Sean Graney

Teaches at Vagabond School of the Arts

Sean Graney is a Chicago-based director who concentrates on staging modern versions of classic plays to create relevant theatrical pieces for our contemporary society. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of The Hypocrites, a company he founded in 1997. In 2013 he was fortunate enough to be a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University where he completed writing All Our Tragic, a twelve-hour adaptation combining all thirty-two surviving Greek Tragedies, which was presented by The Hypocrites the summer of 2014 and remounted during the summer of 2015. 

It garnered six Joseph Jefferson Awards, including best Director and Best Adaptation. Most recently he adapted and directed Yeomen of the Guard at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival completing the direction of his fourth highly-popular Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. He attended Emerson College and taught at University of Chicago, DePaul University and Columbia College Chicago. Other works include Sophocles: Seven Sicknesses, an adaptation of all seven surviving texts of Sophocles, which had successful runs in Chicago, Providence and at the Flea in NY. As a director, Sean has helmed over 75 productions. He was a participant in the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors in 2004. He has won four Joseph Jefferson Awards. His directing work has been seen at American Repertory Theater, Actors' Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Rep, Chicago Shakespeare, Goodman Theatre, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Court Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Steppenwolf for Young Audiences, Chicago Children’s Theatre and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.