Michael Kahn is the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., USA. He held the position of Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School from 1992 to 2006.
Kahn was born in Brooklyn, New York where he attended the High School for the Performing Arts and Columbia University.
Kahn’s career began off-off-Broadway with Jean-Claude van Itallie's War Sex and Dreams and America Hurrah. After he directed several successful productions, including an award-winning Measure for Measure and The Rimers of Eldritch, he turned to Broadway, where his first project, The Freaking Out of Stephanie Blake, never opened, and his second, Here's Where I Belong, closed after one performance. Additional Broadway credits include revivals of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Royal Family, and Show Boat.
Beyond Broadway, Kahn has had success directing opera and regional theatre. In addition, he has held the positions of Artistic Director for both the American Shakespeare Theatre (in 1969) and The Acting Company, Producing Director for the McCarter Theatre (1974), and founder and head of The Chautauqua Conservatory Theater.
In 1986, Michael Kahn became Artistic Director of what was originally The Shakespeare Theatre, now the Shakespeare Theatre Company. During his time with the Company, Kahn has directed its move from the Folger Shakespeare Library to the Lansburgh Theatre, the creation of the Shakespeare Theatre Company Free For All at Rock Creek Park’s Carter Barron Amphitheatre, and the development of the Company’s Academy for Classical Acting. Most recently, Kahn has overseen the Company’s name change and construction of Sidney Harman Hall, part of the new Harman Center for the Arts, which expands artistic opportunities for the Shakespeare Theatre Company and other arts groups.
For his work, Michael Kahn has received the Saturday Review Award, multiple Vernon Rice Award nominations, a Tony Award nomination, a MacArthur Award, a Joseph Jefferson Award nomination, two New Jersey Critic’s Awards, the Daily News Critic’s Citation, and multiple Helen Hayes Award nominations and wins.
For his 25 years directing the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Michael Kahn was nominated to the Theater Hall of Fame. He will be inducted on January 28, 2013
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