Margaret Van Sant

MARGARET VAN SANT is a playwright, theater director, festival organizer, educator, and the Artistic Director of Provincetown Dramatic Arts. She has directed classic and contemporary theater, but has a special focus on the development of new scripts. At Long Wharf Theater she managed the Stage II program of new script development, and at the PTC she established the Playwright’s Lab and the Provincetown Playwright’s Festival.

She produces the annual Women’s International Theater Festival. She has directed at Virginia Stage Company, Long Wharf Theater, Arena Stage, Yale University (National Conference on Portuguese Theater), Yale Cabaret, Berkshire Theater Festival, University of Massachusetts/ Dartmouth, City Studio Theater, Payomet Center for the Performing Arts, and Provincetown Theater.

For the past four years she has taken a play by a Cape playwright to the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival and in turn has brought a play from the IDGTF to Provincetown for performances. Some favorite productions are ANNA CHRISTIE by Eugene O’Neill at the Wharf House at the Provincetown Marina, THE BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFÉ by Edward Albee at Arena Stage, THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST’S WIFE by Charles Busch and VENUS IN FUR by David Ives at the Provincetown Theater, and HOPPER’S GHOSTS by Kevin Rice at Payomet Center for the Arts.

Van Sant organized the Centennial Celebration of The Provincetown Players, THEN AND NOW, where she directed THE SNIPER by Eugene O’Neill. She is a past member of the Provincetown Theater Board and directed their Rat Pack Lounge New Year’s Gala in 2015 and 2016.

She is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and a past member of the Playwright’s Forum in Washington, DC and the Provincetown Playwrights Lab. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.

Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts, Goddard College, Plainfield, Vt.

Studies included playwriting, directing, feminist theater, theater history, dramaturgy, American arts colonies, and auto/biographical performance.

Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Mary College of The University of Virginia, Fredericksburg, VA.

Majors in English, Liberal Arts Forum, Theater Studies, minors in Russian and Modern Dance.

Workshops:

Voicing the Archetypes of Myths and Legends workshop - intensive with voice trainer Frankie Armstrong, Feldenkrais work with Darien Pritchard, theater with professor Janet Rogers, Virginia Commonwealth University 2011

Kristen Linklater Voice Technique with Ms. Linklater, New York City. 1990

Movement, Yoshi Ouida, TNT Festival, Baltimore, MD. 1988

Acting Workshop, Arena Stage Acting Company, Washington, D.C. Intensive Linklater, Meisner, Stanislavski, and Alexander work. 1982

Provincetown Dramatic Arts, Producing Artistic Director, (Current Position)

International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival (IDGTF), produced plays there for five years. Created cultural exchange and brought two plays from Dublin to Provincetown.

Eventide Theater Company, facilitated ETC Playwrights Lab; Kaplan Playwriting finalist two years.

Academy of Performing Arts, director

Tennessee Williams Festival, Director, playwright.

Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, CT - Literary Associate of major LORT theatre.
Responsible for:
1) reading and critiquing scripts and negotiating with playwrights and agents;
2) Stage II Playreading Series and Workshops of new scripts; casting and working with playwrights;
3) Humanities program of student and adult symposia related to Mainstage Productions; and
4) writing articles for quarterly newsletter and writing program notes and study guides.
Worked with Arvin Brown, Kenneth Frankel, John Tillinger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Jose Quintero. Directed workshop productions and readings in Stage II.
Campaign Manager for subscription renewal campaign that brought in over 14,000 subscribers and for business support campaign of $100,000.

Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge, MA - Director for Unicorn Company and the Cabaret Theatre; Teacher of scene study for graduate students in professional Equity Apprentice Company.

City Studio Theater, Northampton, MA - Founder and Artistic Director. Directed 20 plays and Creator of the First Festival of Contemporary Russian Emigre Visual and Performing Arts in America (featured on CBS Nightly News with Walter Cronkite), with a Symposium hosted by PEN International

Yale University Center for Portuguese Studies, Guest Director

Yale Cabaret, Guest Director

Virginia Stage Company, Norfolk, VA - Director for apprentice company, box office.

Provincetown International Film Festival, Provincetown, MA: Director of Education and Director of Grants

Grant Administrator and Education Director for Provincetown Film Institute. Authored and secured grants and corporate support of $300,000. Created and managed all aspects of Film Institute, which teaches workshops in scriptwriting, documentary filmmaking, and acting for film. Facilitator for Youth and Diversity Program and Portuguese Film Series

Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, Executive Director, Hyannis, MA

Executive Director of Local Arts Agency of Barnstable County, MA. Implemented Strategic Plan of Growth for the organization:
1) increased events produced from one to three major events a year
2) secured funding from grants to double the staff;
3) secured agency designation as official Local Arts Agency of Barnstable County in June of 1994;
5) provided Technical Assistance to over 125 not-for-profit arts organizations and 15 Local Cultural Councils; and
6) produced the first economic impact study of the arts and culture industry of Cape Cod and worked with the Hospitality and Tourism Council, the Cape Cod Economic Development Council, and the Cape Cod Commission in efforts to promote the arts.

Cape Cod Community College, Adjunct Professor, Rehearsal and Performance, Acting I, 2012-2013

Provincetown Theater, Scene Study

Instructor/Facilitator, Playwrights Festival Writing Workshops, 1998-2000, 2002, 2005, 2010

Acting and Directing instructor, Campus Provincetown Provincetown Theater Company 1996-1998

Acting and Dramatics instructor, YARE Theater Company, youth theater company funded by Massachusetts Cultural Council, 1997-1998

Acting Instructor, Scene Study, Berkshire Theatre Festival, teaching graduate students from professional training universities, Yale University, Rutgers, and North Carolina College of the Performing Arts

“Pulse”, one of four plays in “Quickies”, which performed at the Red Room Provincetown, International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, and The Art House in Provincetown.

Portraiture selected for workshop production at 2008 Fall Playwrights Festival, Provincetown Theater

Wartime in Provincetown, commissioned by Tennessee Williams Festival 2009

Portraiture, read at Round HouseTheater by Playwrights Forum February 2008, and at The Provincetown Theater, August 2008.

Mabel Dodge Luhan, performed at CTEK Arts summer season 2007.

The Test, read at Theater J, Washington, DC, 5X5 program in response to The Disputation.

The Pennimans, historical play about Cape Cod whaling family developed with the YARE youth company for radio broadcast on WOMR.

Cha-Cha-Changes, environmental play about monarch butterflies developed for YARE youth company and presented at Cape Cod National Seashore.

Kaplan Playwriting Competition, finalist, two years

Provincetown Theatre Foundation, Founding Board member and Clerk

Founding Member “Making Art and Making A Living”, a business training program for artists.

International Festival and Events Association Convention, Montreal, Canada. Workshops on corporate sponsorships for festivals, marketing of festivals, diversity in festivals, and festival programming and management.

Peer Advisory Arts Consultant. Trained by the Arts Extension Service and the Massachusetts Cultural Council to serve the needs of arts organizations in underserved areas of MA.

Program Chair, 1996. New England First Night Regional Coalition, elected position.

Graduate of Entrepreneurial Management Training Program of Southeastern Massachusetts Management Partnership.

National Assembly of Local Arts Agency, attended national convention for two years (Ft. Worth and San Jose) and participated in professional workshops on cultural facilities, marketing, cultural tourism, strategic planning, business incubators for the arts, and board development.

Association for Theater in Higher Education, New York conference, 2008.