Andrew Park (theatre director)

Education and Early Life

Park developed a passion for acting and directing while attending Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Indiana. After graduating, Park attended Indiana State University (ISU) to pursue a degree in theater. While still a student at ISU, he became the Artistic Director for the historic Showboat Becky Thatcher in Marietta, Ohio. He directed multiple shows including The Fantasticks and Barry Manilow’s obscure musical, The Drunkard. The Showboat also produced his Stephen Foster and George M. Cohen Tribute, Red, White and Becky as part of their 2000 summer season. Original works have become a trademark of Park’s work.

Recent career

Park left the Showboat Becky Thatcher in 2000 to pursue his MFA in Directing and Dramaturgy at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. During the summer of 2001, Park relocated to Glover, Vermont where he worked with Peter Schumann and the historic Bread and Puppet Theatre. He returned to Chicago to complete his MFA.

In Chicago, Park has created new works with multiple companies as well as directing book shows and musicals. He received a Joseph Jefferson Awards Nomination for his original production Seashore with TriArts, Inc. in 2002 and became the founding Artistic Director of Chicago’s Quest Theatre Ensemble in the same year. Quest’s first production, Blue Nativity has toured Chicago and other Midwest venues annually since 2002. In 2007, Blue Nativity toured Germany. Park has created over a dozen new works with Quest and received a Jeff Nomination for his original production of The People’s History of the United States.

Park also created a spectacle for the Lollapalooza music festival in 2005 and directed Circus Crashers at The Actor’s Gym in Evanston, Illinois. In 2006, Park directed Cirque Shanghai at Chicago’s Pepsi Skyline Stage at Navy Pier and a new production in the Cirque Shanghai franchise, Bai Xi in 2007. After its run at the Pepsi Skyline stage, Bai Xi enjoyed a two-month run at the Tropicana Casino and Resort Atlantic City.

Park left Cirque Shanghai in 2007 to become the Artistic Director of Chicago’s John G. Shedd Aquarium. He conceived and served as the Production Artistic Director for Shedd’s new multispecies animal attraction, Fantasea, which will open on October 16, 2009 at the Aquarium.