Anthony Runfola

director

biography

Anthony Runfola is a freelance director, designer, and producer.

From 2019–2025, he served as Artistic Director of Magik Theatre in San Antonio, TX, leading the company toward inclusive, socially relevant storytelling through new play development and community partnerships. At Magik, he produced over 30 shows, including directing ¡Lotería: Game On!, Lyric and the Keys, and Tomás and the Library Lady.

Previously, he spent over two decades with Childsplay in Tempe, Arizona, as Director of Production, overseeing 150+ shows. 

He has been a guest artist at theatres throughout the US, including Childsplay, Black Theatre Troupe, Imagination Stage, Orlando Family Stage, Teatro Bravo, Actors Theatre of Phoenix, Herberger Lunchtime Theatre, Stray Cat Theatre, Magik Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, Scottsdale Community College, and Mesa Community College.

Anthony’s directing credits span theatre for young audiences and adult work, including A Steady Rain,Top Girls, Broke-Ology, The Lightning Thief, Goodnight Moon, Wonderland: Alice’s Rock & Roll Adventure, and the national tour of Schoolhouse Rock Live!.​

In 2010, through funding from the MetLife Foundation and Theatre Communications Group, he founded the Sustainable Stagecraft Initiative, researching and developing sustainable practices for theatrical production. He has been invited to speak on the subject at conferences throughout the U.S.

He was a co-director of the Childsplay’s El Puente project, an outreach program that engages Latinx families in Phoenix with the theatre, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Trust.

He was a founding co-chair of Childsplay’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and a member of the inaugural cohort of ArtEquity.

In 1998 he was selected to participate in the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, and in 2000 was invited to join Director's Lab West at the Pasadena Playhouse. Anthony has served on the boards of Desert State USITT (the Arizona chapter of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology), Teatro Bravo, and Stray Cat Theatre. 

​He was a founding member of Upstairs Theatre Company in Tucson, AZ and served as the company's artistic director until 2001.

​He champions accessibility, representation, and theatre’s power to inspire young audiences. Connect with him on Linked In.