Images from: CRUMBLE, Catalyst Theater; THE RISE AND FALL OF ANNIE HALL, Theater J; REFERENCES TO SALVADOR DALI MAKE ME HOT, Rorschach Theater

Shirley Serotsky

Shirley is a freelance theater director based in the Washington, DC area. She has a passion for directing new work and has been active in the development process of numerous plays and musicals. While she has been fortunate to work in a wide-variety of genres---the stories that she is most attracted to are those that depict surprising versions of the world we live in.

Shirley is also the Director of Literary and Public Programs at Theater J, where she directed the 2009 production of The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall (which received a 2009 Helen Hayes Nomination for Best New Play). Other recent productions include: Five Flights and Two Rooms at Theater Alliance, Crumble (lay me down Justin Timberlake) and We Are Not These Hands at Catalyst Theater, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot at Rorschach Theater (for which she received a 2007 Helen Hayes nomination for outstanding direction of a resident play), Sovereignty (The Humana Festival at the Actor's Theater of Louisville), The Diary of Anna Frank (The National Theater for Arts and Education), As American As and After Darwin (Journeymen Theater), Steel Magnolias (The Ice House), Powerhouse (2008 CapFringe Festival), Cautionary Tales for Adults and the Many Adventures of Trixie Tickles (2007 CapFringe Festival), LUNCH (2007 New York Musical Theater Festival & 2006 CapFringe Festival), Upshot (Forum Theater), Titus! The Musical (Source Theatre), We're 'Mericans (Kennedy Center Millennium Stage), The Winter’s Tale (Sonnet Repertory), The Superfriends of Flushing, Queens (Columbia University), Starlet for Sale (Expanded Arts), The Blind, and A Teenager's Guide to the Universe (The Looking Glass Theater). Training: BFA in Directing, North Carolina School of the Arts. She is a founding member of Bouncing Ball Theatrical Productions, was a member of The 2002 Designer/Director Workshop with Ming Cho Lee, participated in the 2003 Lincoln Center Director's Lab, and was a 2001/2002 Kennedy Center Kenan Fellow.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

My strongest theatrical influences as a young artist were musical theater and classical works. These two worlds, which demand a kind of heightened theatricality, taught me that some of the greatest truths can be revealed in conventions that are not tethered to naturalism.

I appreciate when a moment that is recognizable and familiar becomes surprising through a theatrical choice--and vice versa--when a moment that is unexpected seems inevitable when played out on stage. I like theater to be impulsive and fresh, but not under-cooked. Many of my favorite experiences as a director have involved moments of successful collaboration--with playwrights, actors, and designers; I don’t believe that a director goes at this work alone.

Photo: Joe Shymanski

Photo: Stan Barouh

Photo: Marigan O’Malley Posada

Photo: Colin Hovde

Photo: Colin Hovde

Photo: Clint Brandhagen

Photo: Stan Barouh

Images from: THIS IS NOT A TIMEBOMB, Source Theater; MIKVEH, Theater J; PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, CAtholic University