Stephen Wrentmore has directed more than 50 professional productions across the world, predominantly new and contemporary plays in both non-profit and commercial theatres.
He first came to Arizona as Associate Director on The Royal National Theatre’s production of Hamlet, featuring Simon Russell Beale. Later he returned to Arizona Theatre Company directing productions of Copenhagen, The Importance of Being Earnest and Macbeth.
In the U.K. productions include Loveplay by Moira Buffini at Jackson’s Lane, Picasso’s Women for The Ambassador Theatre Group, Richard Hurford’s Bedevilled at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and the world premier of Howard Barker’s Wounds to the Face.
He was Artistic Director of The Byre Theatre in Scotland from 2004 to 2007 where he directed, amongst other plays, Not About Heroes, The 39 Steps, The Twits, The World, Loot, Golf: The Musical, Translations, Beauty and the Beast, Private Lives, Vincent in Brixton and The Marsh King’s Daughter, which he adapted with Rita Henderson and co-authored the original lyrics with Robert Pettigrew.
Internationally, he has directed productions at Meyerhold Theatre in Moscow (The Cripple of Inishmaan), Theatre5 in Omsk; ODA Theatre in Pristina, Kosovo; Lieutenant of Inishmore at National Theatre of Kosovo; The Country by Martin Crimp at National Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia; and for the Festival of the Midnight Sun in Tromso, Norway.
As an educator, he has led workshops, readings and master-classes in Latvia, Serbia, Kosovo, the United States (Tampa, Boston, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Tucson), Kazakhstan, Russia, Ireland and Cyprus. Mr. Wrentmore worked with Tate Galleries in London to explore their ethos to learning and spent last year as a visiting academic at Hertford College, Oxford University, developing a thesis on the relationship that theatres in Britain and America have with artists.
Stephen has worked extensively as a mentor with writers-in-residence, assistant directors, educational institutions. Also, as project director, department chair and guest lecturer. He formed Try-This Consulting, a creative consultancy company that specializes in report-free analysis, supporting creativity, strategy, learning and communication portfolios.
Stephen studied at Cambridge University and the Central School of Speech and Drama, as well as being a recent graduate of the prestigious Clore Leadership Programme.