Joanna Read
Joanna Read is a British theatre director and librettist, and the newly instated President of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.
Career
She was previously Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Salisbury Playhouse from 1999 to 2007. Under her leadership, the Playhouse became one of the leading regional producing theatres of the last decade. She steered the theatre to a position of financial stability, while also leading a successful major capital development programme. Prior to this she was Associate Director of the Octagon Theatre Bolton from 1997. She was Head of Education and Participation for Birmingham Rep. from 1993 to 1997, where she created a successful and wide-ranging education and outreach strategy and commissioned and directed new writing. Recently she has worked as a freelance director and writer for Edinburgh Festival Theatre, the Young Vic London, the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle Under Lyme, The Watermill West Berkshire Playhouse, The Mill at Sonning and the Watford Palace Theatre, amongst others.[1] As a librettist, her works include a musical version of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, for which Howard Goodall composed the music.[2]