Terry Burgler

Artistic Director  

Terry Burgler is a professional director, actor, writer and educator with a notable record of achievement over the past forty years.  He has performed professionally on the Globe Theatre stage in London, and has acted and directed at numerous regional theatres across the country, including McCarter Theatre, the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Stage/West and TheatreVirgina, where he served for 13 seasons and was as the most successful Artistic Director in that theatre's 50 year history.  For four years he was Artistic Director at Porthouse Theatre here in Northeast Ohio, presiding over record-breaking seasons that garnered significant critical praise as well.  He resigned his position there to be able to pursue his passion for Shakespeare as one of the two founding Artistic Directors of the Ohio Shakespeare Festival. 

He has served as artistic director and producer of ten professional companies, and directed, acted in, and produced more than 300 productions. Additionally he has numerous credits as a designer and playwright. He has won dozens of awards for Best Director, Best Production and Best Actor in Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey as well as the "2007 Outstanding Theatre Artist" Award from Arts Alive! here in Northeast Ohio.  

Mr. Burgler holds a BA with Honors from Princeton University, and an MFA from the University of Virginia.  He has taught as a member of the undergraduate and graduate faculties of the University of Virginia, Marymount College, Longwood College, Allentown College, Mars Hill College and Kent State University. He is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC) and Actors' Equity Association (AEA). 

Nancy Cates

Producing Artistic Director NancyCates@ohioshakespeare.com

Nancy Cates is one of the two founding Artistic Directors of the Ohio Shakespeare Festival, an Equity company just finishing its fifteenth season producing Shakespeare and other classics at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens. Nancy has an undergraduate degree, cum laude, in Drama from the University of Virginia, and has been a professional director and producer for all of her adult life. 

Nancy began her career in 1980, directing musicals in the popular venue of the day: dinner theatre. Show titles ranged from standards like West Side Story and The King and I, to (then) more contemporary fare like I Love My Wife and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. 

Next, Nancy branched out into regional theatre with more wide-ranging pieces (The Road to Mecca, Keely and Du, and The Loves of Cass McGuire, starring movie actress Pat Carroll.) She has been a guest director for Longwood University (Best Little Whorehouse...) and Sweet Briar College (Crimes of the Heart) in Virginia, Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, and Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland. 

While in Virginia, Nancy wrote the book adaptation of a musical A Christmas Carol, with music and lyrics by the late, great composer-lyricists Jule Styne (Gypsy) and Bob Merrill (Gigi). Both gentlemen had not a word of complaint about their mutual collaboration. (Admittedly, both had passed away at the time.) Their A Christmas Carol was revived biannually for a decade at the Empire Theatre in Richmond, and still continues to tour nationally in a cut-down version for youth theatre. 

After moving to Ohio in the late ‘90’s, Nancy has directed extensively for OSF (Barrymore’s Ghost, I Hate Hamlet, Swingtime Canteen), Coach House Theatre (Doubt, Deathtrap, Leading Ladies, The Glass Menagerie, Lend Me a Tenor), Weathervane Playhouse (All My Sons, A Man for All Seasons, Blithe Spirit), and Porthouse Theatre (The Foreigner, Pump Boys..., Ain’t Misbehavin’.) 

Over the years, Nancy has developed a specialty in the musical revue, and has directed more than twenty, including seven (so far) productions of the Noel Coward tribute, Oh, Coward! Her affection for "The Master" has been fueled by the opportunity to direct many of his shows (most recently Present Laughter, Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Tonight at 8:30 at Coach House), as well as the honor of being included as the only American speaking as an expert on Sir Noel for the BBC Radio series, Soul Music. 

Nancy’s productions of Beehive, Biloxi Blues, Greater Tuna, I Love My Wife, and (the post-New York premiere of) Cowgirls all won regional newspaper critics’ awards for Best Director and Best Play. Recently, Nancy has won in-house awards for her productions of Lend Me a Tenor (Weathervane Playhouse), Driving Miss Daisy, Hay Fever, Leading Ladies, and The Glass Menagerie (Coach House Theatre.)

In her spare time, Nancy has produced, directed, cast, and/or done makeup and wardrobe for hundreds and hundreds of television commercials, training films and TV movies, including having had the pleasure of putting makeup on almost every NBA superstar of the 1980’s and ‘90’s, when each was hawking his own line of shoes.