/Bio

Dara Weinberg, (put an “@” between daraweinberg and gmail.com) formerly of Los Angeles, currently based in Baltimore, is a writer and director who specializes in the poetic & theatrical interpretation of the chorus.

In 2009, she relocated to Baltimore to begin a poetry MFA at the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, from which she will graduate in 2011.

Also in 09, she studied playwriting at Chicago Dramatists, and attended and blogged from the US Artists Initiative conference in Wroclaw, Poland. In 2008, she directed two readings of her own adaptation from Greek drama, entitled 13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT THE CHORUS, in Indianapolis and Los Angeles. She also directed a one-night Poetic Salon of Ron Allen’s short play, X RESTRUNG CORTEX, at Theatre of Note, and a workshop on all the choruses in LYSISTRATA for high school students.

Other directing credits include THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL, an improvised dance play based on William Blake’s poetry, at the Met Theatre Company, and A VAST WRECK and BRANDOHEAD at Theatre of NOTE, where she is an associate member.

She co-founded the Indy Convergence (www.indyconvergence.com), an annual conference of experimental artists, held each February in Indianapolis, with Robert Negron and Caitlin Swihart, in 2007.

From March 2007-April 2008, she assistant directed six plays: MY WANDERING BOY (dir. Bill Rauch) at South Coast Rep, ROMEO AND JULIET (dir. Bill Rauch) and TARTUFFE (dir. Peter Amster) at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, GOLDA’S BALCONY at TheatreWorks (dir. Aaron Davidman), LYDIA at the Denver Center (dir. Juliette Carrillo), and SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION at Portland Center Stage (dir. Aaron Posner).

She directed and choreographed the premiere of Helma Fries’s anti-war play HUMAN BOMBING for the Berliner Compagnie, a political theater ensemble in Kreuzberg. The production toured Germany from 2003 to 2007. She holds a BA from Stanford University.

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REVIEW QUOTES:

On A Vast Wreck (2006):

” In a production reminiscent of early Actors Gang efforts, director Weinberg directs a heavily made-up and garishly attired ensemble to tumble and cartwheel through a noisy, acrobatic interpretation that’s heavy on pantomimed sex and out-loud thinking. The strength of Weinberg’s production lies in the energy of her ensemble and Chow’s simple but effective costuming, Closs-Farley’s gargoylish makeup and Jenkins’ haunted-house light plot. -” Steven Mikulan, LA Weekly

“Dara Weinberg’s direction, which practically choreographs it [AVW], reinforces Theatre of Note’s reputation as an exciting cutting-edge house.” – Laura Hitchcock, CurtainUp Los Angeles

On Brandohead (2006):
“The epically opaque “Brandohead” is one for the surrealist books…merging scabrous absurdity, Mayan myth, industry satire and a giant cranium of the ultimate Method actor…Robert Wilson was never like this.” – David C. Nichols, Los Angeles Times

On The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell (2007):
“Blake’s hell is a land of forbidden pleasures, an antithesis to heaven’s stoic morality: Both are on the stage, melding into each other…” – Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly