Aaron Posner biography

Aaron Posner

At Writers Theatre: The Chosen

Posner is an adaptor, director, teacher, consultant and Co-Founder and was the Resident Director of Philadelphia's award-winning Arden Theatre Company where he directed more than 40 productions. His produced adaptations of literature include Who Am I This Time? by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., What Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse, The Brothers K. by Fyodor Dostoevsky (with Terry Nolen), Echoes of the Jazz Age by authors from the '20s, Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons, Third & Indiana by Steve Lopez, and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace (with Scott Greer, Tony Lawton and Michael Hollinger). His adaptation, with Chaim Potok, of The Chosen was originally presented by the Arden Theatre Company and Pittsburgh's City Theatre Company and won the 1999 Barrymore Award for Best New Play. It has since been produced by more than 30 theatres all across the country to nearly unanimous acclaim and sold-out houses. His adaptation, A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama premiered at the Delaware Theatre Company and the Round House Theatre in Maryland. Additional adaptations include Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey, and another Chaim Potok novel, My Name is Asher Lev. Aaron is also a freelance director with such theatres as the Folger Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company and many others. His directing awards include a 1998 Barrymore Award for A Midsummer Night's Dream (Arden Theatre Company) and a 2005 Helen Hayes Award for The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Folger Theatre, Washington, D.C.). He is an Eisenhower Fellow, holds a B.S. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is originally from Eugene, Oregon.

[Bio as of March 2006]