Actors Theatre of Louisville is a performing arts theater located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1964 by Louisville native Ewel Cornett, local producer Richard Block and actor Ken Jenkins of Scrubs fame, and was designated the "State Theater of Kentucky" in 1974. It is run as a non-profit organization. The building that became Actors Theatre was a merging of two buildings: the 1837 James H. Dakin-designed Old Bank of Louisville (which is a National Historic Landmark) and the Myers-Thompson Display Building.^[1]

In March 1969, Jon Jory was appointed the theatre's new producing director. His Louisville debut was in October 1969 with Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood. Former Executive Director, Alexander Speer, whose tenure of forty years began in 1965, became Jory's partner and led the theater's administration and operations until his retirement in the spring of 2006.

Actors Theatre shows national favorites and local plays. Many Pulitzer Prize-winning plays have premiered at the theater, including works by Donald Margulies, Beth Henley and Jane Martin. The theater has received the James N. Vaughan Memorial Award, the Margo Jones Award, and a Special Tony Award for local, non-profit theaters. It hosts the Humana Festival of New American Plays every spring. This Festival of new American plays started by Jory in 1976 has been described by the Los Angeles Times as the Kentucky Derby of the American Theatre. The festival was funded by the Humana Foundation from 1979. Over 300 Humana Festival plays have been produced with over three-fourths of them now published, thus substantially adding to the catalog of American dramatic literature.

Actors Theatre presents nearly 600 performances of about 30 productions during its year-round season composed of contemporary and classical drama. It has one of the largest per capita subscription audiences in the country and an annual attendance of over 200,000.

The theatre offers an apprentice/intern training program designed to help recent college graduates make the transition from academic to professional theater.

Marc Masterson was appointed the company's new Artistic Director in the summer of 2000. He forms the foundation for a vision of the future of Actors Theatre, which he describes as "a place where artists thrive and continually enrich us, where our work elevates the role of the theater in contemporary society by redefining the way that an arts organization relates to its community, and where pluralistic values inherent in our art form become a celebration of the diversity and richness of our culture."

In 2002, Masterson established an Education Department consisting of public outreach programs including classroom workshops, artists in the schools, increased weekday student matinées, backstage tours and professional development for teachers and community center leaders.

In 2004 Actors Theatre acquired a production studio at 9th and Magnolia Streets in the Old Louisville neighborhood. In 2006, the theater raised $13.5 million in support of capital investments to improve the patron experience, production excellence and administrative advancement.

See also[link]

• List of attractions and events in Louisville, Kentucky
• Performing arts in Louisville, Kentucky

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Dixon, Michael Bigelow (1992). "Actors Theatre of Louisville". In John E. Kleber. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-1772-0. http://www.kyenc.org/entry/a/ACTOR01.html. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 

External links[link]

• Actors Theatre official website
• Actors Theatre of Louisville at the Internet Broadway Database

Coordinates: 38°15′23.01″N 85°45′19.86″W / 38.2563917°N 85.7555167°W / 38.2563917; -85.7555167

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Russell James (born in 1962^[1] in Perth, Western Australia) is a fashion, celebrity and beauty photographer. He is not to be confused with Russell James, British writer.^[2]

Career[link]

Photography[link]

Russell James is most famous for his work as the main photographer for Victoria's Secret,^[3] but his work has appeared in a large range of magazines, including Vogue, Sports Illustrated, American Photo, W, Marie-Claire, GQ.^[1][3] James has worked with many celebrities and fashion models, such as Alessandra Ambrósio, Tyra Banks, Gisele Bündchen, Naomi Campbell, Karolina Kurkova, Adriana Lima, Michelle Alves, Marisa Miller, Ana Beatriz Barros, Heidi Klum, Angela Lindvall, Fernanda Motta, Oluchi Onweagba, and Erin Wasson.^[1]

Russell James has appeared several times in America's Next Top Model and Australia's Next Top Model, as a guest photographer or judge.

Awards[link]

Russell James was one of the twelve Hasselblad Masters Award recipients in 2007.^[4]

Directing[link]

James also directs art films, music videos, and television commercials for Victoria's Secret and Gilette.^[3]

Books[link]

• Ellen Von Unwerth, Raphael Mazzucco, Russell James (photographers): "Sexy" : A Tribute to a Decade of Sexy Swimwear, Victoria's Secret, 2005. (3 volumes)

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c} Source: http://www.photoicon.com/news/355/
2. ^ See author Russel James's site
3. ^ ^{a b c} Source: James's biography on his own site
4. ^ Hasselblad Masters of 2007

External links[link]

• Russell James - Official website
• Russell James Book Launch - Official Sydney Event
• Becoming Jangala - Biography, Australian Story
• CAMERA WORK - Gallery Representation Worldwide

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Les Waters (born in Cleethorpes, England)^[1] is a notable British theatre director. In January 2012, he was appointed as the Artistic Director of the Actors Theater of Louisville ^[2]. He had previously served as associate artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre for the last six years.

Career[link]

Waters has a history of collaborating with prominent playwrights like Caryl Churchill and Charles Mee, and champions important new voices such as Will Eno, Jordan Harrison, Sarah Ruhl and Anne Washburn.^[3]

His productions at Berkeley Rep include the world premieres of Fêtes de la Nuit, Finn in the Underworld, In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) and To the Lighthouse;^[4] the American premiere of Tragedy: a tragedy;^[5] the West Coast premiere of Eurydice; and extended runs of The Glass Menagerie, The Pillowman, The Lieutenant of Inishmore,^[6] and Yellowman.^[3] In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) is heading to Broadway this fall.^[7]

His New York credits include Classic Stage Company, the Connelly Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, Second Stage Theatre and Signature Theatre Company. Elsewhere in America, he has directed for A Contemporary Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, American Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, the Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Yale Repertory Theatre.^[3]

In his native England, Waters has worked with the Bristol Old Vic, Hampstead Theatre Club, Joint Stock Theatre Group, National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre and Traverse Theatre Club.^[3]

Waters formerly led the M.F.A. directing program at UC San Diego, and is an associate artist of The Civilians, a theatre group based in New York.^[8]

Honors[link]

• Top 10 Theater Productions of 2007 in Time Magazine for Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice ^[9]
• Best Theater of 2006 in the New York Times for Eurydice ^[10]
• Top 10 Plays of 2005 in TimeOut New York
• He won an Obie Award in 2002 for Big Love, staging its premiere at the Humana Festival and subsequent runs at Berkeley Rep, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Goodman Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre.^[11]
• Drama-Logue Award
• Edinburgh Fringe First Award
• KPBS Patte
• Several awards from critics’ circles in the Bay Area, Connecticut and Tokyo.

Notes[link]