Michael Ritchie
MICHAEL RITCHIE is the Artistic Director at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. Ritchie began his professional career in the theatre in 1980 as a Production Stage Manager in New York. Over the next 15 years, he stage managed more than 50 shows on and off-Broadway including productions at Lincoln Center Theater, Circle-in-the-Square, Circle Rep, the New York Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights Horizons, City Center and the National Actors' Theatre. During that period, he worked with playwrights David Mamet, Tina Howe, Shel Silverstein, Donald Margulies, Elaine May, Jon Robin Baitz and directors Roger Michel, Nikos Psacharopoulos, Gregory Mosher, John Malkovich, Andre Serban, Michael Cristofer, Ellis Rabb, Michael Langham, George C. Scott and Jerome Robbins. In 1996, he was appointed Producer of the Williamstown Theatre Festival. During that time, the mission of the theatre evolved toward a diverse repertory of new plays, U.S. premieres, major revivals and rediscoveries of American classics. In the past seven seasons, WTF developed and presented new works by Eric Bogosian, Alfred Uhry, Cheryl West, Donald Margulies, Albert Innaurato and Eduardo Machado. New plays that began their lives in Williamstown and have moved on to off-Broadway runs include Corners by David Rabe, Far East by A.R. Gurney, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told by Paul Rudnick, Chaucer in Rome by John Guare, The Glimmer Brothers by Warren Leight and The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan. The Festival has also sent productions to Broadway in the past five years, including Hedda Gabler, One Mo' Time, The Price, The Rainmaker and The Man Who Had All The Luck. The Williamstown Theatre Festival was the recipient of the 2002 Regional Theatre Tony Award. Ritchie was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on October 17, 1957, and attended Assumption College. He has been married to actress Kate Burton since 1985 and they have two children, Morgan and Charlotte. Bio as of September, 2006. American Theatre Wing programs, interviews and/or credits include: Downstage Center (audio) Michael Ritchie - December, 2004 - Listen Now. Internet Broadway Database Listing (IBDB.com)