Tao of Glass

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Philip Glass is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, Glass spent two years of intensive study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and, while there, earned money by transcribing Ravi Shankar’s Indian music into Western notation. By 1974, Glass had a number of innovative projects creating a large collection of new music for The Philip Glass Ensemble and for the Mabou Mines Theater Company. This period culminated in Music in Twelve Parts and the landmark opera Einstein on the Beach, for which he collaborated with Robert Wilson. Since Einstein, Glass has expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra and film. His scores have received Academy Award nominations (Kundun, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal) and a Golden Globe (The Truman Show). Glass’s memoir Words Without Music was published by Liveright Books in 2015.

Glass received the Praemium Imperiale in 2012, the U.S. National Medal of the Arts from President Barack Obama in 2016, and 41st Kennedy Center Honors in 2018. Glass’s recent works include a circus opera Circus Days and Nights, Symphony No. 13, and Symphony No 14. Glass celebrated his 85th birthday in 2022 with a season of international programming.

Phelim McDermott is a founder member of Improbable and the company’s co-artistic director.

In addition to Tao Of Glass Improbable credits include: 70 Hill Lane; Lifegame; Animo; Coma; Spirit; Sticky; Cinderella; The Hanging Man; Theatre of Blood (in collaboration with the National Theatre); Panic; Beauty and the Beast (in co-production with ONEOFUS); The Tempest (a co-production with Northern Stage and Oxford Playhouse); Opening Skinners Box (a co-production with Northern Stage and West Yorkshire Playhouse); Lost Without Words (a coproduction with the National Theatre), My Neighbour Totoro (RSC and Nippon TV at Barbican) winner of six Olivier Awards including Best Director and best Entertainment of Comedy Play and five Whats On Stage Awards also including Best Director.

Opera credits with Improbable include: Philip Glass’s Satyagraha (ENO, LA Opera); The Perfect American, the Olivier Award-winning Akhnaten, Mozart’s Così fan tutte (ENO and Metropolitan Opera, NY); Aida (ENO) and; BambinO, an opera for babies (originally co-produced with Manchester International Festival and Scottish Opera, now with LA Opera); The Hours (Metropolitan Opera).

Other productions as director include: the Olivier Award-winning Shockheaded Peter; Alex (The Arts Theatre); The Ghost Downstairs (Leicester Haymarket); Dr Faustus, Improbable Tales (Nottingham Playhouse); The Servant of Two Masters, The Hunchback of Notre Dame; The Government Inspector (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Artistic Collaborator on She’s Leaving Home (produced by 20 Stories High).

In 2003 Phelim was awarded a National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) fellowship to research new ways of rehearsing and creating theatre using improvisation and process-oriented conflict facilitation techniques. As part of this work he has facilitated many Open Space Technology events. He was made an Honorary Doctor of Middlesex University in 2007.

Kirsty Housley is a director, writer and dramaturg working across theatre, film and digital.

Recent work includes Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead for Complicite (Additional Direction), Jekyll and Hyde by Evan Placey (director) for The National Theatre; Extinct by April de Angelis (director and dramaturg) for Theatre Royal Stratford East; The Long Goodbye (director of live show and livestream) with Riz Ahmed for Manchester International Festival/BAM; Can I Live for Complicite (Dramaturg); Mephisto (A Rhapsody) at The Gate Theatre (director); Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran and The Believers are but Brothers (Director and co creator with Javaad Alipoor); Tao of Glass with Phillip Glass for Manchester International Festival (co-director); Avalanche: A Love Story at The Barbican and Sydney Theatre (Dramaturg); Misty at The Bush and the West End (Dramaturg); The Encounter for Complicite (co-director) and Myth for the RSC (director and co-writer).