Vivienne is in her sixth full season as a company member and Producing Artistic Director at PlayMakers, where she has helmed productions of “The Storyteller,” “Dairyland,” “Life of Galileo,” “Leaving Eden,” “The May Queen,” “Three Sisters,” “Love Alone,” “RED” and “In The Next Room.” In her six seasons with the theatre, she is particularly proud to have produced 10 world-premieres and launched PlayMakers Mobile, a touring production aimed at reaching underserved audiences around the Triangle. For 12 seasons, she served as Artistic Director of the renowned Chautauqua Theater Company and Conservatory, presiding over the company’s transformation into one of the best summer theatres and most competitive summer training programs in the country. Vivienne has also directed for the Folger Shakespeare Theatre (Helen Hayes nomination for best direction 2019), The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Trinity Repertory Company, NY Stage & Film, and Red Bull Theatre, among others. In 2018, she directed the world premiere of Noah Haidle’s “Birthday Candles” for Detroit Public Theatre and will be directing it again on Broadway in 2022, starring Debra Messing. As an actress, Vivienne has worked on and off-Broadway, in film and television, at many of the country’s most celebrated theatres, and received an Obie Award for her performance in Lee Blessing’s “Going to St. Ives.” Vivienne is a graduate of Brown University and NYU’s Graduate Acting Program. As an educator, she has directed for and served on the faculty of some of the nation’s foremost actor training programs, including The Juilliard School, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Professional Actor Training Program, Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Program, and at her alma mater, NYU’s Graduate Acting Program. She is the 2017 recipient of the Zelda Fichandler Award given by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation.
Vivienne Benesch
Shows at Playmakers
Mr. Joy | April 26, 2017 - April 30, 2017 |
Red | September 19, 2012 - October 7, 2012 |
The May Queen | November 22, 2016 - December 11, 2016 |
Love Alone | February 26, 2014 - March 16, 2014 |
Dairyland | October 16, 2019 - November 3, 2019 |
November 9, 2020 - November 15, 2020 | |
Three Sisters | January 20, 2016 - February 7, 2016 |
Life of Galileo | February 27, 2019 - March 17, 2019 |
November 29, 2021 - December 5, 2021 | |
Leaving Eden | April 4, 2018 - April 22, 2018 |