Bernhardt began his career as a stage manager; he made his directorial debut in 1965 with Conerico was Here to Stay at the Cherry Lane Theatre.
[2] From there, Bernhardt directed plays throughout the United States, including productions in Hartford and Cincinnati and a national tour of Who's Happy Now?
He made his London directing debut in November 1972 at the Hampstead Theatre Club with his production of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.
[6] In addition to winning multiple Obie awards for his Off-Broadway work,[7][8] Bernhardt has had a successful career as a Broadway theatre director.
Although the individual performances of the actors were well received, the plays themselves were seen as "enigmatic drama", "weak social satire", and "feeble exercises in juvenility".
[9] 1 May 1978 marked the debut of the original Broadway production of Da, a comedy by Hugh Leonard which proved to be one of the more successful plays in Bernhardt's career.