For those theater-enthusiasts who are looking for a director whose varied and celebrated body of work spans across genre, sometimes courts controversy and always celebrates the art form, one needs to look no further than Travis Preston. Travis Preston’s esteemed career, spanning over decades and including over a dozen directorial pursuits, has thrilled and delighted fans and critics alike. His prestigious career has taken him all over the world, giving him the opportunity to direct a wide variety of talent and put his artistic take on many different projects.
Beginning his artistic career as a student at California Institute of the Arts, Travis Preston has enjoyed working with both professional actors and students alike, and cites his time there as being some of the most instrumental and rewarding in his career. During his time at CalArts, Preston has directed a number of highly-recognized and celebrated works, including Fantomas: Revenge of the Image, Prometheus Bound, and The Master Builder, which he directed along with celebrated actors Stephen Dillane and Gemma Arterton.
Travis Preston continues to enjoy directing and has recently put his artistic stamp on a number of celebrated works, including but certainly not limited to Sam Shepherd’s Buried Child last summer. Other productions he has worked on include Democracy in America, works of Shakespeare including Macbeth and King Lear (for which is unique, groundbreaking and somewhat controversial staging was highly celebrated and discussed among the theater community), The Ghost Sonata and Infrared in Copenhagen, Little Eyolf and Lulu in association with the American Ibsen Theater, and has achieved critical acclaim and praise at festivals around the world, including London, Houston, and Florence.
Travis Preston has worked with and collaborated with a number of seasoned actors, directors, orchestras and theater professionals, The Denmark Royal Family, and others; and has adapted plays by celebrated classic writers such as Shakespeare, Ibsen, as well as new works from celebrated modern authors and playwrights. His work has been showcased in many celebrated theaters around the globe, including Yale Repertory Theater, American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, and has performed/directed in Central Park.
For his celebrated contribution to the theater and years of service to the Arts, Travis Preston was awarded Chevalier of the Order Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture, who cited his “contributions to the arts in France and around the world”. With this knighthood, he officially became Sir Travis Preston.
In addition to his seasoned and esteemed career as a director, Travis Preston has also taught at several universities around the globe, including Yale, New York University, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, The National Theater School of Denmark, and Harvard, where he taught for six years, among other universities. Continuing as Artistic Director at CalArts Center, and the acting Dean of the CalArts School of Theater, Travis Preston continues to direct critically-acclaimed, highly celebrated and groundbreaking projects and will undoubtedly be contributing to the world of theater for many years to come.
