David Zarko, director


	Directing			Stage Directors & Choreographers Society
	email David			Two-Page Print Directing Resume
	acting	playwrighting		Curriculum Vitae
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New York & International selected credits

	Silent Follies or It Was a Wednesday (premiere)		Zuppa del Giorno, developed in rehearsal	Teatro diffuso, Lago di Bolsena region, Italy, 2008
	Amore e’ difficile, amore e’ buona (premiere)		Zuppa del Giorno, developed in rehearsal	Teatro che cammina, Castel San Pietro, Italy, 2008
	The Woman (premiere)		David Zarko. from William C. DeMille	The Metropolitan Playhouse, 2001
	What Happened to Jones (premiere)		David Zarko, from George Broadhurst	The Metropolitan Playhouse, 2000
	Mrs. Bumpstead-Leigh		Harry James Smith	The Metropolitan Playhouse, 1998
	The O. Henry Conspiracy (premiere)		created with Richard Grunn & Duane Noch	The Metropolitan Playhouse, 1998
	The Return of Peter Grimm		David Belasco	The Metropolitan Playhouse, 1997
	The Streets of New York		Dion Boucicault	The Metropolitan Playhouse, 1995
	Wenceslas Square		Larry Shue	The Metropolitan Playhouse, 1993
	Open Admissions		Shirley Lauro	The Metropolitan Playhouse, 1992
	The Apollo of Belac		Jean Giradoux	Chain Lightning Theatre, 1992
	Wenceslas Square		Larry Shue	Theatre 22, 1991
	Candida		George Bernard Shaw	Pulse Ensemble Theatre, 1991
	Mr. Tartoof (premiere)		Moliere, adapted by David Zarko	Studio III Group, 1991
	Arms and the Man		George Bernard Shaw	Pulse Ensemble Theatre, 1991
	Plastic (premiere)		Robert Shaffron	Sanford Meisner Theater, 1990
	Anatol (premiere)		Arthur Schnitzler, adapted by David Zarko	Studio III Group, 1990
	Death Warmed Over (comedy review, with music)		developed in rehearsal	Home for the Contemporary Arts, 1990
	The Passion of Dracula		Bob Hall & David Richmond	Red Light Theatre Company, 1989

Regional selected credits

	A Christmas Carol		adapted by David Zarko	WVIA TV & FM, Sordoni Theater, 2011
	Under Milk Wood		Dylan Thomas	Electric Theatre Company, 2010
	Lawnchairs (premiere)		Nancy Hasty	Electric Theatre Company, 2010
	The Very Nearly Perfect Comedy of Romeo & Juliet		Zuppa del Giorno, based on the Bard	Electric Theatre Company, 2009
	A Christmas Carol		adapted by David Zarko	Electric Theatre Company, 2008, 2009, 2010
	Arms and the Man		George Bernard Shaw	Electric Theatre Company, 2008
	Doubt, a Parable		John Patrick Shanley	The Northeast Theatre, 2008
	A Christmas Carol		adapted by David Zarko	The Northeast Theatre, 2007
	The O. Henry Conspiracy		created with Richard Grunn & Duane Noch	The Northeast Theatre, 2007
	Prohibitive Standards (premiere)		Zuppa del Giorno, scenario by Steve Deighan	The Northeast Theatre, 2007
	An American Wife (premiere)		Michael Downend and Karen Blomain	The Northeast Theatre, 2007
	The Poor of Scranton		Dion Boucicault, adapted by John Beck	The Northeast Theatre, 2006
	The Key (premiere)		Richard Grunn	The Northeast Theatre, 2006
	Waiting for the Parade		John Murrell	The Northeast Theatre, 2006
	The Woman in Black		Stephen Mallatratt	The Northeast Theatre, 2005
	The Waiting Room (premiere)		Simon Brook	Virginia Premiere Theatre, 2005
	The Same Life Over (premiere)		Mark Medoff	The Northeast Theatre, 2004
	Legal Snarls (premiere)		Steve Deighan	The Northeast Theatre, 2004
	Lettice and Lovage		Peter Shaffer	The Northeast Theatre, 2004
	Three Stories by Chekhov		Anton Chekhov, adapted by David Zarko	The Northeast Theatre, 2003
	Noble Aspirations		Zuppa del Giorno, developed in rehearsal	The Northeast Theatre, 2003
	A Christmas Carol (premiere)		adapted by David Zarko	The Northeast Theatre, 2002
	The Apple Cart		George Bernard Shaw	Cider Mill Playhouse, 2002
	The Glass Menagerie		Tennessee Williams	The Northeast Theatre, 2002
	Additional Particulars (premiere)		Ed Simpson	Keystone Repertory Theatre, 2002
	Benefactors		Michael Frayn	The Northeast Theatre, 2002
	A Perfect Ganesh		Terrance McNally	The Northeast Theatre, 2001
	The O. Henry Conspiracy		created with Richard Grunn & Duane Noch	Sullivan County Summer Theater, 2001
	The Foreigner		Larry Shue	Keystone Repertory Theater, 2001
	Wenceslas Square		Larry Shue	The Northeast Theater, 2001
	Der Talisman (with music)		J. N. Nestroy	National Theater for the Performing Arts, 2001
	Mananas de abril y mayo (with music)		Calderon	Nat'l Theater for the Performing Arts, 2000 & 2001
	The Barber of Seville (with music)		Beaumarchais	National Theater for the Performing Arts, 1999
	Grimms' Fairy Tales (premiere with music)		Sheila Biggs, Katie Rosatti, Clay Zambo	Nat'l Theater for the Performing Arts, 1999 & 2000
	Tour de France (original musical)		Lila Martin	Nat'l Theater for the Performing Arts, 1998 & 1999
	Elephant Sighs (premiere)		Ed Simpson	Keystone Repertory Theater, 1998
	Lend Me a Tenor		Ken Ludwig	Summer Theatre-by-the-Grove, 1994
	Lend Me a Tenor		Ken Ludwig	Michigan Ensemble Theatre, 1993
	The Fantasticks		Schmidt and Jones	Michigan Ensemble Theatre, 1992
	Greater Tuna		Williams, Sears & Howard	Allegheney Highlands Regional Theater, 1991
	The Boys Next Door		Tom Griffin	Summer Theatre-by-the-Grove, 1991
	The Nerd		Larry Shue	Summer Theatre-by-the-Grove, 1990
	The Bear and The Proposal (premiere)		Anton Chekhov, adapted by David Zarko	Catskill Mountain Theater, 1989
	Musical Comedy Murders of 1940		John Bishop	Summer Theatre-by-the-Grove, 1989
	Kaufman and Friends (music and comedy review)		Geo. S. Kaufman, compiled by David Zarko	Catskill Mountain Theater, 1988
	Spoon River Anthology (with music)		Edgar Lee Masters	Catskill Mountain Theater, 1987
	Female Transport		Steve Gooch	The Bear Republic Theater, 1984
	La Ronde		Arthur Schnitzler	with Greg Fritsch, Rainbow Ensemble, 1984
	Division Street		Steve Tesich	The Bear Republic Theater, 1983
	Play it Again, Sam		Woody Allen	Rainbow Ensemble, 1983
	The Elephant Man		Bernard Pomerance	The Bear Republic Theater, 1982

Training Programs full productions only

	Buddy Truffle (premiere)		David Zarko, Tartuffe as a screwball comedy	Marywood University, 2011
	I due notai fedeli (premiere)		from I Gelosi, developed in rehearsal	In Bocca al Lupo, Orvieto & Acquapendente, 2009
	La postina (premiere)		from I Gelosi, developed in rehearsal	In Bocca al Lupo, Orvieto, Italy, 2006
	Our Town		Thornton Wilder	Post Theater Company, Long Island University 2002
	Joking Apart		Alan Ayckbourn	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 2001
	The Wayside Motor Inn		A. R. Gurney	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 2000
	The Gut Girls		Sarah Daniels	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 2000
	subUrbia		Eric Bogosian	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1999
	The Heidi Chronicles		Wendy Wasserstein	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1999
	L'uomo date per morto		from I Gelosi, developed in rehearsal	In Bocca al Lupo, Roccalvecce, Italy, 1998
	Waiting for the Parade		John Murrell	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1998
	The Tempest		William Shakespeare	Post Theater Company, Long Island University 1998
	Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean...		Ed Graczyk	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1997
	Triumph of Love		Marivaux	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1997
	A Palm Tree in a Rose Garden		Meade Roberts	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1997
	Female Transport		Steve Gooch	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1997
	Hotel Universe		Philip Barry	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1996
	The Dentist (premiere)		from I Gelosi, developed in rehearsal	Post Theater Company, Long Island University 1996
	Every Year at Carnival		(forgot, can't find)	The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1996
	Hell Road Earth (premiere)		Kaiser, translated by Joe Dubenas	Post Theater Company, Long Island University 1996
	Into the Woods		Stephen Sondheim	Post Theater Company, Long Island University 1994
	The Husband (original musical)		David Zarko, Michael Paris, and the Cast	Post Theater Company, Long Island University 1993
	Uncommon Women and Others		Wendy Wasserstein	Post Theater Company, Long Island University 1992
	The House of Blue Leaves		John Guare	Post Theater Company, Long Island University 1991
	The Pregnant Pause		George Feydeau	Gately/Poole Conservatory, 1991
	Laundry and Bourbon		James MacLure	Tisch School of the Arts, Graduate Acting, 1987
	The Other Son		Luigi Pirandello	Drama Studio, London, at Berkeley, 1980

References

	Alex Roe, Artistic Director			The Metropolitan Playhouse of New York
	Barbara Blackledge, Artistic Director		Indiana University of Pennsylvania	Keystone Repertory Theater (until 2003)
	Dr. Cara Gargano, Chair		Dept of Theatre, Film & Dance, L.I.U.	Post Theater Company
	Mark Hirschfield, Artistic Director			Formerly of Allegheney Highlands Regional Theater
	Brian Jones, Chair		Dept of Theatre & Dance	Indiana University of Pennsylvania
	Dr. Paulette Merchel, Director of Theatre		Dept of Music, Theatre & Dance	Marywood University (until 2010)

Recommendations

	Matt McCormick		Scenic Designer	University of South Carolina, Myrtle Beach
	Jeff Wills		Actor	Free Lance, New York City
	Connie Rotunda		Adjunct Professor, Director, Actress	SUNY, New Paltz
	Brian Jones		Department of Theatre, Chair	Indiana University of Pennsylvania
	Marti Cate		Performer and Producer	Unexpected Company, Fairfax, CA
	Ray Collins		Adjunct Professor	North Carolina University, Catawba College
	John Beck		President Emeritus	Electric Theatre Company, Scranton, PA
	Karen Blomain		Playwright	Scranton, PA

An excellent play about intimations of an afterlife, we took the circus motif that Belasco had inserted and expanded it, so that the clowns became ambassadors to the other world. John Fritz wrote some lovely, magical music that the clowns sung to wonderful effect.		The show has real charm ... the cast has a sense of joy that is refreshing and contagious. Time Out Magazine
		Director David Zarko has invented a powerful and poetic visual metaphor to convey the presence of the dead among the living. LGNY
	The child was played by Shana Dowdeswell. It was her first role.


A very funny surrealistic play by Australian playwright Simon Brook, this was a production with old friends and a total joy to work on. It played at the Kimball Theatre in Williamsburg, VA.
There are no reviews that I can find.


This is a wonderful play by Ed Simpson about male bonding and the need that guys sometimes have to run away from it all. This was the premiere production of the play. It has since been made into a film starring Ed Asner and John Cariani; release date is as yet uncertain.
There were no reviews.



		For the past several years, the academic year at Marywood University has begun with a week-long workshop in commedia dell'arte taught by Zuppa del Giorno. This year, due to personnel absenses, I was asked to direct the Fall show -- and to choose it -- but had only about a week to come up with a title. I'd been working on Buddy Truffle all summer, so as it had a stylistic link to commedia, I suggested it and it was approved. The cast was terrific; absorbing and inspiring changes to the script as we went.


	"David Zarko is a man of many of hats and wears each one with confidence and style. As a director, he is a creative, wise collaborator, respectful and supportive of the actor's process. He creates beautiful, fully realized theatre on any budget. As an artistic director, he effortlessly balances entertaining fare with more risky challenging work, keeping the art alive. He is a generous teacher and great person to work with in any capacity." July 24, 2011


	"David Zarko is a creative, passionate, seasoned and knowledgeable theater professional." June 26, 2011


	"I worked with David for ten years. During that time I always found him cooperative, blissfully free of temperament, creative, focused on solving problems as they occurred, and generally a master of his craft." June 23, 2011


	"David cast me in his wonderful directed production of Benefactors. He has a gently but firm directing hand that brought all the elements of the production together. I can highly recommend him for managerial or artistic positions in the theatre." June 23, 2011


	"I have known David Zarko since we were undergrads in the University of Arizona Drama Department in 1969, and have always been impressed by his vision, discipline, and creative force. I have acted under his directorship in productions of the San Francisco-based Fabulous Theatre Co., and been an audience member of many additional performances which he directed. In 2009 I spent 3 weeks in Italy studying and performing commedia dell'arte through a remarkable interdisciplinary program which he created and led. His passion for theatre, personal warmth, and extensive experience would make him an invaluable asset for any company. I can't recommend David highly enough!" June 24, 2011


	“David Zarko has a unique sensitivity and an ability to communicate with actors that is belied by his ability to manage all the pragmatic details of production. It's this unique combination of abilities that makes him especially qualified to direct a variety of productions, from intimate to expansive. Most impressive about his work ethic, however, is his unerring priority to create something distinctive and original. David's not content with a merely serviceable show or troupe - he wants whatever he contributes to, to be something special, and that's what he delivers.” July 2, 2011


	"David Zarko is one of those exceptionally rare theatre artists who is able to bring an incredible amount of energy, passion, vision, and knowledge to a production without any of the emotionally-charged drama that too often accompanies one with "an artistic temperament." He is one of the kindest, most nurturing souls I've had the pleasure of working with and his sense of theatricality and eye for detail is as keen as his culinary skills, and that's sayin' somethin'! As a scenic designer David gives me a great amount freedom to experiment within his framework, always with the goal of serving the play and aiding in the story-telling. It is always a privilege to work with him; I can not recommend him highly enough." July 18, 2011

When I took the job at TNT (later ETC) I asked the board for criteria for chosing plays. They said to choose anything I want. So, I did. This play was on the top of my list at the time. It deals with issues that are current and important, uses imagry that speaks strongly to me (as a meditator) and does so with humor and a strong and wiley theatrical flair.

It's a production done so well that, I guarantee that by the end of an evening at Brooks you will be both kissed by laughter shedding a few tears. For in this play the two emotions beautifully intertwine to create a memorable evening of theater. Hats off to Producing Artistic Director, David Zarko for an exceptional job. The production demonstrates great sensitivity, hard work and incredible nuance to the author's intention. Joe Caputo, The Scranton Times		"A Perfect Ganesh" is notable for its richly theatrical presentation, well-staged by TNT. It will likely inspire you with questions -- questions that you may not even be able to formulate until after a good night's sleep. Alicia Grega-Pikul, Electric Cit

		One of the most challenging plays I've worked on, I fortunately had a cast that was up to it and kept me on track. It worked well in the round. The staging thereby reflected the shifting alliances and loyalties that are the fabric of the play, and helped to illustrate the leaps in time and space that Frayn weaves through his script.

The language demands one's concentration but is riveting and born out of the realities of the specific yet familiar characters. Director David Zarko wisely builds his production around these people, keeping technical elements effectively simple. Alicia Grega-Pikul, Electric City


	This was the first production of these two related one-acts by Ed Simpson. The actors, Duane Noch, Nathan Anderson, Amber Irvin, and Geoff Gould, are probably four of my favorites to work with anywhere, anytime, and I love Ed's plays, so this was a dream experience that still seems like it just happened last summer.
		There were no reviews

The problem with this show is that the public has an abiding impression of it as glum and maudlin. I don't see it that way at all, and we didn't do it that way. And those who came saw the play in a new light, but there weren't many who took the risk. Cynthia Hewett played Amanda in her forties, still attractive, caring, and with a sense of humor. She was, perhaps, ambitious and prodding, as well, but she was charming and likable... and we understood her motives and that they were, at heart, well intended. She brought the play's wonderful depth and complexity into full relief.

That is an awesome task for any theater group. TNT's professional company handles the job beautifully. The cast artfully walks a tightrope, tautly drawn over the playing area in their choreographed ballet between the two distant points of illusion and reality...one of those rare moments in the theatre. TNT is to be applauded for bringing a classic to the area stage. Joe Caputo, The Scranton Times		Once again, TNT has proven itself worthy of the label professional... Whether you've always been in love with live theatre, or you have yet to experience the magic, this production of "The Glass Menagerie" will summon forth your passion. Alicia Grega-Pikul, Electric City

Michigan Ensemble Theater was an especially ambitious company started by Barry Cole with Gary Garrison and Maggie Lally in Traverse City. We auditioned in three cities, assembled a strong company, and had excellent technical support. Then, when the producer posted reviews on foam core in the lobby, by policy, and one of them spoke unfavorably about the fellow playing El Gallo, the actor threw a fit and got himself fired. The male understudy, Guy Molnar, stepped in on a day's notice and did the rest of a six week run, and beautifully. But that was the least of it. On the first night of the run, before official opening, the fellow playing Huckleby developed nodes on his larynx and was told he could not sing for five weeks. Maggie looked at me and noted that I knew the show better than anyone else there, so I stepped in that night and did all but the final performance when the original actor was able to come back.

There were reviews but I can't find them.

	What I recall enjoying about this production was its music hall quality; concise scenes that could stand alone, each with a strong motif, and an emphasis on language that is rich in its musicality. I don't know if I was able to get any of that to show in this production, but it was my first chance to direct a play that intimidated me, and I will always remember it fondly.

Under David Zarko's consummate direction, Bernard Pomerance's award-winning drama comes alive with sensitivity, resourcefulness and compelling power. Zarko choreographs his cast on a dark stage minimally set with a runway... Zarko's staging and direction seems to make... ethereal concerns materialize on stage. Rick Chatenever, The Santa Cruz Sentinel

	All I really remember about this production was that the writing amazed me. Shue's craft in telling a story is only out shown by his ability to slide into jokes without warning, and his penchant for silliness is unrivaled.

Much of the credit for the success of this Summer Theatre-by-the-Grove production lands squarely upon the shoulders of director David Zarko, who possesses a sick but extremely creative vision of comedy. The Indiana Gazette

	This show was so much fun. With apologies to Mr. Allen, I took some liberties with staging. We put the whole play on a sound stage, so that the play itself was being shot as a movie and Bogie was the director. We added a grip, and a camera man, and a makeup girl, and the curtain call was filmed and shown on a screen set up for the purpose. It was terrific, and the cast eagerly and generously contributed to making the interpretation work.

With Zarko's resourcefulness evident throughout, the [play] proves to be a winner. Zarko came up with the novel touch of turning the play into a film-within-a-play... this very creative addition to Allen's original vision will leave even viewers very familiar with the original play delightfully surprised. Rick Chatenever, The Santa Cruz Sentinel

	I had a terrific cast for this production. They totally understood that in farce it is imperative to play each act as a comic device, and not to allow yourself to get caught in playing individual gags and bits. I have to agree with the reviewer on this (I don't always, even when they are positive), they nailed it with class, skill, and an unrelentingly urgent forward motion.

Under David Zarko's deft direction, the ridiculous complications pile up with gravity-defying skill, sending the audience on a dizzying joy ride with the top down and the pedal floored. Traverse City Herald

	I spent a lot of time with the actors for this production, helping them with accents and language, with relationships, with allowing their interpretations to come from a grounded and genuine place. I got to direct this again for the American Academy many years later, and was afforded the chance to correct my mistakes in not having spent enough time with the arc and unfolding of the story in the earlier production.

Director David Zarko establishes the mood in the first few moments, and the pace is spare and elegant throughout. Ann Bennett, The Paharonian Green Sheet

I created a word-for-word stage version of the classic tale for this production. The script has been revised and used several times since, but this was the only full production, the others being some variation of a staged reading. Anyone seeking a really unusual and affective Carol that brings all of Dickens' wit, humor, and commentary with it, should check out this script (under Playwright on the home page.)

		There were no reviews.

This was Zuppa del Giorno's premiere creation. We held weekend meetings and skill-swap sessions starting in August 2002 and periodically until April 2003 before formal rehearsals began. During that time, we created a scenario using classic commedia characters and plots as inspiration, but we named characters and structured plots, ourselves. During rehearsal, the physical lazzi was choreographed and a set-piece created, so that performances could be largely improvised. There was lots of audience interaction, and even the set-piece changed (by consensus) every night. The four actors played 14 characters with full costume changes.

Daring, innovative, risky, energetic, silly, hysterical, refreshing, outrageous. It may sound like a mixed-up list of adjectives rather than the lead line for a review, but Friday night's performance of the Northeast Theatre's Zuppa Del Giorno: "Noble Aspirations" is just that, and about as varied and spontaneous as the patterns of letters found in a bowl of alphabet soup. Only this time, the "soup of the day" is very fresh, creatively concocted and served up with the theatrical flair one can only expect from the talented professional theater company at TNT. Joe Caputo, The Scranton Times

These were translation/adaptations I began in the mid-seventies when my high school Russian was still enough available to be up to the task, brushed up for production in the late eighties, and dusted off for this production 15 years later. Clockwise starting with the one below, they are The Barbarian, Swan Song, and The Proposal.
		There were no reviews.


		I chose this play as a vehicle for the two actresses involved, Page Clements and Mary Ethel Schmidt. Pete Rush gave us a set that was a full two stories high and rotated to reveal different aspects of the same structure which created distinct locations for each of the three acts.
Directed by producing artistic director David Zarko the comedic presentation surely meets the strict criteria set forth by Lettice's unconventional Shakespearean actress mother - that is to say it enlarges, enlightens and enlivens. Alicia Pikul, Electric City

	This may be my favorite project of all time. Or at least one of them. This was the second show that Zuppa del Giorno created, and I asked my old pal Steve Deighan to fashion a script in the style of the Marx Brothers, but completely original. I put it all on wheels so that actors could scoot in on a table or chair or bench. Pete Rush, whose brilliant set it was, put us in the square with working doors at three corners and a door frame on the fourth. No effort was made to conceal the "backstage". The whole thing felt like a circus, and was wonderful, zany, fun.

		Director David Zarko consistently guides the action in slapstick circles that visually enforces the audio gymnastics of Groucho's wit. Alicia Grega-Pikul, Electric City


Tony Award-winning playwright Medoff worked closely with The Northeast Theatre's artistic director David Zarko on the world premiere production of his play. Set in modern-day New Mexico, the minimalist script was subject to substantial change hours before opening last Thursday. Still, the show has received standing ovations from reportedly sizable audiences. Alicia Grega-Pikul, Electric City
Mark sent me this play late in 2002, and I was instantly intrigued by it. It is a love story set within a detective story. We worked on it together, both before and during rehearsals -- Mark always open to my suggestions -- and right through the last preview. The cast, bless them all, worked with us, relearning whole pages of dialogue as revisions came in, then putting them into performance that night. The result was a strong script that was starkly beautiful.

		For as successfully as director Zarko has steered the play's course smartly along its bottom line of simplicity, astonishing effects are achieved in Jim Langan's lighting design and Bart Fasbender's sound support. Alicia Grega-Pikul, Electric City

This play is pure storytelling, and it gave me, the designers, and the actors ample opportunity to refine our various crafts in that regard. For me -- meeting both the demands of the show and the brand-new space -- it meant stripping the production down to what was minimally needed to sustain the tension and thrill of the tale.


	I love this sweet, gentle, touching play. I chose it because I wanted to work with these particular women, together. The play captures the characters' circumstances more honestly than most plays (or movies) about wartime, and with humor.
	Refreshingly, John Murrell's "Waiting for the Parade", now on stage at The Northeast Theatre, presents a more complex picture. The drama follows five women on the homefront during World War II, each struggling to survive and make sense of it all as they, as the title suggests, pass the time until war's end. The greatest strength of Murrell's play is that these women are distinct characters, and the greatest strength of TNT's production is the strength of the five actors cast in the roles. Matt Smith, Electric City

	Richard Grunn came to this show with a few character studies and some puppets. Together we massaged it into a charming piece about self-discovery at a railway station's lost and found.

There were no reviews.	Coleman Smith accompanied on the fiddle.

	When Boucicault finished his New York run of The Poor of New York, he took it on national tour. To encourage attendance, he changed the locality to each city it visited.
While common knowledge dictates no one wants to be poor, Boucicault's uncommonly virtuous characters find the blessings in it. Hunger and endangered shelter aside, they wear their lack of resources like a badge of honesty, and carry hearts so big they spill forth from the ribcage. Appealing to local writer and historian John Beck to localize the antique script, The Northeast Theatre's producing artistic director David Zarko bravely wrestled a beast of a production into being. Alicia Grega, Electric City
	We needed a large cast play with elevated language for the previous season's conservatory grads, and this one fit the bill.

Created by local playwrights on a local theme and setting, and cast mostly with local actors, audiences adored this play.		There were still some structural difficulties with the script when we began rehearsals. I suggested edits, deletions and re-writes which the playwrights graciously and enthusiastically incorporated.


	"An American Wife" is a gift we've waited too long already to open. Unwrap it with your grandmother and your 10-year-old nephew, and marvel at its touching, funny, familiar and brave contents. Alicia Grega, Electric City

This was a collaborative effort between TNT and the Theatre Program at Marywood University involving six students and five members of Zuppa del Giorno. We developed a scenario with the assistance of Steve Deighan, then improvised a full length play around it until the actors had a strong set piece. Nevertheless, no two of the 15 performances were the same.

There were no reviews.

This was the fourth production I did of this play. Because it is a derived piece, it evolved and changed with each revival. Each new Kyle Carter (on the suitcase, here played by the remarkable Conor McGuigan) brought something new to the script.

For all its charm, "Conspiracy" could be perceived as slow by eyes accustomed to today's standard of sensory overload. If you can't sit through a silent film you might see your attention span challenged. All the more reason to disengage from your monitor of the moment and experience the imaginative instigation of live theater in its purest form. Alicia Grega, Electric City

	This brilliantly taut play is a dream to direct, and much trickier for the actors than I first realized.
Perhaps the greatest challenge of presenting this play is ensuring the balance Shanley intends. Under the direction of The Northeast Theatre's producing artistic director David Zarko, this production aces that test. Each of the play's four characters is equally likable while also proving a little unsettling. Each has a good case and presents a good argument. Each really appears to care for the boy Donald Muller and genuinely want what is best for him. And that is why the play is not about the issue of sexual abuse at all. And neither is it about the church. That is merely the backdrop on which these characters relate to each other, or more accurately, fail to relate to each other. Alicia Grega, Electric City