Libby Appel is currently the Artistic Director Emerita of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  She was the artistic director of OSF from 1995 through 2007 where she directed 30 plays.  Prior to that she  was the artistic director of Indiana Repertory Theatre for 4 years and Dean and Artistic director of the School of Theatre at California Institute of the Arts.  She was also head of the acting program at California State University, Long Beach and taught acting at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago.

Libby has directed in theaters throughout the country doing over 30 productions of Shakespeare’s plays and all of Chekhov’s plays. She has recently completed five new translations of Chekhov’s plays along with Russian to English translator, Allison Horsley.  The translations are now available in a new book,  Five Chekhov Plays, which include Ivanov, Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.  She is the author of Mask Characterization: An Acting Process, and co-created and produced the video Inter/Face: The Actor and The Mask.  She also co-created two plays, Shakespeare’s Women and Shakespeare’s Lovers. She is profiled, because of her deep love and extraordinary practice with the works of Anton Chekhov, in the documentary :Meeting With Chekhov (a Coffee and Language film)

Libby has honorary doctorates from Southern Oregon University, University of Portland and Willamette University.  She has an M.A. from Northwestern University and a B.A. from the University of Michigan (Phi Beta Kappa).  She is the recipient of the Stephen and Christine Schwarzman Award for Excellence: Lifetime Achievement in Theater which was awarded at the Kennedy Center in 2010.