Paul Houghtaling

Stage director and choreographer Paul Houghtaling has worked on stages throughout the U.S. and abroad in a wide variety of repertoire. He has directed for Cedar Rapids, Natchez, Opéra Louisiane, Opera Mississippi, Mobile Opera, and Opera on the James, among others. Paul serves as the Director of Opera Theatre at the University of Alabama, and he is the Artistic Director of the Druid City Opera, a new professional company in Tuscaloosa. His work with the UA Opera Theatre has won prizes at the National Opera Association’s Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition and Opera Production Competition, including a First Place win for their production of Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin in 2022.  Paul is a Past-President of the National Opera Association (NOA) and is still active  in the organization as a consultant and mentor to younger directors and teachers. 

 

Druid City Opera has presented Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Rigoletto and will produce Il Barbiere di Siviglia in 2025. Recent seasons at Alabama have included productions of West Side Story, The Consul, The Merry Widow, Suor Angelica, The Gondoliers, Così fan tutte, The Mikado, A Little Night Music and Street Scene, which was supported by a major grant from the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. He is also an avid proponent of new works, and mounted recent chamber operas by Tony Solitro, Leanna Kirchoff, Philip Seward, Lisa DeSpain, and Rachel Peters. Recently, Houghtaling staged two world premieres:  Michael Ching’s RSBE: Remove Shoes Before Entering, and Joseph Landers’ Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which was recorded by Alabama Public Television for broadcast later in 2020.  He holds a BA from The College of the Holy Cross, a BM from The New England Conservatory of Music, an MA from Hunter College of CUNY, and a DMA from The City University of New York.