Rob Urbinati

Rob Urbinati is a freelance playwright, screenwriter, book author 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 received an M.A. from the University of Nebraska and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, and has directed over fifty plays at theatres across the country. Rob served as Theatre Consultant for Home Box Office, developed various projects for Disney Creative Entertainment, served on the Lark Play Development Center’s 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.

Rob Urbinati is a freelance Director and Playwright based in New York City. In NYC, Rob has directed many world premieres including Staceyann Chin’s Border/Clashfor the Culture Project, Al Letson’s Summer in Sanctuary, James Armstrong’s Foggy Bottom and Jan Buttram’s The President and Her Mistress at the Abingdon, 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, Bromley’s Syndrome at the Greenwich Street Theatre, and Anne DeSalvo’s Mamma Roma at the Cherry Lane. He also directed Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays at Queens Theatre and the Public Theatre, and Mira Spektor and Colette Inez’s Villa Diodati for the New York Music Theatre Festival and the York Theatre, Maria Irene Fornes’ Springtime at HERE, Pirandello’s The Man With the Flower in His Mouth for Classic Stage Company, and Angel Street at the Pearl Theatre.

Rob has enjoyed a continuing association with the Drama League since receiving a Directing Fellowship from that organization. He has served on the Drama League Nominating Committee, the Selection Committee for the Fall Directors Program, the Summer Directors Program and the New Directors/New Works Program. For the Drama League, he directed William 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 Max Sparber’s The Older Gentleman as part of the Vital Drama League Alumnifest. He wrote the Drama League Benefit honoring James Earl Jones in February 2015, and is writing the Drama League Centennial Benefit honoring Bernadette Peters in November 2015.

Rob directed Kirk Smith’s Deluge at Concordia College, Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the University of Oregon, Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour at Bloomsburg University, Maxwell Anderson’s Bad Seed at Doane College and LaGuardia Community College, Death By Design: A Comedy With Songs and Murder andJohn Guare’s Landscape of the Body. He directedShakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale at the University of Nebraska and Bloomsburg University, As Bees in Honey Drown and Columbinus at Clark University and Jeff Whitty’s Suicide Weather at New York University.

Rob is Director of New Play Development at Queens Theatre, where he curates New American Voices (formerly Immigrant Voices Project), a new play program which develops plays by writers who represent the diverse demographic of New York City. IVP/NAV has presented over fifty 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), Kitty Chen’s Rosa Loses Her Face (co-produced in association with Electric Theatre Company) and Henry Ong’s Sweet Karma (co-produced with Immigrants’ Theatre Company), among others.

At Queens Theatre, 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 and Theatreworks in Colorado. 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 Minstrel Show, Cruelties and Chelsea: From A to B and Back, and his adaptation of Toxic Avenger at the Blue Barn Theatre, The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest for Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, The 39 Steps and Mrs. Mannerly at Nebraska Repertory Theatre, and Disney’s High School Musical, Diary of a Worm, How I Became A Pirate, Pete the Cat and the national tours of Worm and Pirate for the Rose Theatre (The Omaha Theater Company for Young People).

Rob’s first play as a writer, Hazelwood Jr. High, based on the murder of Shanda Sharer, 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.

Rob’s play, Karaoke Night at the Suicide Shack, and his musical, The Queen Bees, based on the sixties girl group, both premiered at Queens Theatre. Rebel Voices, his adaptation of Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove’s “Voices of a People’s History of the United States” premiered at the Culture Project with a rotating cast including Staceyann Chin, Wallace Shawn, Danny Glover, Steve Earle, Lili Taylor, Lenelle Moïse and Rich Robinson. His play, West Moon Street, based on a novella by Oscar Wilde, was produced by the Prospect Theatre Company in New York. Death by Design was commissioned by Houston Family Arts Center, where it premiered in 2011. Hazelwood Jr. High, West Moon Street, Death By Design and a new version of Death By Design, with songs by Peter Mills, have been published by Samuel French. His adaptation of Cole Porter’s Nymph Errant premiered Off-Broadway in July 2012. Rebel Voices, The Queen Bees and Nymph Errant will be published by Samuel French in 2016. His play UMW was commissioned by Linfield College in Oregon, where it premiered in March 2013. It will be published by Steel Spring Stage Rights in 2016. His plays have received over one hundred productions world-wide.

His book, “Play Readings: A Complete Guide for Theatre Practitioners” was published by Focal Press/Routledge in October 2015. His play, Mama’s Boy, about Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother premiered at the Good Theatre in Portland, Maine in October 2015.

Three productions that Rob has directed: Lost, Syndrome, and Border/Clash, and one that he wrote, Hazelwood Jr. High, were selected to be videotaped for the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.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, about the Murder of Shanda Sharer, directed by Scott Elliott for the New Group and starring a young 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

External links

• Official Website
• Doollee Playwright's Data Base
• Queen's Theatre In The Park Official Webpage