CASEY CHILDS is the Founder of Primary Stages in New York City which is dedicated to producing new American plays by new American playwrights. He served as the Artistic Programs Director for the New Dramatists from 1982 until 1985 where he oversaw the development of many new plays that went on to productions On and Off-Broadway and in many regional theaters across America and around the world. He worked as an actor at many regional theaters and directed many new plays Off-Broadway.
At Primary Stages he established the Einhorn School of the Performing Arts (ESPA), the Fordham University/Primary Stages MFA in Playwriting Program and the Primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral History Project. Casey is the recipient of the Carnegie-Mellon University Commitment to New Playwrights Award, as well as two Emmy Awards and many Emmy nominations for his extensive work in television. He has produced theater on television for WNET/PBS in New York. He is a past Vice President of the Directors Guild of America and a past Trustee of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
He has taught at many universities including Columbia’s School of the Arts, New York University, Duke University, and he is currently an Associate Fellow at the Grace Murray Hopper College at Yale University. Casey grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, attended the University of Southern California, and has a BFA in Acting and a MFA in Directing from Carnegie-Mellon University.
