Sharon Ott (director)

Sharon Ott (20th century) is an award-winning director, producer and educator who has worked in regional theaters and opera throughout the United States. Ott is currently the artistic director of the Performing Arts department at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she also teaches. Two plays she directed, A Fierce Longing and Amlin Gray's How I Got That Story, won Obies after their New York runs.

Sharon Ott received her BA from Bennington College in 1972 with a triple major in theater, anthropology, and music. During her years there, she received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation to work on an archaeological site in northern Arizona. She was accepted into the MFA acting program at Cal Arts under the direction of Dr. Herbert Blau. When Blau left Cal Arts, his students followed him to Oberlin College, forming the ensemble Kraken under his leadership. This group of young actors included Julie Taymor (director of The Lion King, Titus Andronicus, and Frida,) and noted clown and actor, Bill Irwin.

After two years with Kraken, Ott joined the ensemble Camera Obscura, a resident company at La Mama Experimental Theater Club in New York, and the Mickery Theater in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Their work was presented at La Mama, The Mickery, and in other theaters throughout Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Ott left Europe to return to the United States where she formed her own theater company, Aleph. Aleph's work was presented in Los Angeles before they were hired as the company in residence at the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee.

While in Milwaukee, Ott developed an interest in the work of Theatre X, eventually joined the company, and directed several productions for the company including The Wreck: A Romance, based on the poems of Adrienne Rich, and A Fierce Longing based on the life and work of Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima. The Wreck was presented at theater festivals in the United States and the Netherlands, and the company received an Obie award for A Fierce Longing after its run at New York City's Performing Garage.

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