Piedmont Shakespeare is led by Executive Director, David McGraw, and Co-Artistic Directors, Carl Forsman and Kim Shively.
Our Team
Carl Forsman
Carl Forsman is a Professor at the Drama School at UNCSA, where his recent projects include THE ROVER and MOTHER COURAGE. He is the founding Artistic Director of New York’s Keen Company, which under his leadership won both the Obie Award and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Company. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Director for his work on Keen’s revival of THE VOICE OF THE TURTLE. He also helmed the American premiere of Conor McPherson’s THE GOOD THIEF, which won an Obie for star Brian d’Arcy James. Other NY projects include PAINTING CHURCHES, BENEFACTORS, ALPHABETICAL ORDER, THE HAPPY JOURNEY (Drama Desk Nomination, Best Revival), THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR, David Auburn’s adaptation of THE JOURNALS OF MIHAIL SEBASTIAN (all for Keen), LOVE CHILD (New World Stages), THE BALD SOPRANO & THE LESSON (Atlantic Theater Company), and SIN (The New Group, Drama Desk nominee, Best New Play, Obie Award Winner, Outstanding Production). He spent three summers as the Artistic Director of the Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont. Regional work includes Urbanite Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, The Asolo, and Long Wharf.
David McGraw
David McGraw is an Associate Professor at Elon University, where he leads the Arts Administration program. Prior to joining the Elon faculty, he oversaw 400+ theatrical and dance productions at venues such as the Perishable Theatre, White River Theatre Festival, Yale School of Drama, Oldcastle Theatre, StageWorks, Capital Repertory Theatre, Vilar Center for the Arts, Geva Theatre, Iowa Summer Rep, Chester Theatre Company, University of Arizona, University of Iowa, and Triad Stage. He has twice served on the national board of the Stage Manager’s Association and has received Special Recognition at the Del Hughes Awards for Lifetime Achievement for his 18-year research project The Stage Manager Survey. His articles have appeared in publications ranging from Stage Directions Magazine to Off Headset: Essays on Stage Management Work, Life, and Career to Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy. He has worked with the South African State Theatre on a Fulbright Specialist Grant on FREEDOM: THE MUSICAL, and looks forward to working with South African theatres on international tours. www.davidjmcgraw.com
Kim Shively
Kim Shively is an Associate Professor at Elon University where she teaches acting and directs. She is also Guiding Faculty with Theatrical Intimacy Education, a leading research and professional organization that trains and equips people in the best practices for staging intimacy for theatre, film, and TV. With over 40 professional and academic credits as an Intimacy Choreographer, Shively travels around the world working as a theatrical intimacy educator and practitioner. A member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, Shively spent 5 seasons as a member of Shakespeare Orange County in addition to her professional acting credits in theatre, film, television and over a dozen national commercials. Directing credits include Macbeth, Spring Awakening, Carrie: the Musical, The Wolves, and a world premiere workshop of The Inferior Sex, by Jacqueline Lawton. She is the co-author of Applied Meisner for the 21st Century Actor (Routledge), and her peer-reviewed articles have been included in journals including Theatre Topics, The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, and The Journal of Consent Based Performance. Learn more at www.KimShivelyCreative.com and www.21CActor.com.
Special thanks to photographer Tony Spielberg.