The Drama League’s DirectorFest will return to in-person performances after going virtual last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 edition will feature works by Adrienne Kennedy, Todd Almond, and more—all directed by rising talent in the field—at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres.
DirectorFest 2022 will kick off with Adrienne Kennedy’s play She Talks To Beethoven, directed by Keenan Tyler Oliphant; and the musical Girlfriend, featuring a book by Todd Almond, music and lyrics by Matthew Sweet, and directed by Sivan Battat in a double bill January 19–22, 2022.
The second week of the festival will feature Aditi Brennan Kapil’s play The Seventeenth Chapel, directed by Reena Dutt; and Caryl Churchill’s play A Number, directed by Ryan Dobrin, in a double bill February 2–5.
Oliphant, Dutt, and Dorbin are all New York Directing Fellows for The Drama League while Battat is a Leo Shull Musical Directing Fellow for the organization. All four directors in the festival are currently working in a NYC theatrical production as associate director, with Oliphant at Hadestown, Battat at Trouble in Mind, Dutt at Cullud Wattah, and Dobrin at Diana: The Musical.
Closing the festival February 28 will be a presentation of A Tempest (Une Tempête), written by Aimé Césaire and directed by Drama League Classical Directing Fellow Lanise Antoine Shelley, presented in collaboration with Red Bull Theater at the French Institute Alliance Française. In addition, The Drama League will present Directors in Conversation: Tony Phelan January 28 via Zoom.
The creative team for DirectorFest 2022 includes scenic designer Emona Stoykova, costume designer Christopher Vergara, lighting designers Molly Tiede and Bentley Heydt, sound designer Kimberly O'Loughlin, and music director Elijah Caldwell. Daniel Brothers serves as props coordinator, Courteney Leggett is the production manager, and Ali Skye Bennet is the artistic line producer.
For more information and tickets, click here.
