Robert Wierzel
Adjunct Teacher
Robert Wierzel has worked with artists from diverse disciplines and backgrounds in theatre, dance, opera, and contemporary music on stages and museums throughout the country and abroad. Robert has worked with the opera companies of Paris (Garnier); Tokyo; Toronto; Bergen National (Norway); Folk Opera (Sweden); New York City Opera; Glimmerglass Festival; Seattle; Boston Lyric; Atlanta; Minnesota; Lyric Opera/Kansas City; Florida Grand; San Francisco; Houston; Washington National; Chicago Lyric; Opera Theatre of Chicago; Montreal; Vancouver; Portland; Colorado; Pittsburgh; Wolf Trap; San Diego, LA Opera; Palm Beach (Florida); Utah Opera (Salt Lake City) and Gotham Chamber Opera, among others. His theatre work has been seen on and off Broadway, including the play Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar & Grill, (starring Audra McDonald) directed by Lonny Price; the musical Fela! (Tony Award nomination) directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones. Other productions include David Copperfield’s Broadway debut Dreams and Nightmares; and Grace Jones’ Hurricane Show at the Hammerstein Ballroom NYC. Additional productions at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre; The Signature Theatre; The Roundabout; Playwrights Horizons; Mostly Mozart Festival; BAM; The Acting Company and the Lincoln Center Festival/American Songbook Series, among others. Robert has collaborated with director & choreographer Bill T. Jones and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company for over 3 decades, including productions at the Lyon Opera Ballet and Berlin Opera Ballet; and Walking The Line at The Louvre Museum, Paris. His other dance collaborations include works with choreographers Elizabeth Streb (Kiss The Air), Liz Gerring (Glacier, Horizon, and Field); Andrea Miller/Gallim Dance (Fold Here); Doug Varone (Re-Composed); Larry Goldhuber; Heidi Latsky; Molissa Fenely; Donna Uchizono; Alonzo King; Charlie Moulton; Michael Tracy/Pilobolus Dance Theatre; Arthur Aviles; Margo Sappington; Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the Trisha Brown Dance Company and the Sean Curran Company. Robert has collaborated with the composer Philip Glass (Hydrogen Jukebox, Les Enfants Térribles- which won him an American Theatre Wing Lighting Design Award), and the visual artists Thomas Schütte, Peter McGough, Paul Kaiser, Lesley Dill, Robert Longo, Bill Katz, Red Grooms and Gretchen Bender. His extensive regional theatre work includes productions at the Alliance Theatre Company (Atlanta); A.C.T. (San Francisco); Berkley Rep; Calgary Theatre Company & Vancouver Playhouse (Canada); Center Stage (Baltimore); Arena Stage; Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Shakespeare Theatre DC; Hartford Stage; Long Wharf Theatre; Westport Country Playhouse (Westport CT); Goodman Theatre; The Guthrie; Mark Taper Forum; Geva Theatre; Actors Theatre (Louisville); Old Globe (San Diego); Yale Rep and Playmakers Repertory Theatre (Chapel Hill) among others. Currently, Robert is in pre-production for a two new musicals- A Walk On The Moon and Shout Sister, Shout!; a few new opera productions, including Rigoletto (Huston Grand Opera); The Ghosts Of Versailles (Château de Versailles Spectacles, Versailles, France); Salome (The Atlanta Opera); Don Giovanni, Samson & Delilah, Blue (Washington National Opera); Freedom Ride (Chicago Opera Theatre) and Don Giovanni & Rinaldo for Glimmerglass Festival, summer 2020. Robert is also in pre-production for a new dance/performance piece called Deep Blue Sea, directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. It will have its première in April 2020 at the Park Avenue Armory. NYC. Furthermore, he has designed the lighting for selected art exhibitions including the Red Grooms installation at Grand Central Station; at the Yale Art Gallery and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Robert is a Creative Partner at Spark Design Collaborative.