Casey Childs

Part One done on August 5, 2019

Part Two done of April 12, 2022

Casey Childs founded Primary Stages in New York City in 1984 and has directed many productions for the company. Primary Stages has produced over 150 new plays by new American playwrights over the last thirty-six years. Plays that premiered at Primary Stages have subsequently received production all over the world. Primary Stages also launched both the Einhorn School of the Performing Arts (ESPA) and the Primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral History Project which has archived on video the careers of over 180 Off-Broadway leaders and artists to date. Casey served as the Artistic Program Director for the New Dramatists from 1982 to 1985 and has directed other new plays Off-Broadway and around America. Casey is the recipient of the Carnegie Mellon Commitment to New Playwrights Award, as well as two Emmy Awards for Directing (Another World 1992, All My Children 2003) and many Emmy nominations for his extensive work in television. 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 Film, New York University, Duke University and is currently an associate fellow at Grace Hopper College at Yale University. In 2021 the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly the Actors Fund) documented his life's work as part of their Performing Arts Legacy Project (PAL). He studied at the University of Southern California and holds a BFA in acting and an MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon University.

Some of the plays Casey either produced and/or directed include: BERTRANO OR HATS DON’T LIE (1986), IN SEPTEMBER WOODS (1986), LATE ONE AFTERNOON IN OKABENA (1986), FREE FALL (1987), HIDDEN PARTS (1987), STOPPING THE DESERT (1987), AN EVENING OF FOUR ONE-ACTS: LONE DEER, MADAME ZELENA FINALLY COMES CLEAN, SPLITSVILLE, THE TIME I DIED (1988); THE WEDDING OF THE SIAMESE TWINS (1988), ALGERIAN ROMANCE (1989), BLACK MARKET (1989), HOLLYWOOD SCHEHERAZADE (1989), BOVVER BOYS (1989), LUSTING AFTER PIPINO’S WIFE (1990), THE SECRET SITS IN THE MIDDLE (1990), SWIM VISIT (1990), BETTER DAYS (1991),THE DOLPHIN POSITION (1992), MAKING BOOK (1992), BARGAINS (1993), A MURDER OF CROWS (1992), ALL IN THE TIMING (1993), BREAKING UP (1993), YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY (1994), I SENT A LETTER TO MY LOVE (1995), DON JUAN IN CHICAGO (1995), 2: GOERING AT NUREMBERG (1995), THE MODEL APARTMENT (1995), THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY (1996), VIRGINS AND OTHER MYTHS (1996), SABINA (1996), ANCIENT HISTORY/ENGLISH MADE SIMPLE (1996), MISSING/KISSING: MISSING MARISA/KISSING CHRISTINE (1996), NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1996), SECOND-HAND SMOKE (1997), NOT WAVING (1997), HATE MAIL(1997), MERE MORTALS AND OTHERS (1997), BRUTALITY OF FACT (1997), SCOTLAND ROAD (1998), ST. NICHOLAS (1998), NASTY LITTLE SECRETS (1998), THE OLD SETTLER (1998), HIGH LIFE (1999), THIS LIME TREE BOWER (1999), BAREFOOT BOY WITH SHOES ON (1999), AN EMPTY PLATE AT THE DU CAFÉ GRAND BOEUF (2000), WHEN THEY SPEAK OF RITA (2000), CALL THE CHILDREN HOME (2002), THE STENDHAL SYNDROME (2004), DEDICATION OR THE STUFF OF DREAMS (2005), IN THE CONTINUUM (2005), WOMAN BEFORE A GLASS (2005), INDIAN BLOOD (2006), THE RIGHT KIND OF PEOPLE (2006), OPUS (2007), DIVIDING THE ESTATE (2007), LOVE CHILD (2008), SHIPWRECKED! AN ENTERTAINMENT – THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF LOUIS DE ROUGEMONT (AS TOLD BY HIMSELF) (2009), CHASING MANET (2009), IN TRANSIT (2010), THE MORINI STRAD (2012), BRONX BOMBERS (2013), WHILE I YET LIVE (2014), BODY OF AN AMERICAN (2016), EXIT STRATEGY (2016), DANIEL’S HUSBAND (2017), FEEDING THE DRAGON (2018), FINAL FOLLIES (2018), A WALK WITH MR. HEIFETZ (2018), GOD SAID THIS (2019), and LITTLE WOMEN (2019).

Mentioned in Interview

Dan Ahern, Lynne Alvarez, Thomas Babe, James A. Baffico, Lisa Barnes, Alma Becker, Melia Bensussen, Patricia Birch, Bruce Blair, Scotty Bloch, Jeremy Bobb, Jo Bonney, Joe Brancato, Herbert and Sue Breger, Jonathan Brielle, Thomas Bullard, Charles Busch, Jason McConnell Buzas, Joe Calarco, Richard Caliban, Ron Carlson, Scott Carter, Margaret Chandler, Kyle Chepulis, Michael Christofer, Bryan Clark, Burton Cohen, Rosalyn Coleman, Michael Countryman, Brian Cox, Jamie deRoy, Liz Diamond, Richard Dresser, Tom Dunn, Seymour Durst, Annie Einhorn, Marvin Einhorn, Susan Einhorn, George Elmer, Kenneth Elliott, Kip Fagan, Gene Feist, Stephen Fife, Jules Fisher, Daisy Foote, Horton Foote, James-Allen Ford, Elliot Fox, Alison Fraser, Carl Forsman, Jonathan Freeman, Walter Gidaly, Kent Gash, Kevin Geer, Annie Golden, Seth Gordon, Morgan Gould, Percy Granger, Lynda Gravatt, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Michael Greenwood, Susan Gregg, Charles Grodin, A.R. Gurney, Mel Gussow, Kate Hamill, Laura Harrington, Jeffrey Hatcher, Jack Heifner, Diane Heles (Bank), Rhoda R. Herrick, Danny Herman, David Hill, Michael Hollinger, Tina Howe, John Pynchon Holmes, Ike Holter, Willy Holtzman, James Inverne, David Ives, Daniel Jenkins, Morgan Jenness, Sheryl Kaller, Portia Kamons, Russ Kaplan, Sam Henry Kass, Leon Katz, Mildred Kayden, Laurie Klatscher, Eric Krebs, Fran Kumin, Mark Lamos, Nathan Lane, Sarna Lapine, Gregory Lehane, Wm. S. Leavengood, Andrew Leynse, Gen LeRoy, Romulus Linney, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Charles Ludlam, Matthew Mabe, Lee MacDougall, Marjorie Mahle, Michael Makman, Melissa Manchester, Donald Margulies, Norman Thomas Marshall, Colin Martin, David McCallum, Michael McKeever, Lucy McMichael, Terrence McNally, Connor McPherson, S. Epatha Merkerson, Kres Mersky, Glen Merzer, Maria Mileaf, Jim Milton, Wesley Moore, Michael Morris, Gloria Muzio, Terrence J. Nolen, James Noone, Dan O’Brien, Fabian Obispo, Herbert O’Dell, Michael O’Neal, Patrick O’Neal, William Partlan, Robert Patrick, Charlie Peters, Lisa Peterson, Darren Pettie, Sally Plass, Billy Porter, Alexander Rachlin, Lisa-Maria Radano, Peggy Ramsay, John Rando, Keith Reddin, John Henry Redwood, Janet Reed, Lloyd Richards, Lanie Robertson, Stuart Ross, Scott Rubsam, David Saint, Edwin Sanchez, Harold Scott, Alex Segal, Marian Seldes, John Patrick Shanley, Eric Simonson, Godfrey L. Simmons Jr., Jim Simpson, Chris Smith, Chesney Snow, Ted Snowdon, Amy Saltz, Walt Spangler, Robert Stanton, Debra Stein, Joe Sutton, Jeffrey Sweet, David van Tieghem, Lily Turner, Leslie Uggams, Sharon Washington, George Wendt, Mac Wellman, August Wilson, Leah Nanako Winkler, Michael Wilson, Donald Wollner, Sarah Wordsworth, Harris Yulin, Ashland Shakespeare Festival, Carnegie Mellon, Cherry County Playhouse, Cherry Lane Theatre, Circle in the Square Theatre, Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, The Duke on 42nd Street, 59E59, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Einhorn School for Performing Arts (ESPA), Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, The Globe of the Great Southwest, Hartford Stage Company, John Houseman Theater, Merry Enterprises Theater, The Metro, New Dramatists, New World Stages, 99 Cent Floating Theatre, The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, The No Smoking Playhouse, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Primary Stages, The Promenade Theatre, Trinity School Theatre, Westside Theatre Arts, ALGERIAN ROMANCE, ALL IN THE TIMING, AN EMPTY PLATE AT THE CAFÉ DU GRAND BOEUF, AN EVENING OF FOUR ONE-ACTS: LONE DEER, MADAME ZELENA FINALLY COMES CLEAN, SPLITSVILLE, THE TIME I DIED; ANCIENT HISTORY, ANCIENT HISTORY/ENGLISH MADE SIMPLE, ANGEL FACE, BAREFOOT BOY WITH SHOES ON, BARGAINS, BERTRANO OR HATS DON’T LIE, BETTER DAYS, BLACK MARKET, BODY OF AN AMERICAN, BOVVER BOYS, BREAKING UP, BRONX BOMBERS, BRUTALITY OF FACT, CALL THE CHILDREN HOME, CHASING MANET, DANIEL’S HUSBAND, DEDICATION OR THE STUFF OF DREAMS, DIVIDING THE ESTATE, THE DOLPHIN POSITION, DON JUAN IN CHICAGO, EXIT STRATEGY, FAR EAST, FEEDING THE DRAGON, FINAL FOLLIES, FREE FALL, GOD SAID THIS, HATE MAIL, HEAVY BREATHING, HIDDEN PARTS, HIGH LIFE, HOLLYWOOD SCHEHERAZADE, I SENT A LETTER TO MY LOVE, IN THE CONTINUUM, IN SEPTEMBER WOODS, IN TRANSIT, INDIAN BLOOD, LATE ONE AFTERNOON IN OKABENA, LOVE CHILD, LUSTING AFTER PIPINO’S WIFE, MAKING BOOK, MERE MORTALS AND OTHERS, MISSING/KISSING: MISSING MARISA/KISSING CHRISTINE, THE MODEL APARTMENT, THE MORINI STRAD, A MURDER OF CROWS, NASTY LITTLE SECRETS, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, NOT WAVING, THE OLD SETTLER, OPUS, THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY, THE RIGHT KIND OF PEOPLE, SABINA, SCOTLAND ROAD, SECOND-HAND SMOKE, THE SECRET SITS IN THE MIDDLE, SHIPWRECKED! AN ENTERTAINMENT – THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF LOUIS DE ROUGEMONT (AS TOLD BY HIMSELF), ST. NICHOLAS, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, STOPPING THE DESERT, SWIM VISIT, THIS LIME TREE BOWER, 2: GOERING AT NUREMBERG, VIRGINS AND OTHER MYTHS, A WALK WITH MR. HEIFETZ, THE WEDDING OF THE SIAMESE TWINS, WHEN THEY SPEAK OF RITA, WHILE I YET LIVE, WOMAN BEFORE A GLASS, YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY

The primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral history Project

Mentioned in Interview