Nevada Conservatory Theatre names new artistic director

UNLV alumnus Christopher V. Edwards will return to campus as artistic director of Nevada Conservatory Theatre, UNLV’s professional theater training program, NCT officials announced Wednesday.

Edwards joins NCT after 14 years with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Cold Spring, N.Y., where he was associate artistic director and director of education. An actor and educator as well as a director, he’s worked at various theaters across the country and internationally — including NCT, where his directorial credits include “Seven Guitars” and “Arcadia.”

He’s also directed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and at New York City’s Lincoln Center and performed Off-Broadway and in London’s West End. Edwards has taught at Lincoln Center, the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., Bennington College in Vermont and at UNLV, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He received a master’s degree in fine arts at the University of Minnesota, which is affiliated with the renowned Guthrie Theater.

Edwards’ appointment fills a position that’s been vacant since predecessor Robert Benedetti stepped down in 2011; executive director Brackley Frayer, who chairs UNLV’s theater department, has been doing double duty since then.

NCT’s new season begins in September with Athol Fugard’s “My Children! My Africa!”