Tazewell Thompson is an international opera and theatre director, playwright, and teacher. Opera productions in Madrid, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Cape Town, Vancouver, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Detroit, Portland, Norfolk, Columbus, New Orleans, New Jersey, and NYC among others. Since 1988, he's directed twenty-four productions at Arena Stage as resident director including: Caucasian Chalk Circle, M. Butterfly, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Yellowman, Yerma, The Heidi Chronicles, On The Verge, Fences, Playboy of the Western World, Glass Menagerie and more than seventy-five productions (many world and American premieres) in major theatres across the country. His production of Porgy and Bess was broadcast Live from Lincoln Center and received EMMY nominations for best director and best classical production.
As a playwright, his multiple award-winning play Constant Star has had fourteen national productions. His play Mary T. & Lizzy K., commissioned by Arena Stage, is the recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award with productions in DC and Minnesota. He is the author of Jubilee: Fisk Jubilee Singers; Jam & Spice: The Music of Kurt Weil and an adaptation of A Christmas Carol. He has playwrighting commissions from Lincoln Center Theatre, South Coast Rep, and People's Light & Theater Company. He has been commissioned by Glimmerglass Festival to write the libretto for a new opera with composer Jeanine Tesori.
Teaching and directing credits at schools include: NYU Grad, Juilliard, Tulane, University of Kansas at Lawrence, Syracuse University, Indiana University at Bloomington, and Dartmouth College.
