Board of Directors Episode 7: Suman Mukhopadhyay

Suman Mukhopadhyay’s films deal with the socio-political realities and engage in critical assessment of the contemporary. His explorations into the subaltern lives and histories have lent a distinction to his filmmaking and theatre productions.  

Suman has directed nine full-length feature films including Putulnacher Itikatha(2023); Nazarband (2020); Asamapta (2017) , and Herbert (2005), which won the National Award for Best Regional Film that year.​ He participated and won awards in various national and international theatre and film festivals including Busan, Montreal, Dubai, Munich, San Francisco, Seattle, and Kerala etc. Suman has also made a number of documentaries, TV series, short films and cine-plays.  He was conferred with an award from Motion Picture Association and Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Brisbane in 2017. His latest film Putulnacher Itikatha (The Puppet’s Tale) had its world premiere at International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2025. Suman Mukhopadhyay is one of India’s leading theatre directors and done productions ranging from European drama to major adaptations of Bengali masterpieces and Indian plays.  His major plays are Teesta Paarer Brittanto, Mephisto, Bisarjan and King Lear. Suman taught and directed plays at UC Berkeley, University of Toledo, Kalamazoo College and Barnard College in the USA.  He was on a Fulbright fellowship (2022) at Columbia University, New York, and was a George A. Miller Visiting Artist, UIUC (2023).  Very recently, he is recipient Hubert Bals Development Fund 2025. 

https://www.sumanmukhopadhyay.com/

Board of Directors December Meet-up

Join Us The Third Weekend of Each Month for The Board of Directors Monthly Meet-up

The Board of Directors is a community of Theatre Makers that come together to share stories, provide mentorship, and be generally available for each other, which will take place on Zoom, the third weekend of each month. For more details about times, please see below.

What is it? This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. Participants can come and go as they please. If you cannot attend the entire session, you are welcome to arrive late or leave early. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world.

Board of Directors Founder and Host Adam Marple will moderate the discussion. All questions about the craft of Directing and Making Theatre are welcome and can be asked of Adam or put to the group as a whole.

All Times for the December 20/21 Session (1 hour 30 min)

San Francisco, USA Sat, Dec 20, 2025 at 6:00 pm PST

Mexico City, Mexico Sat, Dec 20, 2025 at 8:00 pm CST

New York, USA Sat, Dec 20, 2025 at 9:00 pm EST

London, UK Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 2:00 am GMT

Cairo, Egypt Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 4:00 am EET

Singapore Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 10:00 am SGT

Melbourne, Australia Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 1:00 pm AEDT

Board of Directors Episode 6: Pirronne Yousefzadeh

Pirronne Yousefzadeh (She/Her/Hers) directs theatre that speaks to the moment and uplifts Global Majority communities with buoyancy, joy, and theatrical magic. She is a director, writer, and educator and serves as Associate Artistic Director and Director of Artistic Partnerships at Playwrights’ Center. Prior to this, she served as the Producing Artistic Director at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Engagement at Geva Theatre. Additionally, Pirronne is a founding member of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. 

Recent projects include King Lear (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival), The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington by James Ijames (Mixed Blood; Star Tribune’s Best of 2024 list), the world premiere of The Ants by Ramiz Monsef (Geffen), the world premiere of It’s Christmas, Carol! by Mark Bedard, Brent Hinkley, and John Tufts (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Vietgone by Qui Nguyen (Geva Theatre Center), Heartland by Gabriel Jason Dean (59E59), Yoga Play by Dipika Guha (Playmakers Repertory Company, and the world premiere of Kid Prince & Pablo by Brian Quijada (The Kennedy Center).

She has directed and developed work at The Public/Joe's Pub, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Ars Nova, Soho Rep, Atlantic Theater Company, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Rising Circle Theater Collective, The Woodshed Collective (The Tenant: Best of 2011, The L Magazine), Partial Comfort Productions, Noor Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Wild Project, Dixon Place, The Living Theatre, The Lark Play Development Center, New Dramatists, The Kennedy Center, Geffen Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, American Conservatory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Cleveland Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Geva Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, Huntington Theatre Company, Two River Theater Company, Milwaukee Rep, Kitchen Theatre Company, Dorset Theatre Festival, InterAct Theatre Company, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, On The Boards, Perseverance Theatre, and Hangar Theatre, where she was a 2006 Drama League Directing Fellow.

Pirronne is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, New Georges Affiliated Artist, member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and Wingspace, and an alumna of the 2050 Fellowship at NYTW, Sagal Fellowship at Williamstown Theatre Festival,  SDC Denham Fellowship, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Ensemble Studio Theatre's Resident Director Program, New Georges Jam, and Drama League Directors Project. She has served on the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin, Rutgers University, and Bard High School Early College, and as a guest director and instructor at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, Fordham University, and University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, among others.

Pirronne received her M.F.A. in Directing from Columbia University, where she was a Shubert Presidential Fellow and Matthews Fellowship recipient. She studied with Anne Bogart, Robert Woodruff, and Brian Kulick, and directed Big Love by Charles L. Mee, Fool for Love by Sam Shepard, and several devised pieces. She was also among five directors chosen to take part in a course in collaboration at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, taught by Oskar Eustis and Rinne Groff.  She completed additional training at Shakespeare's Globe in London, and graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Theatre and English Literature from Washington University.

She is a proud member of SDC and is represented by Ben Izzo at Michael Moore Agency. Upcoming projects include workshops with Jayne Deely, Katie Bender, Andrew Rosendorf, and Alejandro Rodriguez, and the world premiere of Vichet Chum’s Kween at Merrimack Repertory Theatre.

https://www.pirronne.com/

Board of Directors Episode 5: Acadia Barrengos

Acadia Barrengos (she/her) is a New York-based director whose work excavates lost histories and engages audiences viscerally. In addition to NYC, she has worked in Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and New Jersey.

Inspired by the study of epigenetics, Acadia is driven by stories that wrestle with inheritance. Her work prioritizes surprise, ensemble, and rhythm. Acadia’s work walks the line of hope and doubt, and investigates the space between the pedestrian and spectral, the bloody and the magical.

B.F.A in Directing from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Minor in Arts Entrepreneurship.

https://www.acadiabarrengos.com/

Board of Directors November Meet-up

Join Us The Third Weekend of Each Month for The Board of Directors Monthly Meet-up

The Board of Directors is a community of Theatre Makers that come together to share stories, provide mentorship, and be generally available for each other, which will take place on Zoom, the third weekend of each month. For more details about times, please see below.

What is it? This monthly gathering invites directors and other theatre makers to come together, share experiences, and seek advice in a supportive community. There is often an isolating nature to directing, and this new space aims to foster connection and collaboration. Participants can come and go as they please. If you cannot attend the entire session, you are welcome to arrive late or leave early. The Board of Directors is an opportunity to set aside time each month to be alongside members of the Directing community all over the world.

Board of Directors Founder and Host Adam Marple will moderate the discussion. All questions about the craft of Directing and Making Theatre are welcome and can be asked of Adam or put to the group as a whole.

All Times for the November 22/23 Session (1 hour 30 min)

San Francisco, USA Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 7:00 am PST

Mexico City, Mexico Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 9:00 am CST

New York, USA Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 10:00 am EST

London, UK Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 3:00 pm GMT

Cairo, Egypt Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 5:00 pm EET

Singapore. Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 11:00 pm SGT

Melbourne, Australia Sun, Nov 23, 2025 at 2:00 am AEDT

Board of Directors Episode 4: Joe Deer

Joe Deer is the award-winning director and choreographer of over 200 productions - from Off-Broadway to London, regional to summer stock, international, and university stages. His projects vary from new works in Matera, Italy, to operas, classic plays, and musicals at some of the world's finest theaters and training centers.  Joe is a former Chair and Artistic Director of the Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures at Wright State University (Dayton, OH), where he is the Distinguished Professor of Musical Theatre (emeritus). Joe was Director of The Musical Theatre Initiative at Wright State, an international center founded to celebrate and explore the history, culture, and craft of this art form. For 20 years, he was Founding Head of Wright State's Musical Theatre Program. His students populate Broadway, national tour, regional, and international stages and have won numerous Tony and Olivier Awards.

Joe began his career as a street busker in New York’s Shubert Alley and eventually appeared in the Broadway and touring productions of Anything Goes, The American Dancemachine, Singin' In The Rain, NYC Opera’s acclaimed productions of Brigadoon and The Music Man.  Off-Broadway shows include Rainbow, Subway Series (with NYC Tapworks), and Music, Rhythm and Tap (at Brooklyn Academy of Music). He also appeared at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center Honors. Joe’s stage managing credits include the Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls, regional productions of Lend Me A Tenor, productions for New York’s Playwrights’ Horizons, and as a production assistant on the first workshop of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins.

Joe received the Ohio Governor’s Award for the Arts in Arts Education (2016), Wright State University’s Trustees’ Award for Faculty Excellence, and the College of Liberal Arts Award for Faculty Excellence (2014), more than three dozen regional awards for best production or direction, and was inducted into the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame. He was the founding President of the Musical Theatre Educators Alliance, from whom he received a Career Achievement Award for his ongoing commitment to Musical Theatre education. Joe is a frequent guest artist and master teacher at the world's finest institutions, including the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (London, England), Danish Academy of Musical Theatre, Stage School (Hamburg, GE), Royal Welsh School of Music and Drama (Wales), Sheridan College (Canada), Scuola del Teatro Musicale (Milan, Italy) and many of the top training programs in the US (Carnegie Mellon University, North Carolina School of the Arts, University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music and many others). He has presented workshops for thousands of students and teachers across the globe. In the Dayton (Ohio) region, he proudly affiliates with The Muse Machine, where he has been a frequent director and teacher, and The Human Race Theatre Company, where he's a Resident Artist. He holds an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University.

Joe is author of dozens of articles on theatre and education, the book, Directing In Musical Theatre: An Essential Guide (revised and expanded second edition coming in early 2026), and the definitive textbook on its subject, Acting In Musical Theatre: A Comprehensive Course (with Rocco Dal Vera), which has been translated into Portuguese, Korean, Italian, Spanish and upcoming and Chinese editions, with a revised fourth English edition in process.

http://www.joedeer.net/

Board of Directors Episode 3: Mei Ann Teo

Mei Ann Teo (they/them) is a queer immigrant from Singapore, an artistic leader, theatre maker, and educator whose work bridges the intersections of the artistic, the civic, and the contemplative. As a director, deviser, and dramaturg, Teo creates across genres, from music theatre and reimagined classics to intermedial participatory projects and documentary theatre, always with a deep curiosity for how performance can reimagine our shared world.

Teo has directed and developed an extraordinary range of productions across the U.S. and internationally. Their directing credits include Jillian Walker’s SKiNFoLK: An American Show at The Bushwick Starr; Ruth Tang’s Building A Character with Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai at Wild Rice’s Singapore Theatre Festival; and Madeline Sayet’s Where We Belong, which premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe before touring nationally to Woolly Mammoth, The Public, Seattle Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Goodman, Portland Center Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Folger Shakespeare Library. Teo also directed the North American premiere of Amy Berryman’s Walden at TheatreWorks Hartford, which swept the Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, including Best Production and Best Director.

Internationally, Teo directed the world premiere of Dim Sum Warriors at Theatre Above in Shanghai, written by Colin Goh and Yen Yen Woo, composed by Pulitzer Prize–winner Du Yun, which went on to tour 25 cities across China. Their documentary and socially engaged work includes the acclaimed Lyrics from Lockdown by Bryonn Bain (touring Belgium’s Festival de Liège, Singapore’s M1 Festival, National Black Theatre, and U.S. prisons and universities) and Labyrinth for the Beijing International Festival, named one of the Top 8 Productions by Beijing News.

A recipient of the League of Professional Theatre Women’s Josephine Abady Award and the inaugural Lily Fan Director Lilly Award, Teo has served as Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory, Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Work at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and now as Artistic Director of New Work at Ping Chong and Company, carrying forward the company’s legacy into a new era under the banner of “Pink Fang.”

Across continents, disciplines, and communities, Mei Ann Teo’s work continues to challenge, heal, and expand our understanding of what theatre can be — a space where art and justice meet, and where the stories of the diaspora, the queer body, and the collective imagination are given bold and resonant life.

Learn more at meiannteo.com.

Board of Directors Episode 2: Shaun Patrick Tubbs

In this episode, director and actor Shaun Patrick Tubbs joins us to talk about his journey through the worlds of theatre, opera, and new play development. This path has taken him from Wright State to Juilliard, from Miami to New York, from performing center stage to shaping stories from the director’s chair.

Shaun’s directing work reflects a deep commitment to both craft and conscience. His productions include Ragtime (Union Avenue Opera), Defacing Michael Jackson (Miami New Drama), The Tempest and Life Is a Dream (Juilliard), Sweat (Wright State University), Black Dick (New York Theatre Workshop), Independence Eve (Signature Theatre DC), hop thA A (Ars Nova), Artney Jackson (The Lark/New Black Festival), and Disgraced (Asolo Repertory Theatre). Each work he approaches reveals a director attuned to rhythm, character, and the political heart of storytelling — a sensibility born from years of listening as an actor and creating as a collaborator.

As a performer, Shaun has appeared in Terminus (New York Theatre Workshop), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged (Human Race Theatre), My Mañana Comes (Manhattan Theatre Club), and The Book of Grace (Zachary Scott Theatre). His range as an artist — from classical to contemporary, comedic to deeply human — reflects his belief that theatre at its best is an act of empathy and invitation.

A recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, Shaun holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BFA from Wright State University. He is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), and SAG-AFTRA.

Shaun’s artistry is grounded in both rigorous training and radical openness. Whether directing a new work or reimagining a classic, he asks the same questions: What does this story demand of us now? How do we create space for transformation, not just performance? And what happens when artists bring their whole selves to the work, intellect, heart, humor, and history?

In conversation, Shaun is as generous and thoughtful as his directing suggests, exploring how identity and experience shape artistic choices, how collaboration becomes a political act, and how storytelling can hold a mirror up to both beauty and discomfort. His career is a testament to a life lived in dialogue with the art form itself.

Discover more about his work at shaunpatricktubbs.com.

Board of Directors Episode 1: Anne Bogart

Director, Professor, and writer Anne Bogart has led the Directing concentration at Columbia University's School of the Arts' Theatre program for over 30 years—almost as long as the concentration has been in existence. 

While her reputation off-campus precedes her as the co-founder of the renowned SITI Theatre Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992, and the revolutionary Viewpoints acting method, on campus, she is known for her extraordinary dedication to her students and their success. 

She is the recipient of four Honorary Doctorates from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Skidmore College, Bard College, and Cornish College. She was a recipient of a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, the Richard B. Fisher Award, a USA Fellowship, a Rockefeller Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and received the 2016 Alfred Drake Award from Brooklyn College. 

Works with SITI include Radio Christmas Carol, Falling & Loving, The Bacchae, Chess Match, The Theater is a Blank Page, Steel Hammer, Persians, A Rite, Café Variations, Trojan Women, American Document, Antigone, Freshwater, Under Construction, Who Do You Think You Are, Radio Macbeth, Hotel Cassiopeia; Death and the Ploughman, La Dispute, Score, bobrauschenbergamerica, Room, War of the Worlds, Cabin Pressure, The Radio Play, Alice’s Adventures, Culture of Desire, Bob, Going, Going, Gone, Small Lives/Big Dreams, The Medium, Hay Fever, Private Lives, Miss Julie, and Orestes. Operas include Tristan and Isolde, The Handmaid’s Tale, Alcina, Macbeth, Norma, Carmen, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Nicholas and Alexandra, Marina: A Captive Spirit, Lilith, and Seven Deadly Sins. 

Bogart is the author of six books: A Director Prepares, The Viewpoints Book, And Then, You Act, Conversations with Anne, What’s the Story, and, most recently, The Art of Resonance.