Assistant Professor – Directing
M.F.A, Northwestern University
B.A., Columbia University
Courses taught:
- Intermediate Directing
- Workshop Directors
- American Theater in the 21st Century
EMAIL: jdiresta@skidmore.edu
John Michael DiResta (he/him/his) is a theater director, dramaturg, adapter, and professor. His work focuses on new play development, site-responsive theater, community engagement, and queer theater. He is particularly interested in the intersection between new work development and theater for social justice, and highlights in his work the importance of repositioning audience experience in new plays. John was a 2014 Drama League Directing Fellow, a 2015 Young Playwrights Award Juror, a 2015 and 2016 Drama League Fellowship Juror, a nominator for the 2016 Drama League Awards, and served on the selection Committee for the 2015 and 2016 B-Sides New American Musical Award. John has developed new works with New Dramatists, The Atlantic Theater Company, The Dramatists Guild, The Drama League, Rising Phoenix Rep, MCC Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, B-Sides Productions, The Tank, Where Eagles Dare Theater, The American Music Theater Project, and Master Clash. John’s MFA thesis, Staging Gay Shame, analyzed the contemporary process of staging plays written by gay men before the opening of the closet. John has long been a champion of new work from urban teenagers, and served as the producer of the MCC Theater Youth Company from 2007-2010. He proudly hails from Lawrence, Massachusetts.