Chuck Hudson makes his directorial debut during the 2018-19 season, serving as stage director for Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Based in New York City, Mr. Hudson has directed opera productions at major international companies including Cape Town Opera (South Africa), Cincinnati Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, Atlanta Opera, Sacramento Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Opera Cleveland, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera Center, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, among others. He has directed award winning theatre productions in New York and regionally, including The Pearl Theatre, The Chester Theater, Cape May Stage, The Children's Theatre Festival of Houston, New City Theatre, and Chicago's Fox Valley Shakespeare Festival. Mr. Hudson's work as a director was mentioned in the January 2011 Edition of American Theatre Magazine.
In addition to directing, Mr. Hudson continues to focus on work with young professional artists, and served as a co-creator of Seattle Opera's Young Artist Program where he directed productions as well as created and instructed specialized classes on Acting and Movement skills for singers. He has directed productions at San Francisco Opera's Merola Program, Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice Artist Program, AVA Opera Theater, BU Opera Institute, USC-Thornton Opera, Carnegie-Mellon, Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater, Cincinnati Conservatory, Indiana University Opera Theatre, and Music Academy of the West. He was the Artistic Associate of La Lingua della Lirica for two seasons in Italy, a guest artist at S.I.V.A.M. in Mexico City and has been an annual Master Teacher at San Francisco Opera's Merola and Adler Fellows programs for more than a decade.
Mr. Hudson served as Artistic Director of The Immediate Theatre in Seattle for seven years – a physically based company committed to the creation of visually exciting dramatic works. His specialty in movement comes from a background in gymnastics as well as being one of three Americans to have received a diploma from the Marcel Marceau International School of Mimedrama in Paris. He is the only American to be appointed to teach at Marceau's School, and he performed with Marceau on his 1991 European Tour and in Klaus Kinski's film Paganini. He also studied at the Paris School for Theatrical Fencing and was awarded an Honorary Diploma from the French Academy of Arms.
Mr. Hudson has received several awards personally and for his productions, including the Dame Joan Sutherland Grants from the Australia-America Foundation (2012-2014), the VCA & MCM Master Teacher Program Grant: supported by the state government of Australia through Arts Victoria (2014), the Austin Critics Table Award for Best Opera (2013 production of The Marriage of Figaro), and a National Opera Association award for his 2008 production of Puccini's La bohème, to name just a few.