Rachel Chavkin

Rachel Chavkin is a director/dramaturg/writer, and the founding Artistic Director of the TEAM. Since its founding in 2004, Rachel has directed/co-authored all of the TEAM’s work, including RoosevElvis (which recently completed a sold-out run in NYC as part of PS122’s COIL Festival and which is now touring nationally and internationally), and Mission Drift, created by the company with composer Heather Christian and playwright/dramaturg Sarah Gancher (last seen a sold-out run at London’s National Theatre).

Outside of the TEAM Rachel also regularly collaborates with writers and composers on new work. She has had multiple collaborations with composer Dave Malloy, including the critically acclaimed and immersively staged electro-pop opera Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Ars Nova, Kazino) which made Top Ten 2012 and 2013 lists at The New York Times, Time Out New York and New York Post, and which earned Rachel and Dave an Obie Award. Their most recent project, Preludes, about Rachmaninoff and hypnotism, premieres Spring 2015 at LCT3. Additional freelance: Bess Wohl’s Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova), Marco Ramirez’s The Royale (Old Globe), the English National Tour of Joseph Heller’s adaptation of Catch-2 (Northern Stage, Newcastle, UK); Confirmation, which Rachel developed with British writer/performer Chris Thorpe, and which was awarded the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe First Award (produced by China Plate, co-commissioned by the Warwick Arts Centre and Battersea Arts Centre); Meg Miroshnik’s The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Rep); Lauren Yee’s The Hatmaker’s Wife (Playwrights Realm); storyteller James Monaco’s Reception (TerraNOVA soloNOVA Festival at the New Ohio Theatre) and his collaboration with composer Jerome Ellis’ entitled Aaron/Marie, co-directed with Annie Tippe (Ars Nova ANTFest 2013, and Under the Radar Incoming); Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy and Dave Malloy’s Three Pianos for which Rachel and the writer/performers were collectively awarded a Obie (Ontological Incubator, NYTW, A.R.T.); and multiple collaborations with playwright/performer/activist Taylor Mac including his extravaganza The Lily’s Revenge (World Premiere, Act II at HERE Arts Center, Obie Award to Taylor Mac) and Peace, co-written by Mac and Chavkin (Workshop, HERE Arts Center).

Upcoming projects include Anne Washburn’s new transadaptation of Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis for Classic Stage Company, several new works with Dave Malloy, and a collaboration with folk singer Anaïs Mitchell to adapt her album Hadestown for the stage.

Rachel is an NYTW Usual Suspect, an Artistic Associate at London’s Gate Theatre, an alum of Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab, the Drama League Directors Project, the Women’s Project Director’s Lab, and a New Georges Affiliate Artist. She has also taught directing and performance at NYU, Pace, and other colleges, as well as workshops with the TEAM about their collaborative process. And she has served as a Shakespeare coach to Mandy Patinkin and other artists. B.F.A. NYU, M.F.A. Columbia.