Sellars, Peter

Sellars, Peter,

1957–, American director, b. Pittsburgh, grad. Harvard (1981). A highly innovative director, he began his career with the Boston Shakespeare Co. (1983–84) and Washington's American National Theater (1984–86) and has since worked with theater and opera companies and festivals worldwide. He has staged provocative versions of plays from Sophocles to Shakespeare to contemporary drama and of many operas, including a series of updated Mozart operas, e.g., The Marriage of Figaro set in Manhattan's Trump Tower, and a version of Wagner's Tannhauser as the rise and fall of a randy televangelist. Sellars also is noted for collaborating with composer John AdamsAdams, John
(John Coolidge Adams), 1947–, American composer, b. Worcester, Mass. A clarinetist, he studied composition at Harvard (B.A. 1969, M.A. 1971). Often regarded as the most outstanding, technically adept, and influential composer of his generation, Adams has
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, directing Nixon in China (1987), The Death of Klinghoffer (1991), Dr. Atomic (2005), and A Flowering Tree (2006) and writing the librettos for each except Klinghoffer. More recent projects include a futuristic Shakespeare's Othello (2009) and Toni MorrisonMorrison, Toni,
1931–, American writer, b. Lorain, Ohio, as Chloe Ardelia (later Anthony) Wofford; grad. Howard Univ. (B.A., 1953), Cornell (M.F.A., 1955). Her fiction is noted for its poetic language, lush detail, emotional intensity, and sensitive observation of American
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's Desdemona (2011).

Sellars, Peter

(1958– ) stage director; born in Pittsburgh, Pa. Commencing as a precocious and controversial director while a Harvard undergraduate, he kept this reputation alive with a variety of iconoclastic theatrical and operatic productions throughout the U.S.A. He is best known for setting productions in periods and locales different from those of the originals.