Director. Producer. Creative Consultant.
From the Orchard Project
Recent writing from the Orchard Project, the new-work incubator I founded and lead as Artistic Director.
September 24, 2026
Ahead of next week’s reckoning over the end of nonprofit theater: where the gala money goes, what we gave up when we stopped carrying risk, and why a…
Read at the Orchard Project ↗August 27, 2026
I am writing this having just returned from a whirlwind trip to Edinburgh, where I saw about twenty shows in three days. Musicals, plays, one-person shows, comedy, performance…
Read at the Orchard Project ↗April 17, 2026
There is a quiet shift happening in the theater world, not necessarily in the work itself, which remains as inventive and unpredictable as ever, but in who is…
Read at the Orchard Project ↗Excerpts from the Orchard Project. Full articles remain on the original site.
I am a director, producer, artistic director, and developer of new work spanning a number of verticals — theatre, opera, musicals, TV, and audio
Ari Edelson has spent more than 20 years as a leader in new play development. As founder and artistic director of The Orchard Project, he has spent more than 15 years building ecosystems that clear the runway for artists, providing development, feedback, and producing support that move new work from draft to production. The Orchard Project has developed more than 400 productions that have gone on to Broadway, the West End, and regional theaters around the United States and the world.
He is the creator of Notes 2.0, an approach to creative feedback, and writes regularly on how new work gets made and where the field is headed.
As a director, his credits span theatre, opera, and musicals on three continents, including Building the Wall (New World Stages), Expats (The New Group), and Vengeance (Cherry Lane Theatre). He was a staff director at English National Opera, founded the Old Vic/New Voices US/UK program at London’s Old Vic, and was director on attachment at Theatre Project Tokyo, New Dramatists, and the National Theatre Studio. He has taught at Northwestern University, Fordham University, and in Japan. Education: Yale University and Royal Scottish Conservatoire.
The play still emerges as powerful political theater [and] never feels static, thanks to Ari Edelson’s taut staging and the gripping performances.
Gripping storytelling, and powerful performances ... under director Ari Edelson’s well-measured direction.
Jun, 2008 - Present
Founder and Artistic Director
The Orchard Project
2000 - present
Freelance Director
2011-2016
Co-Founder
Culture Craver
2005 - 2008
Director on Attachment
Theatre Project Tokyo
2002 - 2010
Founder/Artistic Director
Old Vic/New Voices US/UK Program, Old Vic Theatre, London
2000 - 2003
Staff Director
English National Opera