“I like to say that it was Harold Pinter who first got me into the theater
and Tom Stoppard who kept me there...”
– Carey Perloff
From The New Yorker...
The October 6 review in The New Yorker of Tom Stoppard's play Leopoldstadt cites Carey Perloff's new book Pinter and Stoppard: A Director's View
"Stoppard’s frequent collaborator Carey Perloff recently published “Pinter and Stoppard: A Director’s View,” and she spends a chapter discussing his not quite forgotten, always sort of known Jewishness, the way it emerged in past work as stories about doubles and twins, or heritage that is torn down and lost. Her book helped me think about where Stoppard’s experience surfaces in Hermann, a man who both knows and does not know his true situation, a man who thinks he has won the coin toss while the coin is still in the air."
Excerpt from the John Stokes' TLS Review:
"Directing, as Perloff conceives of it, “is an iterative process in which a script slowly reveals itself on stage through rigorous examination and the freedom to play and fail until solutions are reached which feel true to the spirit of the text”. The question is therefore: “How does a director uncover the laws governing the unique and mysterious world of a given play?” These “laws” or “rules of play” are the operating principles within a work that will allow it to generate a theatrical event; they are discovered in rehearsal and realized in performance. They are not universal and they shift with the shifting times, sometimes fundamentally. Stoppard, for instance, has said of Pinter that “he changed the ground rules” so you could no longer necessarily believe what a character might say, even on the most mundane level...."
CURRENT & UPCOMING WORK
DIRECTING
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
by Anton Chekhov
Marin Theater Company
Jan 29- Feb 22, 2026
https://purchase.marintheatre.org/EventAvailability?
LEOPOLDSTADT
by Tom Stoppard
Writers Theater, Chicago,
June 4-July 19, 2026
https://www.writerstheatre.org/events/leopoldstadt
TINY THEATRICALS
“Rehearsing Greek Tragedy
for the Contemporary Stage”
In collaboration with
John Douglas Thompson and Nike Imoru
A Five-Part Digital Series
Debuted on Digital Theatre Plus March 2023
http://www.careyperloff.com/tiny-theatricals.html
JEKYLL & HYDE
Finland Ballet
Artistic Consultant and Dramaturg
Ballet West
October 25 - November 2, 2024
WRITING
VIENNA, VIENNA, VIENNA
First Production
Six Points Theatre, Minneapolis
March 2026
www.sixpointstheater.org/vienna-vienna-vienna
IF GOD WERE BLUE
The Colorado New Play Summit
Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex
March 1 & 2, 2025
https://www.denvercenter.org/
tickets-events/colorado-new-play-summit/#tab-id-3
EDGARDO OR WHITE FIRE
Commissioned by Williamstown Theatre Festival
Finalist, O'Neill Playwrights Conference 2022
Workshop at Writers Theater Chicago
March 2024
Directed by Shana Cooper
Workshop at the Kiln
People’s Light Theater Company
Philadelphia
April 14-15, 2023
Directed by Yury Urnov
https://www.peopleslight.org/whats-on/the-kiln/
PINTER AND STOPPARD: A DIRECTOR'S VIEW
Bloomsbury Methuen Press
DIRECTOR COMMISSIONS
OEDIPUS
Revealation Reading
Red Bull Theater Workshop
New York, NY
April 27 & 28, 2025
https://www.redbulltheater.com/oedipus
RESIDENCY
BOGLIASCO FOUNDATION
Adaptation & Book-Length Study of Oedipus
TYRANNOS/COLONUS
for the contemporary stage
November 18 - December 18
Bogliasco, Italy
https://www.bfny.org/en/news-and-events
TEACHING
GUEST PROFESSOR
Columbia University
MFA Directing Program
Ongoing
CHECK HERE OFTEN FOR UPDATES
Bruce Thayer and read “Carey Perloff rehearsing VIENNA, VIENNA, VIENNA at CNPF June 2025
Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, Cherry Orchard, Marin Theatre; Photo by Chris Hardy
By Anton Chekhov and Translated by Paul Schmidt
Directed by Carey Perloff
Liz Sklar, Lance Gardner in Marin Theatre’s "The Cherry Orchard" Photo by David Allen
Anna Takayo, Joseph O’Malley, Marin Theatre ‘The Cherry Orchard," Photo by David Allen
Reviews on The Cherry Orchard at Marin Theatre
"A spectacular, all-star production of the tragicomic classic"
–– Marin Independent Journal
"In a wonderful translation by Paul Schmidt, Marin Theatre’s production soars with a gleaming cast built from some of the best acting talents in the region. Those talents are showcased with terrific movement and sharp tableaus from Carey Perloff’s erudite direction."
–– KQED
https://www.kqed.org/arts/13986396/the-cherry-orchard-review-marin-theatre
"Watching Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard, brilliantly directed by American Conservatory Theatre Artistic Director emerita Carey Perloff and starring an all-star cast of local legends, will make you jump into action."
–– Broadway World
"Put Anton Chekhov’s globally popular, much-adapted play, The Cherry Orchard, in the bold, directorial hands of the much-accomplished Carey Perloff and provide her with a Bay Area, all-star cast, and it is an easy-money bet that Marin Theater has a sure-fire hit in the making."
–– Theatre Eddy's
https://theatreeddys.com/2026/02/the-cherry-orchard.html
“He never passes judgment on his characters or tells us what to think. There are no heroes or villains or victims. People are both cruel and kind and caring and careless all in the same go.”
––Piedmont Exedra
https://piedmontexedra.com/2026/01/marin-theatre-digs-into-chekhovs-cherry-orchard