From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vincent J. Cardinal (born August 9th, 1960 in Ashtabula, Ohio) and raised in Kent, Ohio is the Chairman of the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Miami and producing artistic director of the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.

Previously, he was the Director of the School of Theater and Head of the MFA Playwriting Program at Ohio University. He served as the Director of Circle Repertory Company's School of Theater and as an Associate Artist with the 27 year old off-Broadway Company.

He graduated in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama where he was honored with the ASCAP-Cole Porter Award for Best-Collected Work. While at Yale, he studied with John Guare, Arthur Miller, George Roy Hill, and Milan Stitt. His play The Colorado Catechism premiered at Circle Repertory Company and has subsequently been published by Samuel French, Inc. and produced internationally. The Los Angeles production of the play garnered actors Timothy Daly and Amy Van Nostrand Dramalogue Awards for Best Performances. In New York, Vincent has also worked with the WPA Theatre.

Cardinal served as a writing consultant to David Wain for The State on MTV and as assistant to the head writer on the soap opera One Life to Live. Also for television, Vince contributed to PBS commissions The Hazard of New Fortune, The Aspern Papers, and Long Shadows (International Emmy Nominee). His half-hour musical comedy First Day of School received a regional Emmy nomination.

Cardinal’s play Rainbows End, under his direction, broke all box office records at Colorado's Palace Theater. His play King Dusyanta: A Tale from Kalidasa premiered, under his direction, at the Oasis Theater Company with Broadway performer André DeShields. His other plays have been produced nationally. Vincent has directed from coast to coast in both professional and educational venues. Among his favorite productions are Angels In America, Hamlet, As You Like It, Lost In Yonkers, Runaways, Endgame, The Baltimore Waltz, You Can’t Take It With You, and Fool for Love, starring Piper Perabo and John Bixler.

He directed Eileen Gallindo's Multicultural Disorder for Next Stage -- off-Broadway showcase, Joe Fox’s new play Prism View at New Dramatists and Paul Corrigan's Queens Blvd. in a commercial off-Broadway run. Other recent premieres under his direction include Killing El Cid by Dan Shea and Disengaged by Anita Gabrowsek. Vincent developed and conducts Heartlande Theater’s Playwrights' Initiative for professional playwrights and emerging talents.

Cardinal taught on the faculties of Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio and the Shaker Theatre Arts Department of Shaker Heights High School in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. During his tenure with the Shaker Heights School System, the theater department was recognized as "A National Center of Excellence in Education." His plays Through The Years, First Day of School, and Never Say Goodbye have become standards for high school performance groups across the country.

Cardinal has also served on the faculties of the State University of New York College at Buffalo and New York University, Tisch. He has taught, as a visiting artist, for the Eugene O’Neill Institute, Kansas State University, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Yale University among others.

• Vincent J. Cardinal biography page at University of Miami Web Site.