FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 27, 2010
Media Contact: Sarah Pressler
240.644.1387
press@roundhousetheatre.org
(BETHESDA, MD) Round House Theatre Producing Artistic Director Blake Robison announces the appointment of Jessica Burgess to the position of Artistic Associate on the Round House staff. In this position, Jessica will work with Blake and Associate Producer Danisha Crosby on project development, literary management, readings, workshops, casting, audience discussions, and outreach events. She assumes her new position on August 16.
Jessica Burgess has served as Blake Robison’s assistant director on two Round House productions, A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Additionally, she will direct the area premiere of Cherry Smoke as part of Round House’s Silver Spring Series at Round House Theatre Silver Spring in August 2010. She is the founding Artistic Director of The Inkwell, Washington, DC’s resource for new plays by emerging artists (www.inkwelltheatre.org). Her directing credits include productions, workshops, and staged readings at Active Cultures, Actors Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival & Apprentice Company), Adventure Theatre, Catalyst Theater Company, the DC Beckett Centenary Festival, eXtreme eXchange, Forum Theatre, Hatchery Festival, Imagination Stage, Rorschach Theatre, Solas Nua, Theater Alliance, Young Playwrights Theatre, and The Inkwell. She is a proud alumna of Middlebury College and the 2005 Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab, on the Board of Directors of Active Cultures, on Forum Theatre’s Artists’ Council, and a three-time recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Young Emerging Artist grant.
In discussing her appointment, Jessica said, “I am thrilled to join Round House’s artistic team. I look forward to serving Round House’s mission to stage breathtaking adaptations of great literature through strengthening the commissioning program, expanding the organization’s capacity for developmental collaboration, and sharing my passion for creating unforgettable theatrical experiences for our community on a larger stage. Since my first experience at Round House – assistant directing for Blake on A Prayer for Owen Meany - through my membership on the Artists’ Council and The Kitchen – the company has been an artistic home for me. It’s wonderful to join the team and contribute in a meaningful way to the leadership, artistry and vision of Blake and Danisha.”
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