Benjamin Viertel

Benjamin Viertel is a theatre director whose work draws on European and American theatrical traditions. Born in France to an Italian mother and German father, he immigrated to the United States at age eleven, speaking three languages but not English. This experience continues to inform his approach to theatre. 

His directing credits include Safe House at Theatre Row, starring Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba and three-time Tony nominee Marc Kudisch; The Peepholeman and Corrosives Are the Cure for Her Crushing Nostalgia, both productions at BAM; Between the Bars at HERE Arts Center; Goldhaven! and Fireface at The Brick; The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant at New Ohio Theatre; Urinetown and an upcoming production of Into the Woods, at Pittsburgh Playhouse; and a new-adaptation of The Threepenny Opera, Cankersore Paradise, Plaster Saint, and Measure for Measure, all at Columbia University. His screen directing work includes the BRIC TV original series 86’d and the award-winning [Blank] My Life. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and New York Magazine, among other publications.

As an associate and assistant director, Viertel has collaborated with Tina Landau, Sam Gold, Moisés Kaufman, Billy Porter, Loretta Greco, Steve Cosson, and Peter Kleinert. His recent credits include the Broadway production of Floyd Collins and Angry Alan, starring John Krasinski, at Studio Seaview. He has worked with A24, Samsung VR, Lincoln Center Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, The Huntington, The New Group, The Civilians, The Cherry Lane, Abrons Arts Center, the Manhattan Theater Club, and the Berlin Schaubühne.

Viertel is the founding artistic director of Third Space. He has participated in The Orchard Project’s Greenhouse Lab, the Kennedy Center Director’s Lab, and The Civilians’ R&D Group, and has been a directing fellow at Manhattan Theatre Club. Viertel has taught theater and film directing at New York University, Point Park University, and Carnegie Mellon University.

He holds an MFA in Directing from Columbia University School of the Arts and a BFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.