This conversation took place on Monday, February 21st. If you would like to watch a video replay of this conversation, please click this Vimeo link.
In this conversation we hear from associate directors and choreographers to learn what their jobs entail and how they navigate their work in the industry. This event is in webinar format and ASL interpretation is provided.
The conversation is moderated by Benjamin Endsley Klein (Associate Director, Hairspray West End, The Ferryman, Carousel), and the panel includes Nancy Renee Braun (Resident Choreographer, Moulin Rouge & Associate Choreographer, Beetlejuice), Chika Ike (Associate Director, Hadestown Broadway/Tour), Tatiana Pandiani (Associate Director, What The Constitution Means To Me), and Danny Sharron (Senior Associate Director, Dear Evan Hansen Broadway/West End/Toronto/Tour).
Panelists Bios:
Nancy Renee Braun is a NY based choreographer, working on Broadway and in TV/film. She is the resident choreographer for Moulin Rouge The Musical on Broadway and the associate choreographer for Beetlejuice, re-opening at the Marquis Theater this spring. Other favorite theatre credits include The Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout Theatre), Beauty and the Beast, Tangled (Disney Cruise Lines), and Elf (Broadway National Tour). Nancy also works frequently in choreography for film/TV, favorites including “The Gilded Age”, “Succession”, “Westworld” (HBO) “Dead to Me”, “Maniac”, “The Week Of” (Netflix), “Blue Bloods”, “Limitless”, “Bull” (CBS), and “Rebel In The Rye” (IFC). Nancy attended Northwestern University, and upon graduation made her Broadway debut as an actor in Patti Lupone’s Gypsy on Broadway. Her favorite credits are her two amazing kiddos, Max (6 years old) and Shaina (3 years old) and she is proud to be a Broadway Baby Mama. IG @nancyreneebraun
Chika Ike is a Brooklyn and Chicago based theatre director and dramaturg. Her work especially seeks to center and celebrate the healing, nuances, yearnings, and beautiful imaginations of black women as they venture through highly theatrical journeys.
Recent productions include Kentucky, A Swell in the Ground (The Gift Theatre); Everybody, Antigone (Atlantic School/ NYU); Jump, Little Women the Musical (Indiana University); Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (First Floor Theatre Company); In the Blood (Red Tape Theatre), and the upcoming premiere of And Certain Women (St. Louis Shakespeare Festival). Currently, she is serving as an associate director for Hadestown (Broadway/ National Tour), as well as the associate director Spacedogs at MCC. She has worked with The Public Theatre, A.R.T.,Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens and developed work with The Lark, The Playwrights’ Center, Faultline Theatre, Chicago Dramatists and more.
Chika is the recipient of the Drama League New York Fellowship, SDCF Gielgud Directing Fellowship, Bret C. Harte Directing Fellowship, and is an alumna of Victory Garden’s Directors Initiative Apprenticeship Program and of the SDCF Observership Class of 2016-17. Currently she is a member of the 2020-2022 WP Theatre Directors Lab. She is an ensemble member of the Gift Theatre. www.chikavike.com
Tatiana Pandiani is a Latin American director-choreographer who works in Spanish and English. Recent: Our Town / Nuestro Pueblo (Dallas Theatre Center), Blood Wedding (Yale), What the Constitution Means to Me (Associate, Broadway and National Tour). Upcoming: Torera (The Alley Theatre, Houston / Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven). Tatiana has directed and developed new work at the Park Theatre (London), Cleveland Playhouse, NYTW, IATI, Primary Stages, Signature. As a choreographer, Tatiana collaborates with Latine artists in concerts & music videos. Tatiana is the New Works Director at Miami New Drama, and a professor at Yale School of Drama and the Atlantic Acting School. Member of SDC. MFA: Columbia. Reps: Brillstein Entertainment Partners. www.tatianapandiani.com
Danny Sharron is a Brooklyn-based Middle Eastern-American theater director with a focus on developing new plays and musicals. He is committed to creating work about the LGBTQ+ and MENA communities, and providing a platform from which those voices can be heard. Danny is the Senior Associate Director for the Tony Award-winning Dear Evan Hansen (Broadway/West End/Toronto/Tour). He recently directed the world premiere of Jason Kim’s The Model American at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and an environmental production of Taylor Mac’s Okay at Bushwick’s Central Arts. He has developed and directed work with The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ars Nova, LAByrinth Theater Company, Primary Stages, Ma-Yi, and The Lark. Danny is a 2021-2022 Next Stage Directing Resident with The Drama League, where he is developing a new play alongside playwright Jason Kim. Danny is a recipient of New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellowship, Williamstown’s Bill Foeller Fellowship, The Drama League’s New York Fellowship, and is an alumnus of the Ars Nova Director’s Troupe. BA/BS University of Florida. Proud member of SDC. www.dannysharron.com
Moderator:
Benjamin Endsley Klein was born in Charlotte, NC and is a proud alumnus of the University of Michigan. Director of Ann starring Tony Nominated actress Holland Taylor as Governor Ann Richards. Before playing Broadway’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center, the production played Chicago and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Selected credits as Director include Pump Boys & Dinettes and First Date at Pittsburgh CLO, Bend in the Road at New York Musical Theatre Festival (included in Huffington Post’s “The Best Shows of 2013”), the world premiere musical Hello Out There at The Adirondack Theatre Festival, the East Coast Premiere of Sick by Zayd Dohrn at New Jersey Repertory, Hairspray at Charlottetown Festival (Prince Edward Island, Canada), Notes to MariAnne at the Eugene O’Neill Musical Theatre Conference, and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas at The Old Globe in San Diego, California. As Resident or Associate Director credits include The Ferryman (Tony Award Best Play), Carousel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Tony Award Best Play), War Horse at Lincoln Center Theatre (Tony Award Best Play), Love Never Dies in the West End, Hairspray in the West End (Olivier Award for Best Musical), UK tour of Hairspray, Lincoln Center Theater’s The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award Best Play), and Broadway, 1st National US Tour, and Regional productions of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Proud SDC Member.
