Chris Coleman

Chris has been artistic director of Portland Center Stage, the second largest theater in the Pacific NW, since 2000. Prior to moving to Portland, Chris was artistic director at Actor’s Express in Atlanta, a company he co-founded in 1988. He has directed at theaters across the country, including Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, ACT-Seattle, Dallas Theatre Center, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop and Center Stage in Baltimore. His last projects at the Alliance were as director for Heartbreak House, Tom in The Glass Menagerie, and Marvin in Falsettos. Chris holds a B.F.A. from Baylor University and an M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon. In 2012 he led the successful ballot measure that now generates funding to put art and music teachers back in Portland’s elementary schools, while almost tripling public funding to many of the city’s arts organizations. Chris and his husband, Rodney, are the proud parents of a Jack Russell/Lab mix and an English Blockhead Yellow lab.