Directing Experience  
 
 
 
Photo by Ray Young
 Lost in Yonkers
     
Photo by Ray Young
      Crimes of the Heart
     
full productions
  STAGE STRUCK
Simon Gray
California Conservatory Theater  
  LILY THE FELON'S DAUGHTER
Tom Taggart
Pine Hill Theater  
  THE BUTTERFINGERS ANGEL
William Gibson
Pine Hill Theater  
  MAN TALK
Jane Martin, Donna Davis, et alia
Pine Hill Theater  
  WOMEN'S VOICES THEN AND NOW
Jane Martin, E.L. Master, Donna Davis
Pine Hill Theater  
  CRIMES OF THE HEART
Beth Henley
Actors Ensemble, Berkeley
  LOST IN YONKERS
Neil Simon
Actors Ensemble, Berkeley
  COME BLOW YOUR HORN
Neil Simon
Laurel Playhouse, Oakland
  BEEN THERE DONE THAT
Philip Real
Oola Productions, San Francisco
  ANNIE
Meehan-Strouse-Charnin
Old Town Theatre, Benicia
  WINE COUNTRY
Theresa Carilli
Theatre Rhinoceros, San Francisco
  SECRETS
Rebecca Ranson
Theatre Rhinoceros, San Francisco
  KUDZU, World Premiere*
Jane Chambers
*Drama-Logue Awards for DIRECTING & for ENSEMBLE ACTING
Theatre Rhinoceros, San Francisco  
  THE RAINMAKER
Richard Nash
Actors Ensemble, Berkeley
  THE BEST MAN
Gore Vidal
Actors Ensemble, Berkeley
  BRIGADOON
Lerner & Loewe
Actors Ensemble, Berkeley
  THE HEIRESS
R. & A. Goetz
Actors Ensemble, Berkeley
  BILLY BUDD
Coxe & Chapman
Actors Ensemble, Berkeley  
  A CRY OF PLAYERS
William Gibson
Actors Ensemble, Berkeley  
  THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS
G. B. Shaw
Actors Ensemble, Berkeley  
 

WE BOMBED IN NEW HAVEN, West Coast Premiere*
Joseph Heller
*Collaborated with Mr. Heller to create a new ending

Squirrel Hill Theater, Berkeley  
  HELLO, OUT THERE
William Saroyan
Squirrel Hill, Berkeley  
  ANNA PEDERSDOTTER, Premiere of translation by
George R. Davis
Hans Weirs-Jensen
Squirrel Hill, Berkeley  
  MR. FLANNERY'S OCEAN
Lewis John Carlino
Squirrel Hill, Berkeley  
  INSIDE OUT (SHOWCASE)
Philip Real
The Marsh, San Francisco  
 

WEST OF BROADWAY (MUSICAL REVUE)
Stephen Sondheim

Fanny's Cabaret, San Francisco  


radio

 

THE DUCK VARIATIONS
David Mamet

KPFA, Berkeley  
  THE TWELVE-POUND LOOK
J. M. Barrie
KPFA, Berkeley  

 

 

Donna Davis teaches Directing as an adjunct to the
Donna Davis Drama Workshop

Please contact her with any questions via e-mail

 

 
 
   
Photo by Charles G. Haacker
 
Photo by Charles G. Haacker
    Billy Budd The Best Man
       

"As a director she excels at creating a working environment that makes actors more comfortable while stressing the importance of the process. She gave of herself in the form of spending extra time with actors both when they asked for more individual work and when it was needed for the development of the character and the production.

Donna's patience, generous spirit and strong technique would make her an asset to any theatre searching for a stage director."

~ Mike Reynolds, Executive Director
California Conservatory Theatre


"I have worked with Donna as an actor in a number of shows she has directed. She is conscientious in individualizing her directing to the skill level and the understanding of each actor. She can use a variety of language, images, and/or techniques to bring that actor to the creative state of character needed by the play.

Before the beginning of the rehearsal period she will have been thorough in her analysis of the play and the development of the plot, the characters and their relationships, and the final resolution. During auditions she looks not only at the individual actors and their abilities, but also at the balance between them and the potential they will bring to the production.

Just as Donna spends preparation time ahead of the rehearsal perioid so it can be used to develop the creative process of the play, she also expects the cast and crew to come to rehearsals prepared and ready to expand this creative process during the rehearsal."

~ Margaret Gudmundsson
Member of Board of Directors
Actors Ensemble of Berkeley


"I was more than dubious when I heard that our church fundraiser would consist of mologues by 22 of our church women, some of whom had never been on stage. But that was before I met Donna Davis, who conceived, directord and produced the show, Women's Voices, in March 2002.

It is an understatement to say that these women worked hard. That they certainly did. They were dedicated. Tey did more than learn their lines. Donna taught them much, much more. She encouraged them to delve inside the characers they played. They learned how their characters lived, their mannerisms, their fears and their loves. During the play, they simply became those characters.

The show was so good, so good that many who saw it asked when the group would next perform. In fact it was so good that I decided to see it all three nights.

I learned what Donna Davis can really do: take a group of intelligent amateurs and meld them into an accomplished performing group, good enough that you want to see them again and again."

~ Karl Ruppenthal


"Donna Davis created a new play from existing sources and titled it 'Women's Voices, Then and Now.' It was produced at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley where I serve as one of the ministers. Donna directed the play, casting twenty-one women who received hours of individual coaching from Donna. Each woman felt herself growing in Donna's presence and from her attention. Each woman stretched to understand every word, feeling, and action of her character. Each woman did more than she ever knew she could. Donna created magic-individual growth, community among the women, and a move-the-audience-to-laughter-tears-and-fresh-insight production!"

- The Rev. Barbara Hamilton-Holway
U.U.C.B.

ALL CONTENT ON THIS WEB SITE ©2003-2009
by Donna Davis