Rob Urbinati

Rob Urbinati
Born August 12, 1952
Framingham, Massachusetts
Occupation stage director, playwright,

Rob Urbinati is a freelance playwright, screenwriter and director based in New York City. He is also Director of New Play Development at Queens Theatre in the Park (QTP).

Background and education

Rob Urbinati received an M.A. from the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. He subsequently directed over forty plays at theatres across the United States before moving to New York in 1995.

Career overview

Rob Urbinati has directed Staceyann Chin’s Border/Clash for the Culture Project;[1] the premiere of Eric Bogosian’s Griller for the Lincoln Center Director's Lab;[2] Villa Diodati as an official selection of the 2008 New York Music Theatre Festival at the 45th Street Theatre,[3] Patrick Hamilton’s Angel Street at Pearl Theatre Company;[4][5] Max Sparber’s Minstrel Show, or the Lynching of William Brown in New York, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Colorado;[6] Jeff Whitty’s Suicide Weather at NYU; Lucas and Sondheim’s Marry Me a Little with Brent Barrett and Sally Mayes at QTP, and Kiss Me, Kate with Robert Westenberg and Kim Crosby at Theatreworks in Colorado.

Plays written by Rob Urbinati include Hazelwood Jr. High, directed by Scott Elliott for the New Group, with Chloë Sevigny;[7] Karaoke Night at the Suicide Shack and Shangri La at QTP; Rebel Voices, an adaptation of Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove’s Voices of a People’s History of the United States at the Culture Project with a rotating cast including Staceyann Chin, Wallace Shawn, Danny Glover, Steve Earle, Lili Taylor, Lenelle Moïse and Rich Robinson; and West Moon Street, based on a novella by Oscar Wilde,[8][9][10] which was presented as part of The Acting Company Salon Series, with Dana Ivey, and by the Prospect Theatre Company, directed by Davis McCallum.

Rob Urbinati is a member of the Dramatists Guild, and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Three productions directed by Rob Urbinati, Lost, Syndrome, and Border/Clash, and one that he wrote, Hazelwood Jr. High, were selected to be videotaped for the prestigious Billy Rose Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Jamaican Journeys to New Life in New York in Border/Clash Opens Off Broadway June 16" - PlayBill
  2. ↑ Past Labs - Lincoln Center Theater
  3. ↑ "'Villa Diodati' To Be Presented at 45th Street Theatre as Part of NYMF" - Broadway World
  4. ↑ "THEATER REVIEW; Sending Up 'Gaslight' of '44 (With Emphasis on 'Gas')" - New York Times
  5. ↑ "Angel Street" - Curtain Up
  6. ↑ "Minstrel Show; or the Lynching of William Brown at NJ Rep" - GMB News
  7. ↑ "Hazelwood Jr. High" - Donshewey
  8. ↑ "Lord Arthur Learns About Love and Death and the Importance of Being Insouciant" - New York Times
  9. ↑ "Urbinati's Wilde Adaptation West Moon Street Opens April 23" - PlayBill
  10. ↑ "West Moon Street: Quite a Crime" - Broadway World
  11. ↑ http://catalog.nypl.org/search~S61/?searchtype=a&searcharg=Urbinati%2C+Rob&searchscope=61&sortdropdown=-&SORT=D&extended=0&SUBMIT=Search&searchlimits=&searchorigarg=aMays%2C+Bradford%2C++Director.

External links