BIO

Rob Urbinati

Rob Urbinati was a Theatre Consultant for Home Box Office in New York City from 1985-1989. He received an M.A. from the University of Nebraska and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, and directed over forty plays at theatres across the country before returning to New York in 1995.

In NYC, Rob directed Staceyann Chin’s Border/Clash for the Culture Project, James Armstrong’s Foggy Bottom and Jan Buttram’s The President and Her Mistress at the Abingdon, Pirandello’s The Man With the Flower in His Mouth for Classic Stage Company, Angel Street at the Pearl Theatre, Maria Irene Fornes’ Springtime at HERE, the premiere of Eric Bogosian’s Griller for Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Kirk Bromley’s Syndrome at the Greenwich St. Theatre, Bromley and Jessica Grace Wing’s Lost for the New York Fringe Festival (Best Musical), Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays at Queens Theatre in the Park (QTP) and the Public Theatre, and Mira Spektor and Colette Inez’s Villa Diodati for the New York Music Theatre Festival.

Rob has enjoyed a continuing association with the Drama League since receiving a Fellowship from that organization in 1995. He has served on the Drama League Nominating Committee, and the Selection Committees for the Fall Directors Program, the Summer Directors Program and the New Directors/New Works Program. For the Drama League, he directed Inge’s The Boy in the Basement at Westbeth, Max Sparber’s Cruelties at Pace University, Tom Grady’s Global Village for their New American Plays Initiative and Sparber’s The Older Gentleman as part of the Vital Drama League Alumnifest.

Rob directed Jeff Whitty’s Suicide Weather at New York University, Kirk Smith’s Deluge at Concordia College, Wasserman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the University of Oregon, Hellman’s The Children’s Hour at Bloomsburg University, Anderson’s Bad Seed at Doane College and LaGuardia Community College, Guare’s Landscape of the Body and Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale at the University of Nebraska and Bloomsburg University, and As Bees in Honey Drown and Columbinus at Clark University.

Rob is Director of New Play Development at Queens Theatre in the Park, where he curates the Immigrant Voices Project, a new play program which develops plays by writers who represent the diverse demographic of New York City. IVP has presented over forty readings, workshops, full productions and co-productions including Andy Bragen’s Greater Messapia; Qui Nguyen’s Trial By Water (co-produced with Ma-Yi Theatre Company); Javon Johnson’s Breathe, Kristoffer Diaz’ Welcome to Arroyo’s, and Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (all produced in association with Lark Play Development Center); Javier Malpica’s Our Dad is in Atlantis (co-produced with Working Theatre), which was published in August 2008 American Theatre Magazine; Aaron Jafferis and Ian Williams’ Kingdom, (co-produced with The Public Theatre), Jeff Hughes and Scott Either’s Rosa Parks (co-produced with Playwrights Horizons) and Henry Ong’s Sweet Karma (co-produced with Immigrants’ Theatre Company). At QTP, he has directed many plays including Marry Me A Little with Brent Barrett and Sally Mayes, Angel Street, Over the River and Through the Woods, Master Class and Max Sparber’s Minstrel Show or The Lynching of William Brown, which he then directed at the Connelly Theatre in Manhattan, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburg, New Jersey Repertory Company, Theatreworks in Colorado and the Blue Barn Theatre in Nebraska. Also at Theatreworks, Rob directed Kiss Me, Kate with Robert Westenberg and Kim Crosby, and his adaptation of Cole Porter’s Nymph Errant (Best Musical, Denver Post). In Nebraska, he directed Disney’s High School Musical at the Rose Theatre, Minstrel Show, Cruelties and Chelsea: From A to B and Back at the Blue Barn Theatre, and The Merchant of Venice for Nebraska Shakespeare Festival.

Rob’s first play as a writer, Hazelwood Jr. High, was directed by Scott Elliott for the New Group, starring Chloe Sevigny. A scene from the play is published in Smith & Kraus’s “Best Stage Scenes 2000,” and the play is published by Samuel French.  Rob curated Lunatics & Lovers: A Strindberg Salon for the Culture Project, and his adaptation of Miss Julie in Hollywood, which was part of that event, transferred to the 78th Street Theatre Lab. His adaptation of Mary McCarthy’s short story, Cruel & Barbarous Treatment, premiered at the Culture Project, and transferred to Israel Horowitz’ Gloucester Stage Company in Massachusetts (Ten Best Productions of the Year, The Boston Phoenix.)

Rob’s play, Karaoke Night at the Suicide Shack, and his musical, Shangri La, based on the sixties girl group, both premiered at QTP. Shangri La will be published by Samuel French in 2010. Howard Zinn’s Rebel Voices, his adaptation of Zinn and Anthony Arnove’s “Voices of a People’s History of the United States” premiered at the Culture Project. A concert reading of his play, West Moon Street, based on a novella by Oscar Wilde, was part of The Acting Company’s Salon Series with Dana Ivey. The play has been produced by the Prospect Theatre Company in New York, the Lord Leebrick Theatre in Oregon, and the Westacre Theatre in England, and is published by Samuel French.

Rob has developed various projects for Disney Creative Entertainment, serves on the Lark Theatre Playwrights Week Selection Committee, and contributed material for “Breaking the Silence, Beating the Drum,” the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery at the United Nations in New York City. He has presented Playwriting and Directing workshops at various Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festivals.