Peter Sellars

American director
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
Quick Facts
Born:
September 27, 1957, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. (age 67)

Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.) is an American stage director. He is best known for staging plays and operas for numerous international theatres in settings far different than those suggested by the text.

Sellars attended Harvard University, where he began developing his innovative style of directing. His controversial production of Ajax (1986) took the form of a post-Vietnam military trial. Among his many striking opera productions, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni was staged in an urban ghetto, his Così fan tutte in a diner, and his Marriage of Figaro in a corporate high-rise. He collaborated with John Adams on the operas Nixon in China (1987), Doctor Atomic (2005), and A Flowering Tree (2006).

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.