Ilana Toeplitz

Ilana Ransom Toeplitz is a critically acclaimed director, choreographer, and teaching artist whose work spans Broadway, Off-Broadway, national, and international tours, and the country’s leading regional stages.

In New York, she directed both the 10th anniversary concert and reunion concert of Reefer Madness! — the latter featuring Tony Award winner Alan Cumming — at 54 Below and New World Stages. On Broadway, Ilana served as the SDC Foundation’s Mike Ockrent Directing Fellow on the Tony-nominated The Prom (Casey Nicholaw), and as assistant director on the Tony-nominated Violet, starring Sutton Foster (Leigh Silverman).

A devoted champion of new musical theatre, she has directed world premieres at The York Theatre Company, Keen Company (Off-Broadway), The Drama League, and the New York Musical Festival, and co-founded the New Musicals Lab at the Ferguson Center for the Arts. Her regional productions have earned Boston Theatre Critics’ Circle recognition, including Something Rotten! at Lyric Stage of Boston and Little Shop of Horrors at Greater Boston Stage Company.

Toeplitz is making her directing debut with the Boston Pops in Summer 2026 with the Sondheim portion of American Titans: Bernstein & Sondheim at Tanglewood. She was fortunate to work on three projects with Stephen Sondheim, including the Off-Broadway “revisal” of Marry Me A Little.

Toeplitz is the recipient of the Drama League of New York’s Leo Shull New Musicals Directing Fellowship, the SDC Foundation Mike Ockrent Fellowship, and a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant for Creative Individuals. She is an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Union (SDC).