In an interview in 2008, Wilson noted: Like most directors, I want to show a variety of work. I've done
Shakespeare,
Chekhov, and
O'Neill, as well as new work. Some people have defined my body of work as being dominated by female characters, and this play is no exception. I have collaborated many times with Elizabeth Ashley, who plays the matriarch in Dividing, I don't necessarily subscribe to the notion that I am "a woman's director." But I would say that I am drawn to plays that deal with family situations. In the plays I work on I want there to be a real moment of catharsis. I am always looking to let the audience have some kind of emotional connection. That's one of the reasons why I love Horton's [Foote] plays so much: they allow that connection.
Hartford Stage As artistic director from 1998 to 2011, Wilson commissioned and developed numerous new works, including the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning play
Water By the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes. He directed seventeen productions for
Hartford Stage, including the premiere of
Enchanted April (which subsequently transferred to Broadway, garnering a 2003 Best Play
Tony Award nomination, and 9
Outer Critics Circle nominations, including Best Director). He directed the premieres of
Horton Foote’s ''The Orphans' Home Cycle
(2010 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards); The Carpetbagger’s Children
(2002 Best Play, American Theater Critics Award) and Eve Ensler’s Necessary Targets,'' all which subsequently transferred Off-Broadway; Williams's
The Glass Menagerie (which subsequently toured to Houston and Boston where it won the 2002 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Visiting Production); O’Neill's
Long Day’s Journey Into Night; and Shakespeare's
Macbeth. Under his leadership, in addition to the Tennessee Williams Marathon—the first national, multi-year retrospective of the American playwright—Hartford Stage focused on the development of new work, a vast expansion of its education and outreach programs, and helped raise 17 million dollars which accomplished among many things the company's first major renovation of its John W. Huntington Theater home since that facility opened in 1977. Wilson also forged new collaborations with Houston's
Alley Theatre, Harvard's
American Repertory Theater, the
Dallas Theater Center, the
Guthrie Theater,
The Shakespeare Theatre, and Chicago's
Steppenwolf Theatre.
Broadway •
The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote, 2013 (Stephen Sondheim Theatre) •
The Best Man, by
Gore Vidal, 2012 (Schoenfeld Theater) •
Dividing the Estate, by Horton Foote, 2008, (
Lincoln Center Theater at the Booth) •
Old Acquaintances, by John Van Druten, 2007 (Roundabout Theatre at the American Airlines Theater) •
Enchanted April, by Matthew Barber, 2003 (Belasco Theatre)
Off-Broadway (selected) Source: IOBDB Arthur Miller's
Incident at Vichy, 2015 (Signature Theater Company) Horton Foote's
The Old Friends, 2013 (STC) Lanford Wilson's ''Talley's Folly'' 2013 (RTC) Christopher Shinn's
Picked 2011 (Vineyard Theater) Tennessee Williams' ''The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore'' 2011 (RTC) • Horton Foote's ''The Orphans' Home Cycle'', 2010 (STC) • Horton Foote's
Dividing The Estate, 2007 (Primary Stages) • Horton Foote's
The Day Emily Married, 2004 (
Primary Stages) • Horton Foote's
The Carpetbagger’s Children, 2002 (Lincoln Center Theater) • Christopher Shinn's
What Didn’t Happen, 2002 (Playwrights Horizons) •
Necessary Targets, by Eve Ensler, 2002 (Variety Arts) • Jane Anderson's
Defying Gravity, 1997 (Laura Pels Theatre) • Tennessee Williams's
The Red Devil Battery Sign, 1996 (WPA Theatre)
Resident •
The Alley Theatre (associate director, 1990–98) •
American Repertory Theatre •
Berkeley Repertory Theatre • Center Theater Group/Ahmanson •
Goodman Theatre •
Guthrie Theatre • Huntington Theater • La Jolla Playhouse •
Long Wharf Theatre •
New York Stage and Film • Old Globe Theater •
Philadelphia Theatre Company • PlayMakers Repertory Company • Wallis
International •
Angels in America Parts I & II, 1995
Venice Biennale ==Personal==