Richard Hamburger

Richard Hamburger (born 1951) is an American theater director. He has directed an extensive range of plays in theaters nationwide, and from 1987 to 1992 was Artistic Director of the Portland Stage Company before being named the first Artistic Director of the Dallas Theater Center (DTC) in 1992. He left the DTC in 2007, and continues to direct plays in theaters nationwide. Early life and career Hamburger was born and raised in Manhattan in New York City, New York. He obtained his high school diploma from The Putney School in Putney, Vermont, in 1969, and his bachelor's degree in drama from the Yale School of Drama at Yale University in 1972. Hamburger next received formal training as a clown and spent a year as a featured clown with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Hamburger worked at a number of theaters and directed plays in a wide range of venues between 1974 and 1986, including The Acting Company, The American Place Theatre, Circle in the Square Theatre School, Great Lakes Theater Festival, the Yale Repertory Theatre, and the Juilliard Theatre Center (where he also taught drama). The New York Times praised his direction of Thomas Strelich's Neon Psalms at The American Place Theater in 1986, saying its "staging subtly veers away from overstatement." He was appointed the Artistic Director of the Portland Stage Company in Portland, Maine, in 1987. He directed a wide range of avant-garde productions, experimental plays, and modern theater while at Portland Stage, including Mac Wellman's Terminal Hip in the 1989-1990 season (which later won an Obie Award) and Erik Ehn's Wolf at the Door in the 1990-1991 season.