Rob Urbinati, Director of New Play Development
Rob is a freelance director and playwright based in New York City, and Director of New Play Development at Queens Theatre, where he curates the Immigrant Voices Project. He has directed at the Public Theatre, Culture Project, Abingdon Theatre, Classic Stage Company, Pearl Theatre, Queens Theatre, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, NYCFringe, New York Music Theatre Festival, New York University and theatres and universities across the country.
Rob’s first play as a writer, Hazelwood Jr. High, was directed by Scott Elliott for the New Group. The play is published by Samuel French. Miss Julie in Hollywood, his adaptation of the Strindberg play, was presented at the 78th Street Theatre Lab. His adaptation of Mary McCarthy’s short story, Cruel & Barbarous Treatment, and 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. Rob’s play, Karaoke Night at the Suicide Shack, and his musical, Shangri La, based on the sixties girl group, premiered at Queens Theatre. West Moon Street, based on a novella by Oscar Wilde, was produced in New York City by Prospect Theatre Company, and has been performed at theaters across the United States, Canada and the U.K. It is published by Samuel French. His new play, Death by Design, opened in Houston in September 2011. His adaptation of Cole Porter’s Nymph Errant opens in New York City in July 2012. Rob has developed various projects for Disney Creative Entertainment, served on the Lark Theatre 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. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
