Andrew Tsao

Career

After receiving his Master of Fine Arts in directing from California Institute of the Arts in 1990, Andrew went on to work in regional theatres and off-Broadway. He became resident director of the Indiana Repertory Theatre from 1992-1995, where he directed numerous productions, served as the theatre’s literary manager, and taught acting in the summer training program. He was then invited to become the first artistic director of the New Harmony Project, a renowned writer’s lab in New Harmony, Indiana. There he oversaw development of new work, which ranged from plays and musicals, to screenplays and TV pilots.

Directing

In 1995, Tsao moved to Los Angeles to begin his career in television. He became a series director on the ABC-TV sitcom series Home Improvement, starring Tim Allen, produced and directed NBC’S "Working" starring Fred Savage, SOUL MAN starring Dan Aykroyd, and dozens of other prime time episodes and television pilots, including NBC-TV's In The House starring LL Cool J and Debbie Allen, Friends, Caroline in the City starring Lea Thompson and Suddenly Susan starring Brooke Shields, Jesse, The Single Guy, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, George Lopez, Phil of the Future, Wizards of Waverly Place, Tracy Morgan, The Weber Show, and others.

In Los Angeles, Andrew was invited to direct two productions for Shakespeare Festival L.A. ("The Tempest", and "Julius Caesar") a world premiere opera for L.A. Opera ("On Gold Mountain"), and a short feature starring Eric Idle entitled BRIGHTNESS, which was awarded the Gold Special Jury Prize for 2001 at the WorldFest in Houston. Selected directing projects include the world premiere of Theodore Drieser’s "Sister Carrie" for Indiana Rep, and "The Tempest", this time at East West Players in Los Angeles, "The Merry Wives of Windsor" for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Nilo Cruz’s adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" for Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, the off-Broadway revival of "Yellow Fever" for Pan Asian Rep.

Internationally, he has produced and directed three world premieres at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival: "The Grind Show", "Ithaca I'll Never See" and "The Waste Land Sisters".

In 2003 and 2004, Tsao was an executive consultant and creative director for The Walsin Company in Shanghai, where he oversaw the development of themed entertainment concepts for a multimillion-dollar commercial real estate project.

Screenwriting

As screenwriter, Andrew contributed story and dialogue for Taiwanese director Edward Yang's feature film Mahjong, which won the Special Mention Prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 1996.

Other jobs

In addition to his directing career, Andrew is an associate professor of dramatic arts at the University of Washington School of Drama where he heads the undergraduate drama program, teaches acting and directing and cinema, leads summer drama study programs at the Edinburgh Festival and is the artistic director of The Drama Collective, a European theatre studies creative lab in Europe.

Acting work

As an actor, he has appeared numerous stage productions and performed as Trofimov in "The Cherry Orchard" directed by Libby Appel, and played the role of David in the feature film MAHJONG directed by Edward Yang. He also appeared as himself in the 2009 documentary film My Big Break.

He was awarded the Center for Leadership Development’s Arts Award by the City of Indianapolis, has served as a grants panelist and on-site reviewer for the NEA, and volunteers as a media advisor for public advocacy groups, Asian voter registration initiatives and local political campaigns.

Awards

In 2012 He, was awarded a Donald E. Peterson Endowed Fellowship for creative work at the University of Washington. Additionally, he has been awarded the City of Indianapolis' Arts award and the Gold Special Jury prize for his short film BRIGHTNESS at the 2001 Houston Worldfest film festival.