Casey Childs, Producer-Director-Episode #258

Storybeat with Steve Cuden

Producer-Director Casey Childs founded Primary Stages, a leading New York City Off-Broadway theater, in 1984. Primary Stages has produced over 175 new plays, giving playwrights the opportunities to see their new works staged, including: Christopher Durang, Tina Howe, John Patrick Shanley, Lee Blessing, David Ives, Donald Margulies, Theresa Rebeck, and A.R. Gurney among many others. Casey directed many of those productions for the company, as well as helming new plays at other Off-Broadway theaters.

He served as the Artistic Program Director for the New Dramatists from 1982-1985 where he worked with numerous leading American playwrights in their early years.

Casey’s the recipient of the Carnegie Mellon University Commitment to New Playwrights Award, as well as the winner of two Emmy Awards and many nominations for his extensive work in television.

He’s a past Vice President of the Directors Guild of America and a past trustee of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences.

At Primary Stages Casey launched the Einhorn School of Performing Arts, the Fordham/Primary Stages MFA in Playwriting program, and the Primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral History Project, which has documented over 190 interviews with the leaders of the Off-Broadway movement.

Casey’s taught at many universities including Duke, Columbia and NYU, and he’s currently an Associate Fellow at Grace Hopper College at Yale University.