BACKSTAGE AT THE PUBLICK - SPRING 2010

The Publick welcomes Eric Engel, Artistic Director
of Gloucester Stage Company, and director of the upcoming production of Entertaining Mr. Sloane

On Entertaining Mr. Sloane- "The play is almost a farce, in which all four characters, because they are desperately lonely, allow their domestic, social and animal instincts to become irrevocably intertwined."

"Orton eliminates the line between the obvious and the Freudian, making things all the more confusing and delightful.

It's a perfect play for today's audiences, who can explore sexuality with intrigue & open minds, rather than fear and judgment."

Eric has been a director and arts administrator in the Boston area for twenty-five years and is currently Director of Memorial/ Sanders Theatre / College Theater Venues in the Office for the Arts at Harvard and the Artistic Director of the Gloucester Stage Company, where his credits include The Goat, The Breath of Life, The Year of Magical Thinking (featuring Nancy Carroll, originally directed for the Lyric Stage, Going to St Ives and The Belle of Amherst (both with Lindsay Crouse), Doubt, My Old Lady, Spinning into Butter, Collected Stories (Elliot Norton Award: Outstanding Production by a Small Resident Company), Long Day's Journey Into Night (featuring Sandra Shipley), Our Son's Wedding (World Premiere), The Heidi Chronicles and The Subject Was Roses.

He has directed over 80 productions for numerous companies including the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, SpeakEasy Stage Company (including Three Days of Rain featuring Diego Arciniegas), The Sugan Theatre Company (including The Beauty Queen of Leenane featuring Susanne Nitter) and as an artist in residence at Harvard University, Emerson College, The Boston Conservatory and Brandeis University where he earned his MFA.

As a founding member and resident director for The Nora Theatre Company, Mr. Engel staged several critically acclaimed productions including Death of a Salesman (Elliot Norton Awards: Outstanding Director, Outstanding Production by a Small Resident Company), Equus, Morning's at Seven and Orphans. World Premieres include Alan Brody's The Housewives of Mannheim (at Boston Playwrights' Theatre) and John Kuntz's Miss Price (produced by Engel and Paula Plum) and Sing Me to Sleep (Coyote Theatre, Elliot Norton Award: Outstanding Production by a Fringe Company).