Director and actor Andrew Barnicle joined The Laguna Playhouse as Artistic Director in July 1991, helping to solidify and advance the company’s position as one of the region’s most successful professional non-profit theatres.
Barnicle has produced more than 100 Playhouse productions, and directed 37 of them. Recent directing projects include Michael Hollinger's Red Herring, Yasmina Reza's Art, the World Premieres of Bernard Farrell's The Verdi Girls and Richard Dresser's The Pursuit of Happiness. Other directing credits at The Laguna Playhouse include Rob Ackerman’s Tabletop, Alan Ayckbourn’s Communicating Doors, Catherine Butterfield’s The Sleeper, Marc Camoletti’s Don’t Dress for Dinner, Richard Dresser’s Rounding Third and Wonderful World, Bernard Farrell’s Lovers at Versailles, Stella by Starlight, Kevin’s Bed and Many Happy Returns, A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia, Sherwood Kiraly’s Who’s Hot, Who’s Not, Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s best-selling novel The Woman in Black, David Mamet’s American Buffalo, Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile and The Underpants, W. Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife, Joe Orton’s What The Butler Saw, William Shakespeare’s Othello, Neil Simon’s Laughter On The 23rd Floor and Rumors, Daniel Sullivan’s Inspecting Carol and John Twomey’s Teacher’s Lounge. Barnicle also memorably directed the world premiere of his adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s The Liar in a new translation by his wife Sara. Many of these Laguna Playhouse productions have been world, national or regional premieres.
Andrew served previously as Head of Theater at United States International University’s School of Performing Arts in San Diego. There he directed acclaimed productions of West Side Story and Goldoni's The Venetian Twins at the Theater At Old Town. Barnicle also served as Associate Artistic Director at North Coast Repertory Theater, where his numerous directing credits included the San Diego premiere of Torch Song Trilogy.
He recently directed Rounding Third and Gunmetal Blues at the Colony Theatre in Burbank and the female version of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple at Michigan’s LORT Meadow Brook Theatre.
Andrew has appeared in many television and film roles, and has played major roles on stage with San Diego Rep, Alaska Repertory Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Detroit ’s Meadow Brook and Hilberry Theatres. He has also appeared in several Off-Broadway productions, including three at SoHo Rep and True West at the Cherry Lane Theater. Andrew has appeared in five roles at The Laguna Playhouse, including Tthe Actor/Guardsman in Enter the Guardsman, as gumshoe Sam Galahad in the musical Gunmetal Blues, and most recently as Lawrence in The Ice-Breaker. He can also be heard on the cast recording. Playhouse audiences have also enjoyed Andrew as David in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Austin in True West, and David in Strange Snow.
Andrew Barnicle holds a B.A. in Humanities from George Williams College and an M.A. from the University of Illinois, Chicago. He completed three years of postgraduate studies at Wayne State University, where he was a member of the renowned Hilberry Classic Repertory Company, and taught on the adjunct faculty. He has also taught as a member of the adjunct theater faculty at the University of California at Irvine.
