Sellars, Peter, 1957–, American director, b. Pittsburgh, grad. Harvard (1981). A highly innovative director, he began his career with the Boston Shakespeare Co. (1983–84) and Washington's American National Theater (1984–86) and has since worked with theater and opera companies and festivals worldwide. He has staged provocative versions of plays from Sophocles to Shakespeare to contemporary drama and of many operas, including a series of updated Mozart operas, e.g., The Marriage of Figaro set in Manhattan's Trump Tower, and a version of Wagner's Tannhauser as the rise and fall of a randy televangelist. Sellars also is noted for collaborating with composer John Adams, directing Nixon in China (1987), The Death of Klinghoffer (1991), Dr. Atomic (2005), and A Flowering Tree (2006) and writing the librettos for each except Klinghoffer. More recent projects include a futuristic Shakespeare's Othello (2009) and Toni Morrison's Desdemona (2011).
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