In which we discuss the professional life of Penny Cherns.


Penny trained on the Directors’ Course at the Drama Centre after completing a sociology degree at the University of Kent at Canterbury. She worked as Joan Littlewood’s assistant and then continued as a freelance director up to the Millennium in major provincial repertory theatres directing classics, modern plays and musicals. She was also Associate Director at Chester, Watford and Nottingham Playhouse and worked at the RSC, the Royal Court and the New End theatres . She directed dramas for the BBC and Channel 4 television. Abroad she directed in Barcelona (in Spanish and Catalan) and for the British Council in India and South America. She has taught international workshops in Amsterdam, Barcelona,Buenos Aires, Oslo, Brazil and Uruguay; has taught and directed in America at Brandeis, Juilliard, Yale and the University of Iowa, and in England at LAMDA, RADA, Drama Centre and the Guildhall. She gained an MSc in European Studies from the LSE and conducts Conflict Resolution workshops. She created and led the MA in classical acting for LAMDA until 2020
She recently directed at the Schoolhouse Theater in Connecticut and ACT theater in Seattle. And directed The Tempest at Teatro San Martin Buenos Aires
Penny is a senior fellow of the higher education authority and has acted as external examiner for Loughborough, BSSD and Mountview Academy.

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