Biography

MAY ADRALES is a director,  teacher and artistic leader.  She helmed the world premiere of  Lortel Award and Obie Award-Winning production VIETGONE at Manhattan Theatre Club/ South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Rep; LUCE at LCT3; Chisa Hutchinson's SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER at Second Stage Theatre;  EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM at Actors Theater of Louisville, after all the terrible things I do at Milwaukee Rep; THE WAY THE MOUNTAIN MOVED (OSF);  POOR YELLA REDNECKS (South Coast Rep) MARY at The Goodman Theatre,  Chisa Hutchinson's THE WEDDING GIFT (Contemporary American Theater Festival);  IN THIS HOUSE at Two River Theater Company; Imani Uzuri and Zakiyyah Alexander's girl shakes loose at Penumbra Theater; Betty Shamieh's The Strangest at East 4th Theater; Qui Nguyen's Five Days Till Saturday (NYU Tisch) Richard Dresser's TROUBLE COMETH at San Francisco Playhouse; and  Katori Hall’s WHADDABLOODCLOT!!! at Williamstown Theater Festival; Kristin Newbom and David Hancock's world premiere of OUR LOT  (Clubbed Thumb;) Lauren Yee’s CHING CHONG CHINAMAN (Pan Asian Rep;) Thomas Bradshaw’s THE BEREAVED (Top Ten of 2009, Time Out) at Partial Comfort Productions; Tommy Smith’s THE WIFE (Access Theater;)  Lisa Ramirez’s EXIT CUCKOO (Best Solo Performance) at Midtown International Theater Festival; and Anton Dudley’s COLD HARD CASH at Williamstown Theater Festival.  Other Productions:  IN THE HEIGHTS (Milwaukee Rep, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Portland Center Stage); THE CHINESE LADY (Milwaukee Rep);Dael Orlandersmith’s YELLOWMAN and Katori Hall's THE MOUNTAINTOP (Milwaukee Rep); Stefanie Zadrevec’s THE ELECTRIC BABY (Two River Theater) and David Henry Hwang’s DANCE AND THE RAILROAD (Signature Theatre and Wuzhen International Theater Festival); David Henry Hwang's CHINGLISH (Portland Center Stage and Syracuse Stage); Daniel Beaty's Breath and Imagination (Cleveland Playhouse); IN THE NEXT ROOM  (Syracuse Stage);  DEATHTRAP (Pioneer Theater); Kimber Lee's TOKYO FISH STORY (Old Globe Theatre); and DISGRACED  (Syracuse Stage) THE WHO AND THE WHAT (Milwaukee Rep); ANIMAL FARM (Milwaukee Rep/Baltimore Center Stage); Little Black Shadows (South Coast Rep)

She succeeds trailblazing founder, John Clinton Eisner, as the Artistic Director of The Lark, an international play develop think tank and laboratory.  She served  as Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Play Development at Milwaukee Rep.  She served as Director of Artistic Programs at the Lark  (2008-2010), developing programs to support and nurture over 200 playwrights. She served as an Artistic Associate at The Public Theater (2006-2009), spearheading the Shakespeare Lab, a professional conservatory, and overseeing community engagement programs in the outer boroughs.  She also produced and oversaw the Shakespeare Mobile Unit in 2007 and 2008.  She has worked with several high school and middle school students in Shakespeare workshops and productions through The Public Theater and Epic Theater Ensemble.  

Adrales is the recipient of the  TCG Alan Schneider Directing Award; League of Professional Women Josephine Abady Award; Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s inaugural Denham Fellowship and the Paul Green Emerging Directing award.  She is a recipient of a TCG New Generations grant.  She has been awarded directing fellowships at New York Theater Workshop; Women's Project; SoHo Rep; and The Drama League.  She has directed and taught at NYU, Juilliard, American Conservatory Theater, American Repertory Theater, Fordham University and Bard College.  She served as a faculty member for The Public Theater’s Shakespeare Lab (2006-2009).  She has served on faculty at Yale School of Drama;  Einhorn School of Performing Arts at Primary Stages and Brown/Trinity MFA program. Adrales is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. 

May is a first generation Filipina American.  She grew up in Appalachia Virginia with her three sisters JoAnn, Gina and Tricia and had a backyard full of chickens, pheasant and dogs.  Her father, Dr. Mamerto B. Adrales, a general surgeon and her mother, Jocelyn Divinagracia Adrales, a nurse, established a home and successful family practice in Covington, VA.   She is a lover of ice cream and martinis and balances this love with a passion for running and marathon racing.      Best friends with the one and only Chad Kessler since they tried to get on the wrong side of the bus in London.  She is a proud mom to Macy Jocelyn, born three weeks early during tech/previews for her production of Much Ado About Nothing.      She is also a happy partner and emergency contact to the love of her life -- theater designer and architect, Brad Kisicki.  Together, they are recovered Skymiles addicts and currently resettling down in New York.