Vivienne Benesch

Vivienne Benesch is a theatre director and former artistic director of the Chautauqua Theatre. Currently, she serves as the artistic director at North Carolina's PlayMakers Repertory Company since 2016. With PlayMakers, Benesch emphasizes the work of women playwrights through their @PLAY program. She holds an MFA from Tisch School of the Arts and has been on the faculty of Juilliard. As an actor, Benesch received an Obie Award in 2005 for her role in Lee Blessing's Going to St. Ives and appeared alongside Dame Maggie Smith in The Lady from Dubuque in London in 2007. She was honored with the Zelda Fichandler Award in 2017. In 2019, she made her directorial debut in Washington, D.C. with the Folger Theatre production of Love's Labor Lost. Upcoming in 2022, Benesch will direct Noah Haidle's Birthday Candles with Debra Messing.