Dan Lombardo Named Artistic Director at WHAT

Dan Lombardo Charged with Continuing WHAT’s Adventurous Theater

Dan with Julie Harris at the opening of the WHAT Julie Harris Stage, June 23, 2007.

Our board of directors today named Dan Lombardo Artistic Director of the 27 year-old professional theater company. Dan will select and oversee the theater’s full summer season of plays on the Julie Harris Stage and in other venues.

"Dan not only has marvelous artistic talents, but is simply a great person,” said Bruce Bierhans, President, CEO and co-chair of WHAT’s Board of Directors. “I have known Dan for years and
am thrilled that he agreed to take this position. I'm looking forward to working with him, as we put together what will be a spectacular season".

Lombardo has been a frequent director at WHAT and other theaters. His work on the play Opus at The American Stage Theater garnered him a Jeffrey Norton Award nomination for best director. Of his directing the press has recently written:

… The staging, the pacing and timing were perfection… Over the top and quite delicious ... This production shows once again why WHAT stacks up more and more accolades every season. (Boeing Boeing, The Barnstable Patriot).

Wonderful…not only entertaining but, at times, gripping…intelligent, suspenseful, funny and, most of all, convincing. Dan Lombardo’s direction is impeccable (Opus, Creative Loafing, St.
Petersburg).

WHAT Executive Director, Mark Hough, commented, “I am delighted that Dan will be both continuing in the award-winning tradition of WHAT and expanding our creative horizons.”

Lombardo has especially enjoyed his work as Director of the WHAT Lab, where he develops new plays. “There is hardly anything more important and rewarding than discovering new talent for the theater, whether emerging playwrights, actors, or composers,” Lombardo said. “And it helps keep the creative theatrical juices flowing in Wellfleet, even in the middle of winter.”

His work as a dramaturg and research consultant in TV and film includes “The Irish” (a PBS series), “The Belle of Amherst” (with Claire Bloom for ITV, England), “Malice” (Castle Rock Pictures, with Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman), “Voices and Visions” (a 13-part PBS series), “The Afterglow” (with Burgess Meredith), and several Florentine Films documentaries. Lombardo has appeared in films on PBS and on BBC-TV, including “Loaded Gun” (with Julie Harris). Dan is also the author of 10 books, including Wellfleet: A Cape Cod Village, and the new Cape Cod National Seashore: The First 50 Years.

Dan Lombardo on theater and WHAT:
“Theater can be life-transforming, in a way that no other artform can be. I’ve seen it over and over again. It happens as the playwright creates, it happens in the rehearsal hall, and when all the stars and planets line up, it happens on stage.

“Somewhere Edward Albee said that as a theater-goer you should feel like you’ve wandered into something you’ve never experienced before – not the particular play, but theater itself.

“WHAT became known for adventurous theater, right out of the box, so to speak. Every play was an adventure, an exploration into the unknown. For me it’s the only way to do theater, and it’s a privilege to be part of it.”