Owen Thompson is a New York–based director, producer, and educator whose work centers on classical and contemporary plays driven by language, moral conflict, and ensemble rigor. He is the Artistic Director of The Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls, New York—the oldest professional Equity theater in Westchester County—where he is currently entering his fourth season of leadership.

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Under Owen’s artistic direction, Schoolhouse has entered a period of renewed ambition and  visibility. Recent productions include Athol Fugard’s “Master Harold”…and the boys, Brian Friel’s Faith Healer (starring Victor Slezak), John Logan’s Red, and Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses, for which Owen received the 2025 BroadwayWorld Award for Best Director. His work at Schoolhouse has been recognized with multiple BroadwayWorld Awards across several seasons, including Best Play, Best Director, and Favorite Local Theater three years running.

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In the current season, Owen will direct Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge and James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter, continuing his focus on psychologically exacting, actor-centered storytelling.

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Beyond Schoolhouse, Owen’s directing work has been seen widely in New York City and at regional theaters across the United States. He served as Artistic Director of New York City’s Protean Theatre Company, whose productions were praised by The New York Times, The New York Post, Time Out New York, BackStage, The Village Voice, and many other publications.

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He also spent several years as Producing Director of River Rep Theatre Company at the historic Ivoryton Playhouse in Connecticut: River Rep produced over one hundred professional productions and played a significant role in preserving and revitalizing that landmark theater. Owen's production of The Mikado at Ivoryton received the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical.
 

Owen’s New York directing credits include the works of Shakespeare, Molière, Williams, Vogel, Lorca, and Wilder, as well as immersive and multimedia work such as an acclaimed production of The Tempest that received multiple New York Innovative Theatre Award nominations, including Outstanding Director. His regional work spans a wide range of classical and modern repertoire, from musical comedy to restoration comedy to contemporary American drama.
 

In addition to his directing career, Owen is a long-time producer of revivals and new work, including The Importance of Being Earnest starring Quentin Crisp as Lady Bracknell, as well as plays by Anton Chekhov, Noël Coward, Bock & Harnick, Eugene Ionesco, Joseph Stein, and George Bernard Shaw, among many others. He has also developed original work as Producer of New Plays for TACT (The Actors Company Theatre).
 

An educator as well as an artist, Owen holds two postgraduate degrees in classical dramatic literature and has taught English and Drama at Fordham University, Marymount Manhattan College, CUNY, and within the New York City public school system.
 

Owen also co-hosts The Bardcast: 'It's Shakespeare, You Dick!' — a Shakespeare podcast with thousands of listeners on every continent except Antarctica.