Rachel Chavkin

Rachel Chavkin received the 2019 Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Director of a Musical for Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown. She is a director, writer, and dramaturg, as well as the founding Artistic Director of Brooklyn-based ensemble the TEAM (theteamplays.org), an internationally renowned experimental company whose consensus-driven collaborative process was the subject of the documentary The TEAM Makes a Play (directed by Emmy winner Paulette Douglas). Additional selected: Dave Malloy's Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812 (Broadway featuring Denée Benton & Josh Groban); Carson Kreitzer and Matt Gould’s Lempicka (Williamstown); Caryl Churchill's Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (New York Theatre Workshop), Marco Ramirez’s The Royale (Old Globe, Lincoln Center); Bess Wohl’s Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova, Off-Broadway, National Tour); Sarah Gancher’s I’ll Get You Back Again (Round House); and multiple collaborations with Taylor Mac, including The Lily's RevengeAct 2 (HERE). In addition to her awards for Hadestown, Chavkin is a recipient of a Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Musical, three Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, multiple Lortel Award nominations, two Doris Duke Impact Award nominations, and the 2017 Smithsonian Award for Ingenuity along with Dave Malloy. Her first film, Remind Me, was an official selection of the Venice and Beverly Hills Film Festivals. Upcoming: feature film Shrew's Nest (Paramount). Proud NYTW Usual Suspect and Member SDC.

Columbia School of the Arts theatre community members won big at this year’s Tony Awards. 

Hadestown, directed by alumna Rachel Chavkin ’08 (Directing) won in eight of the nine categories it was nominated, including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical.

Directing alumna Rachel Chavkin ’08 is set to direct the upcoming Broadway production of Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play, with Directing student Tiffani Swalley as Assistant Director.