The Path to Production Panel at the 39th Humana Festival of New American Plays

The 39th Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville presented The Path to Production livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Friday 10 April at 10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 12 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 17:00 GMT / 6 p.m. BST (London). In Twitter, use #HumanaFest and follow @ATLouisville.

In this lively exchange, directors discuss their position’s distinct role in the formation of new plays. Participants will pull back the curtain on the challenges and opportunities a director faces while bringing a world premiere production to life, and how they can advocate for their contributions to the process. This panel is presented with support from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation.

Introduction by Megan E. Carter, Director, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation. Moderated by Jeremy B. Cohen, Producing Artistic Director at the Playwrights’ Center.

Panelist Bios

Kimberly Senior is a freelance director and the director of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar. Her New York and regional credits include: Disgraced (Broadway, Lincoln Center Theater 3); The Who and What (La Jolla Playhouse, Lincoln Center Theater 3); Little Gem (City Theatre); Murder on the Nile, A Few Good Men (Peninsula Players); Mauritius (Theatre Squared, Fayetteville, AR). Her many Chicago credits include The Diary of Anne Frank, Hedda Gabler, The Letters (Writers Theatre, where she is a Resident Director); Rapture, Blister, Burn (Goodman Theatre); 4000 Miles, The Whipping Man (Northlight Theatre); Want, The North Plan (Steppenwolf); My Name Is Asher Lev, All My Sons, Dolly West’s Kitchen (TimeLine Theatre, where she is an Associate Artist). Senior is adjunct faculty at Columbia College and is a proud member of SDC.

Giovanna Sardelli is a graduate of NYU’s Director’s Lab. She has directed Rajiv Joseph’s plays, Animals Out of Paper and All This Intimacy (Second Stage), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (The Lark), Huck & Holden (Cherry Lane) and The Leopard and the Fox for Alter Ego Theatre Company. She has also worked on numerous productions of playwright/performer Adriana Sevan’s one-woman show, Taking Flight, directing her for the Sundance Theatre Lab, CTG’s Kirk Douglas Theatre, San Diego Rep and The Goodman Theatre. Giovanna is an Artistic Associate at the Lark Play Development Center where she has directed several Barebones productions including Lynn Rosen’s Apple Cove and their benefit performance of Earth Girls are Easy. Other New York credits include Two Thirds Home for Broken Watch, The Seagull, The Three Sisters, Basking in the Neon (a self-created work about growing up in Las Vegas) and she created/directed A Celebration of the Arts for The Great Hall at Cooper Union. She has also directed The Tempest for The Acting Company and spent two seasons as the Director of The Shakespeare Sedona Institute where she also taught acting and theatre games. Giovanna has directed numerous productions and presentations for various NYU-Tisch School of the Arts departments. She received her MFA in Acting from NYU and worked as a professional actress for a decade in television and theater before returning to train in the department’s Director’s Lab.  In addition to teaching in the Graduate Acting Program, Giovanna also teaches acting in the NYU Department of Dance as well as doing private coaching and workshops.

Jeremy B. Cohen is in his fifth season as the Producing Artistic Director at the Playwrights’ Center and previously served as the Associate Artistic Director/Director of New Play Development at Hartford Stage, where he also directed several premieres. Other directing credits include productions at Center Stage, Alliance, Alley Theatre, Goodman, Dorset Theatre Festival, Steppenwolf, McCarter, Theater J, Victory Gardens, Actors Theatre of Louisville, George Street Playhouse, Kansas City Rep, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, New Victory, Open Fist, Theatre Latte Da, and Royal George; workshops at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, New York Stage & Film, Pasadena Playhouse, Denver Center, New Harmony, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and Woolly Mammoth. He has received numerous directing awards, an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship, and a Northwestern University grant for his play 12 Volt Heart. Last season he directed the world premiere of Brahman, and Wild with Happy, as well as a new musical Off-Broadway by award-winning singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke called My Mother Has Four Noses. Cohen recently directed the world premiere of Joe Waechter’s Lake Untersee.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation
Founded in 1965, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation exists to foster, promote, and develop the craft and creativity of stage directors and choreographers. SDCF’s goals are to provide opportunities to practice the crafts of directing and choreography, to gather and disseminate craft and career information, to promote the profession to emerging talent, to provide opportunities for exchange of knowledge among directors and choreographers, and to increase awareness of the value of directors’ and choreographers’ work. SDC Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization and is a separate entity from the SDC Union.

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world's performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected], or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.