Bill Rauch is an American artistic director

Artistic director

An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...

. Rauch succeeded Libby Appel

Libby Appel

Libby Appel , the fourth artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, retired in June 2007. and was succeeded by Cornerstone Theatre Company artistic director, Bill Rauch. Appel directed more than 25 productions at OSF, and her artistic vision influenced the 11 plays presented each year...

 as the fifth artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States. The festival annually produces eleven plays on three stages during a season that lasts from February to October...

 in June 2007. As artistic director, he is responsible for selecting eleven plays each season as well as their directors, design teams and cast.

Biography

Rauch graduated from Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

, USA, in 1984 where he was a recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize for outstanding graduating artist. He has taught at University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

, University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

, California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...

 and the University of California, Irvine

University of California, Irvine

The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...

 as a Professor of Directing and Community Based Theater. Rauch has directed plays at South Coast Repertory

South Coast Repertory

South Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California.Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...

, the Mark Taper Forum, Yale Repertory Theatre

Yale Repertory Theatre

The Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of the Yale School of Drama in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented students. In the process it has become one of the...

, Guthrie Theatre, Lincoln Center Theatre, Arena Stage

Arena Stage

Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest Washington, D.C. Its declared mission"is to produce huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit. Arena has broad shoulders and a capacity to produce anything from vast epics...

, Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States. The festival annually produces eleven plays on three stages during a season that lasts from February to October...

 and many others. He co-founded the community-based Cornerstone Theater Company

Cornerstone Theater Company

Cornerstone Theater Company is a theater company based in the United States that specializes in community-based collaboration. According to the mission statement published on the company's website, "Cornerstone Theater Company is a multi-ethnic, ensemble-based theater company...

 in Los Angeles, where he was artistic director for twenty years, during which time he directed over forty plays.

Work at Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Before becoming artistic director, Rauch directed Handler

Handler

- People :* Animal handler, person who conducts animal training or is a wrangler * Handler, a coach, sports agent of a sports player, or entertainer promoter* Agent handler, person who manages a spy...

(2002), Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...

(2003), The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...

(2004), By the Waters of Babylon

By the Waters of Babylon

"By the Waters of Babylon" is a post-apocalyptic short story by Stephen Vincent Benét first published July 31, 1937, in The Saturday Evening Post as "The Place of the Gods"...

(2005), and The Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1590 or 1591. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as his first tentative steps in laying out some of the themes and tropes with which he would later deal in more...

(2006) at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States. The festival annually produces eleven plays on three stages during a season that lasts from February to October...

. Known as a risk-taker, he is moved by programming that combines Shakespeare, other classics, contemporary work, and plays commissioned for the company. His vision for OSF includes expanding the definition of 'classic' theatre to world classics; Rauch directed the Sanskrit "The Clay Cart" in his first season as Artistic Director. Rauch is making direct connections between classic plays and contemporary concerns, exploring beyond the Western Canon

Western canon

The term Western canon denotes a canon of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. As such, it includes the "greatest works of artistic merit." Such a canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism and the...

 to incorporate Asian and African epics into the Festival, and is reaching out to youth. He also is committed to continuing OSF's reputation for fostering new work with the production of at least one new play per season. Finally, "American Revolutions: the U.S. History Cycle"--inspired by Shakespeare's history plays—has been launched by Rauch and funded in part by grants from the Andrew W. Melon, Collins Family, and The Paul G. Allen Family Foundations.

Rauch is the recipient of the 2009 Margo Jones Award, founded by Inherit the Wind authors Jerome Lawrence

Jerome Lawrence

Jerome Lawrence was an American playwright and author.-Life and career:Lawrence was born Jerome Lawrence Schwartz in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Sarah , a poet, and Samuel Schwartz, a printer. He worked for several small newspapers as a reporter/editor before moving into radio as a writer for CBS....

 and Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....

 and presented annually by Ohio State University

Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

. The award honors “that citizen-of-the theatre who has demonstrated a significant impact, understanding, and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, with a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theatre everywhere.” Specifically, Rauch was recognized for his concept of writing plays in the context of an acting company, for working with established playwrights such as Lisa Loomer

Lisa Loomer

Lisa Loomer is a playwright and screenwriter of Spanish and Romanian ancestry who has also worked as an actress and stand-up comic...

 and Robert Schenkkan

Robert Schenkkan

Robert Frederic Schenkkan, Jr. is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor, perhaps most recognizable as the character of Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick in Star Trek: The Next Generation...

, for commissioning works by new ones such as Bill Cain

Bill Cain

Bill Cain is an American playwright.Cain founded a Shakespeare company in Boston.His play, Equivocation was produced at City Center in New York City in March, 2010.The New York Times praised Cain's "impish humor."-References:...

 and Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl is an American playwright. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.-Biography:Ruhl was born in Wilmette, Illinois. Originally, she intended to be a poet. However, after she studied under Paula Vogel at Brown University , she was convinced to switch to playwrighting...

, for launching a ten-year project to create 37 plays about American history, and for initiating the Black Swan Lab to develop new works for the stage.