Anne D'Zmura

Bio: Anne Justine D’Zmura has served as resident director at the nationally acclaimed Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis where she directed Peer Gynt, Bert’s Folly, Billy and Dago, and Poster of the Cosmos; artistic associate for the NYC-based The Acting Company where she directed the national tours of Macbeth and The Tempest; artistic associate for the Playwright’s Center where she spearheaded the Stage-Time New Play Series and co-artistic director for Yale Cabaret. Some additional directing credits include Tony Award winning South Coast Repertory World Premiere of Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson, Sideways Stories From Wayside School, The Little Prince, The BFG, Phantom Tollbooth and The Stinky Cheese Man, A Noise Within (Triumph of Love), Shakespeare Santa Cruz (The Forest) and Idaho Shakespeare Festival (Two Gentlemen of Veronaand Julius Caesar). She was assistant director for Trevor Nunn on Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia on Broadway. Anne has directed many new play development workshops at theatres including South Coast Repertory, Playwright’s Center, BACA Downtown, Bristol Riverside Theatre, The Acting Company and Women’s Project Theatre. 

Anne currently serves as Head of Directing of Theatre Arts at California State University, Long Beach where she also served as Chair and Artistic Director and initiated EPIC (Educational Performance in Community) and the Affinity Series in collaboration with the faculty and staff. She has directed The Saint Plays, LADCC nominated The Cannibals, (M)asking Questions, Poetry of Pizza and The Thugs for California Repertory Company and will be directing the upcoming Cal Rep production of Mutual Consent by Nancy Bell and Peter Grandbois. She has also directed Metamorphoses, Spring Awakening, an original ecodrama titled Green Piece and 9 Parts of Desire and served as Artistic Director for Songs of the Siren: The Greeks Remixed for University Players. She has served as visiting professor at Denison University (directed Dangerous Liaisons), guest director and educator at The Juilliard School (directed Iphigenia in Aulis, Iphigenia at Tauris, TwoGentlemen of Verona, Eugene Onegin, The Oresteia), University of Minnesota MFA program, USD/Old Globe Theatre (directed Pericles), University of Redlands (directed Waiting for Godot) and University of Michigan.

Anne is the recipient of grants including a National Endowment for The Arts/TCG Directing Fellowship, with which she studied in Bali, Indonesia; a Drama League: New Works/New Directors Grant, two CSULB Scholarly and Creative Awards with which she developed Green Piece and continued to develop her international work in ecology and theatre; two CSULB awards for student mentorships, an International Education Incentive Award, several CCE international community-based program awards and three Alumni Association Grants. Anne was invited to present her work in ecology and theatre at Earth Matters on Stage: Ecodrama Festival and Symposium in Eugene, Oregon, International Drama/Theatre Education Associationin Belem, Brazil and International University Theatre Association in Leicester, England. Anne’s work on ecology and theatre is in Readings in Performance and Ecology published by Palgrave Macmillan. Anne served as guest artist/scholar at Carnegie Mellon where she was invited to develop a course and project merging theatre and ecology for the Drama School and The Center for Arts and Society.

Anne continues to develop international arts activism projects and has taken students for three summers to Bacho village Tanzania with Karimu International Help Foundation to build schools, create community based environmental arts projects and with the award of a Center for Community Engagement grant, developed a remote learning program with Bacho schools. She developed a short-term study abroad course in Ireland, which has been offered for seven summers.

Anne served as CSU Summer Arts Coordinator for Cornerstone Theater & Community-based Theater and served on CSU Summer Arts Advisory Board. Anne has served on numerous panels including a Drama League collaboration panel, TCG new play development panel and a NAST University recruitment strategy panel. Anne has served as a selection panelist for TCG’s Fox Foundation Fellowship Awards. Anne is an advisory board member for CSULB’s Global Studies Institute and University Honors Program. Anne is a member of SDC, SAG-AFTRA. She received her BA from Hampshire College and her MFA in Directing from Yale School of Drama.