JEANNIE MARLIN WOODS is a freelance stage director, now based in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. She has enjoyed a 30-year career as a scholar, actor, director, arts educator, and arts administrator. She is an international scholar and a Professor Emerita of Theatre at Western Illinois University. Jeannie’s body of work encompasses professional, university, international, and community theatre. 

 

Jeannie has directed professional productions in New York and the Carolinas, and the Midwest, including Moon (starring Michael Cerveris) at the Cubiculo in New York City, The Fantasticks at Blowing Rock Stage Company, and The Bible, The Complete Word of God (Abridged), The Complete History of America (Abridged), All the Great Books (Abridged) and The Waiting Room for the Actors Theatre of Charlotte. Most recently Jeannie directed Move Over, Mrs. Markham and Steel Magnolias for the Okoboji Summer theatre.

 

As Artistic Director of the New Stage Ensemble and The Starry Night Repertory Theatre, Jeannie’s directorial expertise has been grounded in intimate comedies and dramas where the focus is on outstanding acting and on themes that engage the heart and intellect. Her directorial work has ranged from solo pieces such as Vincent (a play about the brothers Van Gogh) and The Belle of Amherst, to the outrageous farce, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), to intimate works such as Last Train to Nibroc, Enchanted April, and Molly Sweeney.

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Directing in university theatre, Jeannie focused on a wide range of classic and contemporary drama from Shakespeare (As You Like It, The Tempest, Much Ado about Nothing) to Molière and farce (A Flea in Her Ear, The School for Wives, Tartuffe, Noises Off), to lavish storytelling in such works as Zimmerman’s Arabian Nights and Hamill’s Sense and Sensibility, to moving works like Edward Bond's The Sea and The Boys Next Door. She is adept working with actors and designers at all skill levels. A highly organized and innovative director, Jeannie developed her process from her research and observation of director Adrian Hall, as chronicled in her book, THEATRE TO CHANGE MEN'S SOULS--THE ARTISTRY OF ADRIAN HALL.

 

An international scholar and director, Jeannie was a Fulbright Scholar for a year in the Graduate Program in Theatre of the Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan where she directed a cross cultural production of All in the Timing. She was inducted into the Fulbright Taiwan Hall of Fame in 2019.  She was a 2009 participant in the DirectorsLab of Chicago and a 2010 participant in the La MaMa International Directors Symposium in Umbria, Italy. Her production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) toured Shanghai and Beijing for the 12th China Shanghai International Arts Festival.

 

Jeannie has been a reviewer for Berkshire Onstage Blog since 2021 and currently teaches theatre courses for the Berkshire Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

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