Eric Parness
Artistic director
ERIC PARNESS is the Artistic Director of Resonance Ensemble, where he has directed productions of Sophocles’ Antigone, Maxim Gorky’s The Lower Depth(pick of the week on NYTheatre.com &
OffOffOnline.com), Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Ibsen’s The Master Builder, and the world premieres of Strange Bedfellows by Bruce Cohen, La Tempestad by Larry Loebell, The Mail Order Bride by Charles L. Mee, Sherlock Solo by Victor Cahn, What Happened Then by Michael Feingold, 23 Knives by Christopher Boal (nominated for two IT awards), Shakespeare’s Slave by Steven Fechter, The Truth Quotient by Richard Manley, and Burning by Ginger Lazarus. Other New York directing credits include IATI Theater’s Three on a Match and The Treatment, Off the Wall Theatricals’ Going Once! Laughing Twice!! (eight month run at the St. Luke’s Theater) Rachel Reiner Productions’ Embraceable Me, Jean Cocteau Repertory’s Crazy for the Dog, State of Play’s North to Maine (and a remount by American Theatre of Actors), Oberon Theatre Ensemble’s The Winter’s Tale, Of Mice and Men (named “One of the Top Ten Shows in New York of 2003” by Theatermania.com), Measure for Measure, and The Starship Astrov (nominated for 11 MITF Awards including Outstanding Direction), Hypothetical Theatre Company’s Kryptonite City, and Boomerang Theatre Company’s Blood Wedding. He has also directed regional theatre for the Blumenthal Center in Charlotte, NC, Curtain Call Theatre in Latham, NY, and The Home Made Theater in Saratoga Springs, NY. As the current Assistant Professor of Acting and Directing at Westfield State University, he has directed student productions of The Tempest by William Shakespeare and O Beautiful by Theresa Rebeck, as well as the musicals Spring Awakening and Urinetown: The Musical. He has also directed educational theatre for Dean College, Brooklyn College, Marist College, Stern College and Brandeis University. Eric is a graduate of Brandeis University (BA) and Brooklyn College (MFA), and a member of Lincoln Center Theatre’s Directors Lab.
Rachel Reiner
managing director
RACHEL REINER is Director of Audience Engagement at The Broadway League (the national trade association for the commercial theatre industry) and oversees the Jimmy Awards®/National High School Musical Theatre Awards®, Broadway Bridges®, Family First Nights®, the High School Broadway Shadowing Program, and various education and engagement related programs. She has held a variety of positions in multiple departments at the Broadway League since 1996. She has produced over 30 plays as well as many readings and developmental presentations through her off-Broadway production company, Rachel Reiner Productions LLC, and as Managing Director of Resonance Ensemble, a non-profit theatre company. Rachel graduated summa cum laude from the Theatre Department at Brandeis University and served as Co-President of Brandeis University’s NYC Club Alumni Association. Rachel also served as Co-President of the League of Professional Theatre Women (www.theatrewomen.org), having previously held the positions of co-Secretary, co-producer of the New Play Festival, and chair of the Networking Committee.
Rachel is currently an Adjunct Professor at Marymount Manhattan College and lives in New York City with her husband and son.