Sharon Ott is an Associate Professor and served as the Chair of Dept. of Theatre from 2017 until August, 2021. She currently serves as the Artistic Director for the department. Before coming to VCU, she was a Professor in the Performing Arts Dept. at Savannah College of Art and Design and was also the Artistic Director for that department. She led two major west coast theatres (Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre) for 21 years before shifting her focus to academia. She has directed at major theatres across the US, including the Manhattan Theatre Club, the Public Theatre, the Huntington Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Mark Taper Forum, Ford’s Theatre, Arena Stage and many others. Her directing work has received many awards, including several Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Award, Hollywood Dramalogue Awards, the Elliot Norton Award, Seattle Footlight Awards, and an Obie Award (with Theatre X- Milwaukee for A FIERCE LONGING). She accepted the Tony Award for Berkeley Rep as Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1998. She has also directed operas at Seattle Opera, San Diego Opera, and Opera Colorado. Her directing work in academic theatre has twice received citations for Outstanding Direction by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (for FAHRENHEIT 451 at Savannah College of Art and Design) and SHE KILLS MONSTERS : VIRTUAL WORLDS (with Dorie Barton and Wes Seals) at VCU. She was a long time Executive Board Member of SDC and received the President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Union in 2019.