Dan Winerman

Background

About Dan Winerman

Born in Los Angeles, I began acting professionally while in college in Santa Barbara. I later transferred to NYU’s Drama Department where I studied at Atlantic Theater Company with founding members David Mamet, William H. Macy, and Felicity Huffman. They taught me a powerful technique of acting and a profound philosophy of theater. It was my big picture fascination with theater that led me to pursue directing. I was honored to be accepted to the MFA Directing program at Boston University. The program accepts one student per year and awards them with a full tuition scholarship and a teaching fellowship. While at BU, I learned to viscerally connect with my work and transmit my vision to an audience. I work primarily with emerging writers on new plays. I’ve directed and developed new plays at Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, New Dramatists, Lark Theatre, Flea Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, HERE Arts Center, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Midtown Int’l Theatre Festival, New York Int’l Fringe Festival, Young Playwrights Festival, Samuel French Short Play Festival, Summer Shorts Festival @ 59E59 Theater, NYU’s Dept of Dramatic Writing, and NYU’s Dept of Musical Theatre Writing. As Literary Associate for Berkshire Playwrights Lab, I directed staged readings of new plays by Anna Ziegler, Sam Marks, Jonathan Caren and John Cariani. At Gretna Theatre I directed Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced and Murder on the Nile. I’ve been a recipient of the Drama League Assistant Directors Fellowship and a finalist for the National Directors Fellowship. I have taught acting at New York Film Academy, AMDA, New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, Rider University, and Atlantic Theater Company. I have been a guest director at Pace University, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Fordham University, Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, and Stella Adler Studio of Acting. I currently teach acting and directing in the Department of Film and Television, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. I seek to train the next generation of theatre artists. In my experience, dedicated acting students crave a technique that will lead them to truthfulness and spontaneity. I teach a rigorous, practical approach to acting that combines the later teachings of Stanislavsky with contemporary, physically-oriented techniques. The aim of my approach is to guide the student towards honesty and risk-taking. My mission as a teacher is to fortify my students with a clear set of practical acting applications and an inspired perspective on performance.