SARAH NORRIS
FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Sarah (she/her) is a theater artist and producer based in New York. Her work has been seen around the country including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Houston, and around the world in Scotland, Australia, England, and Ireland.
Select producer and production credits include Playwrights Horizons (I Am My Own Wife Off-Broadway and Tony-Winning Broadway transfer), Disney Theatrical Productions, Bisno Productions (Hughie on Broadway w/ Forest Whitaker; My Report to the World w/ David Strathairn). She served as the Artistic Director of Access Theater from 2016-2018, creating an Artist Residency program and Access Association Series program, which provided subsidized and free performance space to NYC artists including Primitive Grace (Paul Calderon & David Zayas), Elevator Repair Service, and Bedlam. Currently, she spends her summers as the Artistic & Community Engagement Producer of Pendragon Theatre, located in the Adirondacks.
As a theater director, select credits include: The Greatest Hits Down Route 66 (Drama Desk nom), H*tler's Tasters (TimeOut NY Critics Pick, Best of the Edinburgh Fringe; featured in the Chicago Tribune, LA Times and the BBC), Everything is Super Great (TimeOut NY Critics Pick), This Wrestling Place (w/ Executive Producer Ben Folds), Picture Ourselves in Latvia (Best of Theater, The L Magazine). Other highlights include Guild Hall of East Hamptons, Pleasance Theatre (Edinburgh), Greenside Theatre (Edinburgh), Bottom Dog Theatre (Ireland), Adelaide Fringe Festival (Australia), 59E59 Theaters, LAByrinth Theatre, NewYorkRep, Working Theater, Electric Lodge (LA), Chicago Dramatists, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, The Flea Theater, Zeiders American Dream Theater, Calliope Stage, Forestburgh Playhouse, and Pendragon Theatre.
Sarah was on the Artistic Advisory Board of The Artist Co-Op, worked with Theatre Communications Group (TCG), served on the Program Evaluation Working Group for NNPN (National New Play Network) and was a volunteer with i-Mentor.
She was a 2023 "Women Who Have Impacted Theatre" Honoree from NewYorkRep.
Member of SDC and AEA
Member of The Drama League
For more information: www.SarahNorris.org
Room 1214 (Director), War Words at The Library of Congress (Director), Tracks (Co-Director), this is not a time of peace (Producer), The Greatest Hits Down Route 66 (Director; Drama Desk nom), War Words (Director), The Lights Are On (Director), Friends with Amenities (Director), According to the Chorus (Producer; Drama Desk nom), H*tler's Tasters (Director), Ink'dWell (Producer), I Wanna F*ck like Romeo and Juliet (Producer), I'm So Hot (Producer), The Jackson C. Frank Listening Party w/ Special Guests (Director), Pastel Color Ripples (Producer), This Wrestling Place (Director/Adaptor), Invincible Ones (Producer; radio drama), Brecht: Call and Respond (Producer), Everything is Super Great (Director), The Great Novel (Director), Imagining Madoff (Producer), The American Tradition (Producer), Life x 3 (Producer), Meaningful Conversation (Producer), Less Than 50% (Producer), The Property (Producer), the hollower (Producer), Hal & Bee (Director), Deception (Director; Spotlight Series, staged reading), The Happy Family (Producer; Spotlight Series, staged reading); Invention (Director; Spotlight Series, workshop production), Time Stands Still (Producer), Breeders (Producer), Still Dance the Stars (Director), Omega Kids (Producer), Sight Unseen (Producer), A Burial Place (Producer), Two of Us (Director), Strange Country (Producer), Monte Cristo (Producer), In the Soundless Awe (Director), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania/Theseus), REX (Director), No One Loves Us Here (Producer, Associate Director), SIDD (Ensemble), Picture Ourselves in Latvia (Director), London Calling or The British Are Coming!(Producer), Apartment Play (Amanda), T.V. TIME! (Producer), The Oedipus Project (Adaptor/Director), The Mountain King – part of the e-merging Artist Festival (Deb), Frisky & the Panda Man (Director), A Short History of the Weather (Aloe Vera).
"Sarah Norris' staging moves at a fast pace that nevertheless allows time for honest epiphanies."
- David Barbour, Lighting & Sound America (The Greatest Hits Down Route 66, 2024)
"Minimal yet impactful staging illustrates the stories."
- Zachary Stewart, TheaterMania (War Words, 2023)
"Superb direction by Sarah Norris."
- Marina Kennedy, BroadwayWorld (Friends With Amenities, 2023)
"Sarah Norris' well-calibrated direction."
- Raven Snook, TimeOut New York, Critics' Pick (H*tler's Tasters, 2022)
"Under Sarah Norris’s tender direction, the inaction unfolds in lovingly rendered, beautifully acted, mostly two-person scenes that demand you lean in as these ordinary folks try awkwardly to connect during the holidays."
- Raven Snook, TimeOut New York, Critics' Pick (Everything Is Super Great, 2019)
"Directed with real style and feeling by Sarah Norris."
- Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman (H*tler's Tasters, Edinburgh Fringe, 2019)
"Sarah Norris’ production is one of precision."
- Natasha Tripney, The Stage (H*tler's Tasters, Edinburgh Fringe, 2019)
"The stand out element which takes Hitler’s Tasters and ascends it to a higher level, for me, is the direction...A masterclass in how understated, intelligent direction and allowing your actors to indulge themselves in their characters can create a truly magnificent performance."
- Craig Unadkat, Theatre Weekly (H*tler's Tasters, Edinburgh Fringe, 2019)
"Norris has captured all the ambiguity and humanity of living under a fascist regime
under her careful touch."
- Hannah Hobson, A Younger Theatre (H*tler's Tasters, Edinburgh Fringe, 2019)
"Sarah Norris’ direction is music on stage.”
- Holli Harms, Front Row Center (H*tler's Tasters, 2018)
"Director Sarah Norris’ vision has created a sophisticated, visually lush, emotionally satisfying piece of storytelling magic. Her skilled directorial hand is in evidence in every perfectly crafted moment of this very compelling production."
- Jacquelyn Claire, NY Theatre Guide (In The Soundless Awe, 2015)
"With a stellar cast and excellent staging, this entertaining dark comedy is very thought provoking and has a broad audience appeal."
- Marina Kennedy, Broadway World (Hal & Bee, 2018)
by Zach Calhoon
Check out a great interview with our AD, Sarah Norris.
Artistic Director, Sarah Norris, hanging out and chatting indie theater with Maria Paz Alegre and Ray Yamanouchi - the dream team behind RE: theatre!