Christopher Bayes began his theater career with the internationally acclaimed Theatre de la Jeune Lune where he worked for five years as an actor, director, composer, designer, and artistic associate. In 1989 he joined the acting company of the Guthrie Theater where he appeared in over twenty productions. His roles included Caliban in The Tempest, Edgar in King Lear, The Herald in Marat/Sade and Harlequin in Triumph of Love. In 1993, commissioned by the Guthrie Theater, he produced his one-man show This Ridiculous Dreaming based on Heinrich Boll’s novel The Clown.
In New York, he has directed Red Noses by Peter Barnes, Fourby Feydeau, The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Moliere One Acts, and The Love of Three Oranges by Carlo Gozzi at the Juilliard School; The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere, The New Place by Carlo Goldoni, We Won’t Pay… by Dario Fo, and his new adaptation of Moliere’s The Reluctant Doctor of Love for New York University’s Graduate Acting Program; The Raven by Carlo Gozzi at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing; Ubu Roi at both NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing and Fordham University; and Timeslips at HERE.
Additionally, he has staged several original works including Wreckage at P.S. 122, The Big Day (a clown show) and The Fiasco Bro. Circus at the Juilliard School, Zibaldoné at HERE and the Present Company Theatorium, The Fools/Los Locos Del Pueblo at Touchstone Theater, Necromance, A Night of Conjuration at Dixon Place, Clowns at the New York International Clown Festival and The Public Theater, and Even Maybe Tammy at The Flea.
Outside of New York, his directing credits include a co-production of Scapin at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle and Court Theatre in Chicago, Comedy of Errors at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Len Jenkin’s new adaptation of The Birdsat Yale Repertory Theatre, Endgame at Court Theatre, and The Moliere Impromptu at Trinity Repertory Company. He was part of the creative team for the Broadway and touring productions of THE 39 STEPS, for which he created additional movement and served as Movement Director. Most recently he created original movement for John Guare’s newest work Three Kinds of Exile at Atlantic Theater Company. He directed Servant of Two Masters at Yale Repertory Theatre (which has been remounted at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, the Guthrie Theater, ArtsEmerson, and Seattle Repertory Theatre) and A Doctor in Spite of Himself at the Intiman Theatre (which was remounted at Yale Repertory Theatre and Berkeley Repertory Theatre).
He has received numerous awards and grants including a Jerome Foundation Travel/Study Grant, a General Mills Foundation Artist Assistance Grant, and both a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship Grant and a Career Opportunity Grant. He is a 1999/2000 Fox Fellow.
He has taught classes and workshops internationally at Cirque Du Soleil, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Big Apple Circus, Vassar College, Stella Adler Conservatory, Bard College, Fordham University, University of Texas Graduate Acting and Directing Programs, National Shakespeare Conservatory, University of Minnesota Graduate Acting Program, the Guthrie Theater, Iowa State University and Theatre de la Jeune Lune.
He has served on the faculty of the Juilliard Drama School, the Actor’s Center (founding faculty and master teacher of physical comedy/clown), David Geffen School of Drama, the Public Theater’s Shakespeare Lab, the Academy of Classical Acting at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, and New York University’s Graduate Acting Program and Tisch School of the Arts. His most recent position was that of Clinical Professor of Theater, Speech and Dance at Brown University and Director of Movement and Physical Theater at the Brown/Trinity Consortium in Providence, RI. In 2006, however, he threw caution to the wind, packed up his family and all of his nonsense and headed back to New York City. He is currently a Professor Adjunct and Head of Physical Acting at David Geffen School of Drama.