The Rotary Club of Jamestown welcomed Andrew Borba, retiring Chautauqua Theatre Company artistic director for the 7th and final time. Borba is retiring at the end of this season after serving as artistic director since 2016, having previously spent eight seasons as the company’s associate artistic director. He has visited the Rotary Club of Jamestown every summer to discuss the Theater productions, so it was a bittersweet day for everyone.
An actor and director, Borba has worked at theaters around the country, including Detroit Public Theater, South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, The Globe Theatre, Berkeley Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (5 seasons), Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Stage Company, The Long Wharf, and others. On film, he has appeared in small parts in big films and big parts in small films and has had recurring and guest appearances on over 30 television series. Recently, Borba directed Julius Caesar at PlayMaker’s Repertory in North Carolina and is appearing as CEO/bad guy Phillip Corwin on the Bosch: Legacy TV series on Amazon.
A graduate of Brown University and New York University, Borba lives in Los Angeles and is Head of Master of Fine Arts Acting at the University of California at Irvine where he is also a professor of drama.
Borba explained that the Theater Company at Chautauqua presents 6 shows in 8 ½ weeks! This year they will be presenting Indecent July 1-14; Animals Out of Paper July 31-August 7; and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe August 14-21 (Borba has taken over the lead role). New Play Workshops to be presented this season are Flowers of Hawaii June 22-24; Through the Eyes of Holly Germaine July 20-22; and Black Like Me July 23-24.
The members peppered Mr. Borba with many questions at the end of his talk and the most interesting response was to the question of what has been his favorite acting role? Borba thought for a few seconds and then responded - Richard III - which he performed in the outdoors complicating an already long and difficult dialogue. He reminded the Club that the Young Playwright’s Program at Chautauqua will start soon.
Andrew was accompanied by his assistant Rachel Schein who is a graduate student in acting at UC Irvine. She will soon be headed to West Virginia to start up a theater company there.