RESUME – DARA WEINBERG (daraweinbergATgmail.com)

DESCRIPTION
I am a writer, director, and teacher. I work with the intersection of drama, music, and verse, especially poetry, song lyrics, and Greek choruses.

EDUCATION / TRAINING
M.F.A. in Creative Writing: Poetry,
Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars.
Studied with Mary Jo Salter, Dave Smith, John Irwin.
Playwriting workshops at Chicago Dramatists
Studied with Will Dunne.
B.A in Comparative Literature, Stanford University.
Studied with Carl Weber, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Cherríe Moraga.

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AWARDS / HONORS / GRANTS
Fulbright Grant (renewal), Theatre: Directing, US/Poland
(Was granted second year of Fulbright funding to study the work of Teatr Chorea in Łódź.)
Fulbright Grant, Theatre: Directing, US / Poland
(Studied theater directing practices related to the Greek chorus in Warsaw and Wroclaw.)
Lattman Lecture Series Award, Johns Hopkins University
(Delivered public lecture on advanced graduate research in progress, titled “Performing the Greek Chorus: A Focus on Polish Theater Perspectives.”)
Teaching Assistant Associate Award, TA Training Institute, Johns Hopkins University
US Artists Grant, US Artists Initiative, Arden2/Grotowski Intsitute, Wroclaw, Poland
Subito Grant, American Composers’ Forum
(Awarded to composer Andrew Mitton, received production grant to develop new practices for improvised music in combination with poetic performance.)
Stanford Humanities Center Undergraduate Research Fellow, Chappell-Lougee Research Scholar, President’s Research Scholar, Stanford University
Telluride Association Summer Program (TASP) scholarship

TEACHING: UNIVERSITY
Johns Hopkins University:
- Introduction to Fiction and Poetry I
- Introduction to Fiction and Poetry II
- You’re The One That I Want: Musical Theatre, from Stage To Screen +
(an introduction to lyric-writing for musical theatre)
- Auteur 101: Short Film Laboratory +
(an introduction to short film directing)
+ designed course

THEATRICAL WORKS
Performed or scheduled:
A GAME OF HEARTS. Opera. With composer Douglas Pew. Commissioned by Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center’s American Opera Initiative. Premiere scheduled for November 19, 2012, at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre.
UMRZEĆ W ATENACH//TO DIE IN ATHENS, formerly titled Thirteen Ways Of Looking At The Chorus. Play with music / musical tragedy. Performed: as the inaugural Umbrella Project of the Indy Convergence at the University of Indianapolis’s Wheeler Arts Community (2008); read at Son of Semele Ensemble in Los Angeles (2008), Komuna//Warszawa in Warsaw (2012), and the Homewood Museum in Baltimore (2012).
Publications
Adaptation of TRANSFER by Sebastian Majewski; adaptation in progress for anthology of Polish drama to be released through the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in 2013.
In development
THE THIRD GENERATION (working title). Community-based play, based on interviews currently in process with the Jewish community of Kraków, Poland. Facilitated by and created in partnership with the Kraków Jewish Community Center and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. To be read in 2013.
FIFTY WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER (working title). Play with music / musical tragedy.

PUBLICATIONS
Poems
“Checking Out,” Hopkins Review
“Ready To Lead Stanford Into The Future?“ Explosion-Proof
“The Illustration,” Urbanite Baltimore Magazine
“An Actor’s Life for Me,” The Hopkins Review
“To Maria,” Foothill
“Hope is a Four-Letter Word,” Illinois Issues.
“Spinet,” Six Sentences.
(forthcoming)
“The Navigators,” Greatest Uncommon Denominator.
Criticism & Journalism
“Polish Theatre and the 32nd Warsaw Theatre Meetings, As Seen By US Visitors,” in Biweekly.pl
“From Artists To Archives: A Grotowski Update,” in American Theatre
“Greek Chorus Variations: Chorea Theatre’s Oratorium Dance Project” in Biweekly.pl.
“Preaching from the Chorus: Marta Górnicka’s Chór Kobiet” in Biweekly.pl.
“The Chorus of Women Hits the Road,” in American Theatre.
“Two Readings by Playwright Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk” in Culture Spot LA.
Older publications archived here, including a year of theatre and book reviews for Laist.com.

DIRECTING (FILM & THEATRE)
ANTHOLOGY II, a short film created for Parallel Octave with collaboration from 26 different directors. Premiered at the Creative Alliance, Baltimore, August 2012.
ANTHOLOGY I, a short film created for Parallel Octave with collaboration from eight different directors. Premiered at the Creative Alliance, Baltimore, July 2011.
The Parallel Octave: ongoing audio project of recording poems once a week since April 2010. Website.
To Die in Athens, public reading at the Homewood Museum in Baltimore (2012).
Umrzeć w Atenach//To Die in Athens, public reading at Komuna//Warszawa in Warsaw (2012).
Blue Water, Black Sails(by Matthew Smith) Single Carrot Theatre, Baltimore, MD (semi-staged reading)
x restrung cortex (by Ron Allen) Theatre of NOTE, Los Angeles, CA (semi-staged reading)
To Die In Athens second draft of 13 WAYS, public reading in Los Angeles.
13 Ways Of Looking At The Chorus + (adapted from Sophocles) Wheeler Arts Community @ University of Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell + (by William Blake) The Met Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Brandohead + (by Chris Danowski) Theatre of NOTE, Los Angeles, CA
A Vast Wreck + (by Richard Caliban) Theatre of NOTE, Los Angeles, CA
Human Bombing + (by Helma Fries) Berliner Compagnie, Berlin, Germany
Gilgamesh + (Sumerian epic poet) Stanford University, CA
Clytemnestra Speaks/Cassandra Responds+( Aeschylus / devised) Stanford University, CA
Faust, Part I (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) Stanford University, CA
+ also choreographed

ASSISTANT DIRECTING
*Sometimes A Great Notion, dir. Aaron Posner, Portland Center Stage, OR
*Lydia, dir. Juliette Carrillo, Denver Center, CO
Golda’s Balcony, (Sept.-Oct, 2007) dir. Aaron Davidman, TheatreWorks, Mountain View, CA
Tartuffe, dir. Peter Amster, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, OR
Romeo and Juliet, dir. Bill Rauch, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, OR
*My Wandering Boy, dir. Bill Rauch, South Coast Repertory, CA
The Stones, dir. Corey Madden, Center Theatre Group, CA
The Threepenny Opera, dir. Charlie Otte, Open Fist Theatre Company, CA
Eight Songs For A Mad King, dir. Ted Walch & Mark Hilt, Jacaranda Concert Series, CA
* world premiere

CHORAL THEATER WORKSHOPS DIRECTED FOR PROFESSIONAL ACTORS
Open Parallel Octave WS: Los Angeles, CA
Open Parallel Octave WS: Baltimore Free School, Baltimore, MD (Over 30 sessions)
Single Carrot Theatre, Baltimore, MD (for productions of Eurydice and The Other Shore)
Indy Convergence, Wheeler Arts Community @ University of Indianapolis
Many Hats Collaboration, Portland, OR
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OR
The Met Theater, Los Angeles, CA
Theatre of NOTE, Los Angeles, CA

CHORAL THEATER WORKSHOPS DIRECTED FOR STUDENTS
Single Carrot Theatre Summer Acting Conservatory, Baltimore, MD (multiple years)
International American School, Kabaty, Warsaw, Poland
British International School, Łódź, Poland
Carver Center High School, Baltimore, MD
Margaret Brent Elementary/Middle School, Baltimore, MD (through Writers in Baltimore Schools)
Roland Park Elementary/Middle School, Baltimore, MD (through Writers in Baltimore Schools)
Goucher College, Baltimore, MD
Windward School, Los Angeles, CA
Harvard-Westlake School Summer Intensive Acting Workshop, Los Angeles, CA (multiple years)
Stanford University, CA
San Francisco Mime Troupe, SF, CA
CSU-Northridge Summer Acting Camp

CHOREOGRAPHY
The Threepenny Opera, dir. Ken Tigar, West Bay Opera Company, CA
Don Giovanni, dir. Ken Tigar, West Bay Opera Company, CA
AC/DC’S BACK IN BLACK, Sacred Fools Theatre Company, Los Angeles, CA
(winner of Thursty Award for Best Dance in a Serial Killers Episode, Sacred Fools Theater, 2007)

REFERENCES

Joanna Klass
Head of Theatre & Dance Programs
Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw

Linda DeLibero
Film & Media Studies Department
Johns Hopkins University

John Irwin
Writing Seminars Department
Johns Hopkins University

Nathan Cooper
Single Carrot Theatre
Baltimore, MD

Bill Rauch
Artistic Director
Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Contact information for references available on request.