Sarah Wansley

Biography

Sarah Wansley is a director, educator, and artistic leader whose work focuses on new plays and musicals, as well as highly theatrical adaptations of classic works. Sarah serves as Artistic Director of the Resident Ensemble Players, the professional theatre company in residence at the University of Delaware. She teaches directing, acting, and producing, and is passionate about creating collaborative learning environments that prepare students for the many facets of a career in the theatre.

Prior to joining the University of Delaware, Sarah served as the BOLD Associate Artistic Director at Northern Stage in Vermont and Artistic Producer at Chautauqua Theater Company. She was also the inaugural recipient of the Cleveland Play House Artistic Directing Fellowship for Women. Sarah has directed productions including The Children, Vermont Farm Project, Constellations, Sweat, Spring Awakening and Heisenberg at Northern Stage; Steel Magnolias at Weston Theater Company; The Amish Project at Play Makers Repertory Company; Egress at Cleveland Play House; and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Chautauqua Theater Company and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. 

Sarah has also directed and developed new work with Chautauqua Theater Company, New York Stage and Film, Ensemble Studio Theatre/Youngblood, La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls Festival, McCarter Theatre’s Youth Ink Festival, Luna Stage, and Pipeline Theatre Company. Her work has included new-play development, dramaturgy, producing, season planning, and community engagement, and she has worked with artists and theatre organizations across the country.

Sarah has served as a Drama League Resident Artist and Directing Fellow, a New Georges Affiliated Artist, and a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. She has taught directing and text analysis at Fordham University and has led workshops and masterclasses at a variety of institutions and professional theatre organizations.

Sarah holds a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from the University of California, San Diego, where she studied under Romanian director Gábor Tompa, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Columbia University, where she graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She is particularly interested in directors as generative artists, the development of new work, and mentoring emerging theatre artists.