Sanford (Sandy) Robbins

Biography

​Sanford (Sandy) Robbins is the founder and former Producing Artistic Director of the Resident Ensemble Players (REP), the professional theatre at the University of Delaware, as well as founder and Director of Training for the University’s Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP), which is ranked as one of the top ten theatre training programs in America by U.S. News and World Report. Theatres for which he has directed include the Alley Theatre, Oregon Shakespearean Festival, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival, and American Players Theatre, as well as multiple productions for the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, where he served for several years as a resident director and remains a frequent guest director. 

Internationally, he has directed the international premieres of Sam Shepard plays for the national theatres of several foreign countries, including Buried Child for the Moscow Art Theatre Studio and the National Theatre of Cyprus.  His production of Shepard's The Tooth of Crime received the Thalia Award for Best Production in Finland, an award won the previous year by Ingmar Bergman. 

Mr. Robbins also serves professional theatres as a text and verse speaking coach for Shakespeare and other classic plays, most recently for the Alley Theatre's production of Hamlet.  He has taught acting, voice, verse speaking, and period style at Carnegie-Mellon University, Los Angeles City College, and The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Mr. Robbins recently directed Cyrano de Bergerac and Lombardi for the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The Winter’s Tale for the Independent Shakespeare Company, November and You Can’t Take It With You at the Alley Theatre, and Wit for the REP. Mr. Robbins received his BFA and MFA from Carnegie-Mellon University.