, Mr. Roberts, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Matchmaker, Inherit the Wind, Auntie Mame, Two Philoctetes, and Room at the Top. In 1959, Porter moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to work for the Fred Miller Theatre where he directed two plays: the Dark of the Moon and Our Town. In 1960, Porter became the Director for the Association of Producing Artists (APA) at the McCarterTheatre in Princeton, New Jersey. Porter stayed there for two years and directed such plays as Right You Are, Scapin, King Lear, Twelfth Night, The Alchemist, Antigone, Caligula, Galileo, and Julius Caesar. In 1962, Porter left Princeton to become the Artistic Director for the Playhouse in the Park in Cincinnati, Ohio. Porter held that position for three years and while there directed many plays including The Lady's Not for Burning, The Hostage, The Devil's Disciple, The Burnt Flower Bed, The Doctor in Spite of Himself, Major Barbara, and Sodom and Gomorrah among others. During this time Porter also directed several plays in Ney York City as well including: Scapin at the Phoenix Theatre in 1963, three different productions of Right You Are in 1963, 1964, and 1966, Impromptu at Versailles at the Phoenix Theatre in 1964, The Hostage and Man and Superman (written by Porter) in 1964, the The Wild Duck in 1965, The Show-Off in 1967, The Misanthrope in 1968, and Krapp's Last Tape, King Lear, Twelfth Night, and Private Lives in 1969.[1]
In 1971, Porter became the artistic director of the New Phoenix Repertory Company in New York City. Porter remained in that position for five years and while there directed and produced several productions including: The School for Wives, Don Juan, Chemin de Fer, Rules of the Game, They Knew What They Wanted, and Days in the Trees. Porter received Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for Best Director for his work on The School for Wives and for his work on Chemin de Fer. He was also nominated for a Drama Desk Award for They Knew What They Wanted.
Since then Porter has directed more than fifty more plays either on or off Broadway or at Regional theaters throughout the United States and Canada. More recent credits include the Broadway productions of The Miser and The Devil's Disciple.
Porter has also directed a few Television productions most notably PBS' 1974 production of A Touch of the Poet.[2]
