John Douglas Thompson, acclaimed actor and teacher, and Will Davis, director and choreographer, will join The Actors Center’s Resident Company in December for a series of artist development workshops focused on the work of Shakespeare and William Inge.
Through his impressive body of work John Douglas Thompson has established himself as a highly regarded and versatile actor in theater, film, and television. He has appeared on Broadway in Jitney (Tony nomination), King Lear, A Time To Kill, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Julius Caesar. His Off-Broadway credits include Hamlet, Endgame (Drama League, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel nominations), The Iceman Cometh (Obie, Drama Desk Awards), Tamburlaine (Obie, Drama Desk Awards), Satchmo At The Waldorf (Drama Desk, NAACP, Outer Critics Circle Awards), King Lear, Macbeth, Othello (Obie, Lucille Lortel Awards), The Emperor Jones (Lucille Lortel, Drama League, Drama Desk nominations), and Hedda Gabler. Regionally his credits include The Tempest (Elliott Norton Award); Man In The Ring (Elliott Norton Award); Joe Turner’s Come And Gone (Ovation Award); Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Barrymore Award). On television and film, John has appeared in Till, The Gilded Age, Mare Of Easttown, For Life, 21 Bridges, and Glass Chin. John is a recipient of 2022 Eugene O’Neill Medallion.
Will Davis is a transgender director and choreographer focused on physically adventurous new work for the stage. Will is Artistic Director of Rattlestick Theater, and the first transgender person to lead a major nonprofit institution without a defined LGBTQ mission.
Off-Broadway credits include: Road Show (Encores! Off-Center); India Pale Ale (MTC); Bobbie Clearly (Roundabout Underground); Charm (MCC); Men on Boats (Clubbed Thumb and Playwrights Horizons—Lucille Lortel nomination); and Duat (Soho Rep). Regional credits include: As You Like It (La Jolla Playhouse) The Swindlers (Baltimore Center Stage); Everybody (Shakespeare Theater Company); A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Long Wharf Theatre); Colossal (Olney Theatre Center and Mixed Blood Theater—Helen Hayes award for best direction); and multiple productions for ATC in Chicago where Will also served as artistic director.
Will is a member of the TCG board of directors, and the Breaking the Binary Festival’s advisory council. He is an alum of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, the NYTW 2050 Directing Fellowship, the Brooklyn Art Exchange’s Artist in Residence program, and the Princeton Arts Fellowship. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Directing in the John Wells Directing Program at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
