Paul Whitworth (King Lear) studied Modern Languages at St. Andrews and Oxford.   His professional acting career began at the Royal Shakespeare Company (1976-1982).   Also in his native England he acted and directed  at Cambridge Theatre Company, Birmingham Repertory Theatre,  Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, and The Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London.  In 1984, he joined Shakespeare Santa Cruz, where he produced, directed and acted, serving as Artistic Director from 1996 to 2007. He was particularly proud, in this capacity, to have initiated the collaboration between the UCSC Theatre Arts Department and professional SSC artists to produce the highly successful Winter Holiday ‘Pantos’ by local playwright Kate Hawley.  Other credits: American Conservatory Theatre, Aurora Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, TheatreWorks, Asolo Theatre, Seattle, Berkeley and Cleveland Reps.  For the Jewel Theatre, Whitworth directed the world premières of Kate Hawley’s Complications from a Fall (2015) and Coming of Age (2018)  and performed in Krapp’s Last Tape,  One for the Road, Heisenberg and, last season, Remains to be Seen.  In 1992, he translated and directed the English première of Tirso de Molina's The Rape of Tamar (c.1624) in London. His translation is published by Oberon Books. Whitworth is Professor Emeritus of Theatre Arts at UCSC.