Bill Berry

Bill served as The 5th Avenue’s associate producing artistic director and casting director from 2002 through 2009. During that time, he directed productions of West Side Story (Seattle Times Footlight Award), Wonderful Town (Seattle Times Footlight Award), Wizard of Oz, and Smokey Joe’s Café.

In 2014, he made his Broadway debut as the director of the hit musical First Date at the Longacre Theatre. Berry’s directing work has been seen at theaters across the country, most recently at Florida's Asolo Repertory Theatre, where he directed the new musical, Beatsville. Berry also recently directed a critically acclaimed production of On the Town at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse. Directing highlights include Cabaret performed at The 5th Avenue Theatre, St. Paul’s Ordway Center (Ivey Award), San Jose’s American Musical Theatre, and Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars, as well as the smash, hits Mamma Mia!, The Pajama Game, How to Succeed…, Little Shop of Horrors, First Date, RENT, The Music Man and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel at The 5th.

From 2002 to 2009, he served as the producing director for The 5th Avenue’s education and outreach programs. During that time he significantly expanded the scope and impact of these initiatives, including spearheading the creation of Fridays at The 5th and The 5th Avenue Awards, honoring excellence in high school musical theater, as well as substantially increasing the reach of the Adventure Musical Theater Touring Company throughout the Northwest. These programs combined now serve nearly 75,000 students annually. He also initiated the Show Talk series, which seeks to deepen the theater-going experience. Prior to his work at The 5th Avenue Theatre, Berry was a freelance theater artist based in New York City.