New Theater Website

My new theater arts website is now available here

https://www.darrenpatrickblaney.com/

Production photos from "LUCID," the Theater Arts BA Capstone project at University of Miami, Spring 2018

LUCID

An original devised theater work 

by the University of Miami's
BA Theatre Arts Senior Capstone class

Spring 2018

Company Members:

Joel Castillo

Isabella Cueto

Jessica Diaz

Chazz Guerra-Ogiste

Emilie Anne Greaves

Alexander Haq

Hui Huang

Jordan Kiser

Bennett Leeds

Alex Michell

Kyla Samuels-Stewart

Andrea Vasquez

Lingyue Zheng

Artistic Director's Program Notes

     

Spring 2018 marks the first run of the the BA Theatre Arts Senior Capstone course. I must say, it’s been so exciting to see the concept become a reality with this talented group of students who have worked together to create LUCID. Presented with several options at the start of the semester, the company chose to develop an original script using dream images as its main inspiration. LUCID is composed of four interweaving dreamscape storylines, each with three interludes inspired by the themes of fear, love and redemption. 

     The BA Faculty Committee’s original goal for the Capstone course was to provide upper-level BA majors a rigorous student-driven experience in which they could fully utilize the skills they have acquired during their education as Theatre Arts students at the University of Miami, and perhaps gain new ones as well. We wanted the course to provide a venue through which the students could work together as a theater company to envision and produce a show. My role in this project has been minor compared to the students’ work: they have conceived, written, directed, designed, and now are starring in this devised piece. I hope you will enjoy the surreal fruits of their labor. 

— Darren Blaney, PhD, Faculty Supervisor

More production photos on next page

Lanford Wilson's "Burn This" directed by Darren Blaney at The University of Miami, Hecht Studio Theater, Spring 2015

Some production photos of Lanford Wilson's Burn This

University of Miami, Spring 2015

Direction, Set & Lighting Design:
Darren Patrick Blaney
Artistic Director: Henry Fonte

Fight choreography: Lee Soroko

Vocal coaching: Josh Jacobson

Costume coordination: Tim Bell

Stage manager: Andrew Gryniewicz
ASM/Sound Coordination: Sam Chan
ASM/Props Coordination: Victoria Sadowski
Studio Coordinator: Margo Camden
Faculty Liaison & Publicity: Brian Valencia

Cast: 

Anna: Rebecca Muller

Pale: Timothy Bell

Burton: Matthew Jacobs

Larry: Joey Casseb

Robbie's ghost: Taylor Stutz

More photos and program notes on next page

An abbreviated version of my CV

Darren Patrick Blaney, PhD

CURRICULUM VITAE SUMMARY

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Dramatic Art/Performance Studies with a graduate minor in Critical Theory, University of California, Davis
• Graduate Certificate, Acting & Theater Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
• STC Certificate, Acting, American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco, California
• B.A., Art, Reed College, Portland, Oregon
• Université de Rennes, France, exchange student

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

• Full-time Lecturer of Acting & Theatre Arts, University of Miami, Florida, 2013 to present
• Adjunct Lecturer of Theatre History, University of Miami, Florida, 2012
• Adjunct Lecturer of Theatre, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, 2008 to 2010
• Visiting Assistant Professor of Acting & Dramatic Literature, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, 2007 to 2008 
• Critical Inquiry Faculty, Pomona Academy for Youth Success, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, Summer 2008, 2009, 2010
• Teaching Assistant, University of California, UC Davis & UC Santa Cruz, 2002 to 2007
• Assistant Art Teacher, Board of Education, P.S. 154: The Bronx, NY, 1993 to 1995

PUBLICATIONS

• “Queering ethnicity and shattering the disco: Is there an enduring gay ethnic dance?” The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Ethnicity, edited by Shay, Anthony, and Sellers-Young, Barbara. Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 91-112. Print. Oxford Handbooks.
• “1964: The Birth of Gay Theater.” The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, vol. 21, no. 1, 2014, pp. 17–21.
• “How to Do Agitprop. Staging Social Justice: Collaborating to Create Activist Theatre (Review).” The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, vol. 20, no. 6, 2013, p. 43-44.
• “Queer Theatre and the Legacy of Cal Yeomans by Robert A. Schanke (Review).” Modern Drama, vol. 56, no. 4, 2013, pp. 569–571.
• “Lay of the Land (Review).” Theatre Journal, vol. 64, no. 4, 2012, pp. 598–601.
• “Queering the Domestic and Domesticating the Queer: Utopian Genealogies in Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July.” New England Theatre Journal, vol. 22., 2011, pp. 125-146.
• “The AIDS Show Broke the Silence.” The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, vol. 18, no. 2, 2011, pp. 13–16.

DIRECTORIAL EXPERIENCE

• Catastrophe Collective, Spring 2019, Theatre Arts Capstone Project, Artistic Director/Faculty Supervisor, Hecht Studio Theater, University of Miami
• The Mask of Blackness, Spring 2019, written and performed by Estella McNair, Hecht Studio Theater, University of Miami
• The Dining Room, Fall 2018, Hecht Studio Theater, University of Miami
• Talley’s Folly, Spring 2018, Hecht Studio Theater, University of Miami
• Lucid, Spring 2018, Theatre Arts Capstone Project: Artistic Director/Faculty Supervisor, Hecht Studio Theater, University of Miami
• 24-Hour Play Festival, Spring 2016, 2017, & 2019, Jerry Herman Ring Theater, University of Miami, Director, Co-Producer, & Artistic Director of the Festival
• As Is, Fall 2015, Stonewall National Museum and Archives, Wilton Manors, Florida
• Burn This, Spring 2015, Hecht Studio Theater, University of Miami
• Minatory Mansion, Summer 2009, Virginia Princehouse Allen Theater, Pomona College
• Fifth of July, Fall 2007, Virginia Princehouse Allen Theater, Pomona College
• Hey Baby How’ve You Been?, Fall 2007, Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica, CA
• 10-Minute Play Festival, Artistic Director/Producer, Fall 2007, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Pomona College

(Read more detail on next page)

Lanford Wilson's "Talley's Folly" at University of Miami, directed by Darren Blaney, Hecht Studio Theater, Spring 2018

Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer winning Talley's Folly
Staged at University of Miami’s Hecht Studio Theater, February-March, 2018

Cast: Bennett Leeds as Matt Friedman & Lily Steven as Sally Talley

Direction & Set Design by Darren Blaney

Costume Design by Lily Steven

Lighting Design by Bennett Leeds

Intimacy Choreography by Laura Rikard

Production photos & review of Main Street Playhouse's production of Sara Ruhl's "Stage Kiss" in Miami Lakes, May 2016, playing the role of "The Director"

"Darren Blaney demolishes the unenviable task of cold turkey introducing the play’s off-kilter characters and context in a winning over-the-top performance that’s just so right you want to hug him. As the audience made vociferously apparent." 

-- Jesse Leaf, Around Town Magazine, May 6-19, 2016