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  Copeland Woodruff, Stage Director

Copeland Woodruff, director and acting coach, began his career as a vocalist and instrumentalist, receiving his academic training from the University of South Carolina and Indiana University. Upon his return from teaching and singing in Germany and Italian-speaking Switzerland, he concentrated his talents on becoming a stage director. In order to be a more collaborative artist, he enrolled in the M.F.A. program at the University of South Carolina in Theatrical Design and continued on the crew of Indiana University Opera during his years there in the Masters in Stage Directing Program.

Soon after that Mr. Woodruff was on the staffs of Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Academy of Vocal Arts, Yale Opera and New York City Opera, as well as other professional and academic venues. He is sought as a teacher of the singing actor and has been the resident director and acting coach for the Harrower Opera Workshop in Atlanta, Georgia (one of two workshops funded by the Goldovsky Foundation) for the past seven years. He is currently on the faculty of the Opera Department at Temple University where he teaches the undergraduate Opera Workshop.

Still an active performer, Mr. Woodruff has been seen on numerous stages in the Philadelphia area, including most recently in Anyone Can Whistle at the Prince Music Theater. In addition to his work with Atlantic Coast Opera Festival this summer, Copeland most recently directed Bat Boy: The Musical for Village Productions currently playing in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Critically acclaimed for his collage renderings of the classic repertoire, he will also be mounting his production of Lady M., a collage based on Verdi's Macbetto with his experimental opera company, Opera Senza Nome, in the Fall.