Edward Stern - Producing Artistic Director

Edward Stern has been Producing Artistic Director at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park since 1992. His directing credits at the Playhouse include The Piano Teacher; The Fantasticks; Victoria Musica; Othello; Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure; Of Mice and Men; Stone My Heart; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; The Retreat From Moscow; Twelfth Night; Mister Roberts; One; The Smell of the Kill; Ah, Wilderness!; King Lear; Inherit the Wind; A Little Night Music; Wit; Much Ado About Nothing; Gross Indecency; The Little Foxes; Sweeney Todd; The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas; and Scotland Road, among others.

Ed has taught extensively and directed at commercial and regional theatres nationwide, such as The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Cleveland Play House, Kansas City Repertory Theatre and San Jose Repertory Theatre, where productions include Richard III, M. Butterfly, The Three Musketeers, Romance Language, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Rivals and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

A graduate of the University of Virginia and Indiana University, he was co-founder of the Indiana Repertory Theatre (Indianapolis) and served as its artistic director from 1972-80. At the IRT, he directed more than two dozen plays. He also has held faculty positions at both Rutgers University and the William Esper Studio in New York City. Ed is married to Annie Ward Stern and has two sons, Robert and Ward.

Buzz Ward - Executive Director

Buzz Ward has been Executive Director at the Cincinnati Playhouse in  the Park since 1992.  In this capacity he oversees all aspects of the administrative, financial and production support operations of the theatre, generating financial surpluses yearly. From 1988-92, he was general manager for the Yale School of Drama/Yale Repertory Theatre and taught on the faculty of the Theatre Administration M.F.A. graduate program for four years.  While there, he coordinated the finances for Yale’s Broadway production of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in English and theatre from Princeton University and his M.B.A. at the Harvard Business School.  He serves as section secretary for his Harvard Business School class. He is the treasurer for the League of Resident Theatres and works with Business Volunteers for the Arts and Business on Board for ArtsWave.

He was a site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, was on the board of  Ohio Citizens for the Arts and also served as a member of the Theatre Advisory Panel for the Ohio Arts Council for four years.  He was the keynote speaker at the Polish National Theatre Conference in Warsaw, Poland, in 1998. Buzz is also an avid amateur photographer.

Michael Evan Haney - Associate Artistic Director

Michael Evan Haney has been the Associate Artistic Director for the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park since 2002 . Throughout his career he has directed more than 60 productions and acted in more than 75. His Playhouse directing credits include Over the Tavern, The Understudy, The History of Invulnerability, Sleuth, Blackbird, Love Song, Around the World in 80 Days, Crime and Punishment, Reckless, A Christmas Carol (1993-2010), Witness for the Prosecution, The Clean House, Bad Dates, A Picasso, Hiding Behind Comets, The Drawer Boy, The Syringa Tree, Proof, The Mystery of Irma Vep and The Last Night of Ballyhoo.

Internationally, Michael has directed shows at the English Theatres of Vienna and Frankfurt as well as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His regional credits include Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Meadow Brook Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Asolo Theatre Company, Sacramento Theatre Company, Monument Boulevard, Missouri Repertory Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Wayside Theatre, Passage Theatre Company and Pacific Resident Theatre.

He is the former artistic director of Pennsylvania's Allenberry Playhouse.