professional portfolio - bruce cohen, mfa sdc
TRANSCRIPT
15 Years of Postgraduate Production Experience as a Director and Producer.
Over 60 Theatrical Productions Directed &/or Produced.
Experience with Nonprofit and Commercial Production; Amateur Volunteers and Union Contractors; Academic ,
Community and Professional Venues.
14 Professional/Actors Equity Contract Shows.
12 Regional or State Premieres.
6 New Work, National, and World Premieres.
Ghosts
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Wiley and the Hairy Man
The Rocky Horror Show
The Who’s Tommy
Ubu Roi
The Merchant of Venice
Beautiful Untrue Things (New Work)
The Fantasticks
To the Chicago Abyss
The Veldt
Optophobia (New Work)
Richard the Third
My Three Angels
Titus Andronicus
The Underpants
A Christmas Carol
Curio (New Work)
Moby Dick, Rehearsed
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Resort 76 (Regional Premiere)
Private Lives
Fools
Measure for Measure
Ruthless! The Musical
Play it Again, Sam
Stephanie Hero
The Desk Set
Julius Caesar
Two Rooms
Art
Songs for a New World
Dames at Sea
Two by Two
Wicked City Blues (New Work & Regional Premiere)
Side by Side by Sondheim
Kiss Me, Kate
Pal Joey
Triumph of Love
Zorro
Annie, Get Your Gun
Honk
Galileo
The Diary of Anne Frank
Unexpected Tenderness
God’s Favorite
Joeseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Lady Windermere’s Fan
Consumption (New Work)
Woman of the House (New Work)
I am a Camera
Rouge et Noir (New Work)
The Misanthrope
The Love Talker
Orphans
The Devil and Billy Markham
Spike Heels
One for the Road
A Place with the Pigs
Total Eclipse
The Wager
I directed and produced this staging of Tommy and it was a first for the state of
Arkansas. We mounted the show with live instrumentation and an energetic student
and community ensemble. The show was quite well received!
Attendance records were
set for this production and
we attribute much of the
spike to very aggressive
social networking and
guerilla marketing.
Additionally, our version of
this classic rock opera
attracted a much younger
and broader demographic.
Tommy! Producer & Director: Bruce Cohen Musical Director: Timothy Bartlett Choreographer: Michelle Dutasaca
Scenic/Lighting Light and Set Design: Don Eller Costume Design: Stacey Johnson Graphic Design: Bruce Cohen
I enjoyed my role as director. I also enjoyed two other areas of significant involvement with the show. I
designed the graphic art for our marketing, promotion and advertising. I also was pressed into service at the
last minute when a cast member dropped out and ended up playing Uncle Ernie for the run of the show!
Resort 76 was also an Arkansas, regional
and American collegiate first for this play.
To acquire rights to perform Resort 76 I first located
and then negotiated permissions directly from
Shimon Wincelberg’s widow. The play had only been
produced once before, by a small theatre company
out of Chicago. We were successful, also, in
introducing subject matter heretofore unfamiliar to
our audiences and student base. Outreach and
education efforts were offered in conjunction and our
talkbacks were actively and well attended.
Director
& Producer:
Bruce Cohen
Scenic
Design:
Don Eller
Lighting
Design:
Kristi Smith
Costume
Design:
Leslie
Thurman
Sound
Design:
Bruce
Cohen
Graphic
Design:
Bruce
Cohen
Regional
Premiere
This was a fully professional show produced in association with Actors’ Equity performers and
United Scenic Artist designers. It was also a departure from the more traditionalist fare that Utah
Musical Theatre audiences had grown used to. Nonetheless, we received rave reviews.
Songs for a New World Director & Producer: Bruce Cohen Choreographer: BP Mendoza
Scenic Design: Joshua Madsen Music Direction: Mary Anderson
Lighting Design: Michael Foster Costume Design: Phillip Lowe Regional Premiere AEA Production
I made the artistic decision to expand the original cast requirements from a trio ensemble to
twelve performers. This allowed complimentary diversity, stunning production numbers and a
richer, fuller sound.
Moby Dick was one of my favorite directing
experiences. This was a show that satisfied
on a very sensual level. The design of lights
and sound along with choreographic
blocking and imagistic use of bodies in
space lent an immersive expressionistic air
to the whole event.
Moby Dick: Rehearsed Director & Producer: Bruce Cohen Scenic & Light Design: Don Eller Costume Design: Sandra Williams
Sound Design: Bruce Cohen (w/apprentice) Graphic Design: Bruce Cohen Held by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Selection Team for Regional Competition.
The cast truly came together as a
tight and collaborative ensemble.
For young students, which all of them
were, they took to the spirit of the
thing and painted the theater with
their voices and energy.
Producer:
Bruce Cohen
Director:
Don Eller
Scenic Design:
Don Eller
Lighting Design:
Cory Wray
Costume Design:
Chelsea Watson
Sound Design:
Bruce Cohen
Graphic Design:
Bruce Cohen
Regional
Premiere
2010 Contestant
for the David
Mark
Cohen Award
Curio is a play I’d written, and for
this production, newly revised.
The story concerns the commodification
of the “Third-World” by American media
and popular culture. It is a black comedy
set at the time of the first Gulf War.
Titus Andronicus was the most ambitious production I had tackled at ASU Beebe to that
point and, given its narrative requirements, gave me some sleepless nights.
But, unlike the hero of the play, all turned out very well.
We brought in a guest performer to play the doomed
general and assist in staging the copious theatrical
violence. A student designer focused simply on the blood
and gore effects (she received a commendation from the
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
respondent for her design and technical execution).
Titus Andronicus
Director & Producer:
Bruce Cohen
Scenic & Light Design:
Don Eller
Costume Design:
Leslie Thurman
Sound Design:
Bruce Cohen
Combat Choreography:
Don J. Eller & Brett Ihler
Blood/Gore Effects:
Sarah Eden
Graphic Design:
Bruce Cohen
Pal Joey was the first show I directed for
Utah Musical Theatre.
This was also a departure from canon and
served to expand our audience’s cultural
palate. The historical value of this show, as
one of the first instances in musical theater
of the use of an anti-hero, unsettled some
in our conservative area.
But, we received many more
commendations for our forward-thinking
choice.
Pal Joey Director & Producer: Bruce Cohen Choreographer: Mary Tinsley Lighting Design: Jim Craig Costume Design: Jennifer McGrew Musical Direction: Christopher Lavely AEA Production
As it all turned out, Pal Joey was a critical success and the roughest of
the comments we heard about were related to exposed midriffs.
These two plays were a great deal of fun and presented a number of design
challenges. We were able to create an immersive experience for our audiences
that, I felt, put them in the world of the play.
The Veldt & To the Chicago Abyss Director & Producer: Bruce Cohen Scenic & Light Design: Don Eller Costume Design: Sandra Williams Sound Design: Bruce Cohen (w/apprentice) Graphic Design: Bruce Cohen Held by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Selection Team for Regional Competition.
The Fantasticks was a step forward for us
in musical theatre production.
In the seven years I ran ASUB’s theater
program we grew from no musical theater
to shows that perform competitively with
the four year and graduate programs in
the region.
Portions of this show were invited to
perform at the regional ACTF festival and
garnered two Music Theatre Initiative
nominees.
The Fantasticks Director & Producer: Bruce Cohen Musical Director: Shauna Haslip Choreographer: Michelle Dutasaca Scenic & Light Design: Don Eller Costume Design: Sandra Williams Sound Design: Bruce Cohen (w/apprentice) Graphic Design: Bruce Cohen Held by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Selection Team for Regional Competition.
Our Matt and Luisa sang their hearts out at the ACTF Fringe
and our home performance tickled an expanding audience base.
Our student designers also brought home commendations for honorable and exemplary work.
Beautiful Untrue Things is another of my plays and received its first mounting
at ASUB under my direction.
Producer & Director:
Bruce Cohen
Scenic/Lighting
Design:
Don Eller
Costume Design:
Elizabeth Ulsperger
Sound Design:
Bruce Cohen
Graphic Design:
Bruce Cohen
2012 Contestant for the
KCACTF
David Mark Cohen Award
The show is a reconceptualization of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.
As with many of the productions here at
ASUB, in addition to directing I also
designed the graphics for marketing and
advertising of this show.
The Merchant of Venice Director & Producer: Bruce Cohen Scenic Design: Elizabeth Ulsperger
Lighting Design: Zachary Rhodes Costume Design: Michelle Setcer
Sound Design: Jacob Stillman Graphic Design: Bruce Cohen
My concept for Merchant set the world of the play in the mid 70’s on the Jersey shore.
Of special note was the student who played Portia;
she also designed a terrific set.
The Rocky Horror Show was my last here at ASUB. It was also the show that
broke all attendance records we have set over the prior ten years.
The Rocky Horror Show Producer/Director: Bruce Cohen Musical Director: Shauna Haslip
Choreographer: Michelle Dutasaca Scenic/Lighting Design: Don Eller
Costume Design: Angel McDaniel Invited to present at the 2014 Region 6 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Fringe
For a finale, Rocky certainly wowed an entirely sold-out run and was also invited to perform
at the KCACTF Region 6 festival fringe.
Three Decades of Professional Experience.
Performed in a Wide Variety of Venue for Dozens of Companies
(from Outdoor Drama to Off-off Broadway) Including:
The Pioneer Theatre Company
The Grove Street Playhouse
MadLab
Looking Glass Theatre
The Sage Theatre at Raw Space
The Kraine
Oberon Theatre Ensemble
Women at Play
Actors’ Theatre Company
Fort Harrod Drama Productions
Time Warner
Ozone Studios
PAX TV
Gargaro Productions
Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre
The Progressive Era journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochrane;
known famously as Nellie Bly.
My research is targeted toward the creation of a docudrama I have titled
“Will Indomitable.” I focus on the two landmark achievements of her
career. Cochrane’s record-breaking, seventy-two day trip around the world
and “Ten Days in a Mad-House,” her daring exposé of the sordid
conditions in a turn of the century mental asylum.
An examination of parallels between the contemporary
phenomenon of Protestant fundamentalist “Hell Houses,” and the Medieval Catholic Church’s use of theatricalized Hell
and damnation within the auspices of liturgical tropes, vernacular dramas, and cycle plays.
Immersive Aesthetic Distance in Theatrical Production.
I am targeting an understanding of design and performance elements that best contribute to an enveloping fictional reality for an audience. I am specifically looking to examples from the world of theme park entertainment and highly immersive “dark-
rides.” I hope to develop a survey of best-practices that can effectively cross-over into traditional theatrical production.