José Zayas, award-winning director and educator, and John Douglas Thompson, acclaimed actor and teacher, will join The Actors Center’s Resident Company this winter for development workshops exploring the world of Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding and William Shakespeare.
José Zayas is an award-winning director. He has directed over 100 productions in New York, regionally, and internationally.
His credits include: El Perro del Hortelano (Gala Theatre), Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes) (En Garde Arts), The Queen of Basel (Studio Theatre, DC), Exquisita Agonía (Repertorio Espanol), The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir (BAM, MASS MoCA, US & European Tours), A Nonesuch Celebration (BAM), Washed Up on the Potomac (San Francisco Playhouse, The Flea Theater), Undocumented (Joe’s Pub), Pinkolandia and El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom (Two River Theater), The House of the Spirits (Teatro Espressivo, Gala Theatre, Denver Center, ACE, HOLA, and Ovation Awards for Best Production and Direction), Your Name Will Follow You Home, La Nena Se Casa, Love in the Time of Cholera, In the Time of the Butterflies, In The Name of Salome, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Burundanga (Repertorio Español, ACE and HOLA Awards for Best Production and Direction for the latter two), Corazon Eterno, (Mixed Blood), Southern Promises and Strom Thurmond is Not a Racist (PS 122, The Brick), Useless (IRT), Father of Lies and Vengeance Can Wait (PS 122); P.S. Jones and the Frozen City, Feeder: A Love Story (TerraNOVA Collective); Privilege, Okay, Mrs. Jones and the Man From Dixieland (EST), The Idea of Me (Cherry Lane Theatre), The Queen Bees (Queens Theatre in the Park), Manuel Vs. The Statue of Liberty and Children of Salt (NYMF), Cancun, Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Gala Theatre, DC), Wedding Dress, The Island of Lonely Men (Teatro Espressivo, Costa Rica).
José has premiered works by Stephin Merritt, Hilary Bettis, Nilo Cruz, Caridad Svich, Robert Askins, Thomas Bradshaw, Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, Taylor Mac, Marco Antonio Rodriguez, Lynn Rosen, Saviana Stanescu, Carlos Murillo, Rob Urbinati, Kristina Poe, Catherine Filloux, James Carter, Gerardo Cardenas, Matt Barbot, Susan Kim, and Jordi Galceran.
Notable fellowships and affiliations include: a Drama League Fellowship, Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors Lab, SoHo Rep’s Writer/Director Lab, and the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors. He is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and he was the Resident Director at Repertorio Español from 2008-2018. José was born in Puerto Rico. He holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.F.A. in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University.
Through his impressive body of work John Douglas Thompson has established himself as a highly regarded and versatile actor in theater, film, and television, hailed by The New York Times “as one of the most compelling classical stage actors of his generation.”
John most recently appeared as Othello at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has appeared on Broadway in Jitney (Tony nomination), King Lear, A Time To Kill, Cyrano de Bergerac, Carousel, and Julius Caesar. He also starred in Endgame at Irish Rep; Hamlet and Julius Caesar with Shakespeare In The Park; Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at Theater For A New Audience; Huntington Theatre Company’s Man in the Ring (Elliot Norton Award) and in the titular role of the American Conservatory Theater’s production of Hamlet.
John’s other credits include Troilus & Cressida and King Lear at The Public Theater; The Father, A Doll’s House, Macbeth, and Othello (Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award) at Theatre for a New Audience; The Iceman Cometh (Obie and Drama Desk Awards), Tamburlaine (Obie and Drama Desk Awards), Satchmo At The Waldorf (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award, and the NAACP Theatre Awards) at Westside Theater, ACT, Annenberg Center For The Performing Arts, and Long Wharf Theater; The Forest and The Emperor Jones at Irish Repertory Theatre (Lucille Lortel, Drama League and Drama Desk nominations); and Hedda Gabler at New York Theatre Workshop.
His regional credits include Joe Turner’s Come And Gone at Mark Taper Forum (Ovation Award); Antony And Cleopatra; Red Velvet, Othello, Richard III, and Mother Courage at Shakespeare & Co.; Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Barrymore Award); and productions at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, American Repertory Theater and Yale Repertory Theatre among others.
John’s television credits include: The Gilded Age, Mare Of Easttown, For Life, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and his film credits include: Highest 2 Lowest, Till, 21 Bridges, 355, Let Them All Talk, Wolves, The Bourne Legacy, Glass Chin, Midway, and Malcolm X. John is a recipient of 2022 Eugene O’Neill Medallion.
