“One of the best performed shows in New York right now … exquisitely directed by Ryan Dobrin” - Helen Shaw, review for The New Yorker
Photo Courtesy of Natalie Powers from MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG tech at NYTW (2022)
“…Ryan Dobrin’s swift and subtle direction” - Nolan Boggess, review for Theatrely
Photo Courtesy of Connor Haggerty from rehearsals for YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING (2024)
Upcoming / current
[Associate Director] Sweet Bird of Youth (workshop) by Tennessee Williams / directed by Maria Friedman / mid-April
[Director] Julian Hornik Alone, with Company / Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater / April 21
[Producer] Monologue Slam / The Movement Theatre Company at Silvana / April 21
[Director] Geraldine Realigned Drives from Gay Place to Gay Place and You’re in the Car Too by Billy McEntee & Cam Cronin / The Brick Theater / May 8-18
[Director] Fury (reading) by Levi J. Strader / Hunter College / May 15
[Associate/Resident Director] Merrily We Roll Along by Stephen Sondheim & George Furth / directed by Maria Friedman / Hudson Theatre on Broadway / now running through July 7
bio
Ryan Dobrin (he/him/his) is a queer & biracial director and producer of musicals, plays, and digital collaborative work. He uses movement, music, and intentional conversation to create work centered on otherness, emotional growth, and connection. He is passionate about highly-stylized storytelling, ethical implications, the existence of magic and spectacle, and narratives with a strong, beating heart. He believes in leading with friendliness, openness, and honesty and in the building of community through shared experience, a leadership style that originates from a Quaker education and an Ethical Humanist upbringing.
Ryan is one of the Producing Artistic Leaders of Obie Award-winning The Movement Theatre Company, an artistic associate at Fault Line Theatre, and currently serving as the associate/resident director on Broadway’s Merrily We Roll Along. Alongside Carina Goebelbecker, he is one half of Those Guilty Creatures, an interdisciplinary performance creating and producing collective.
Previous affiliations: The Drama League (New York Directing Fellow), Wesleyan University (Embodying Antiracism Guest Artist Fellow), Roundabout Theatre Company (Directors Group cohort 2), Playwrights Horizons (Robert Moss Directing Fellow), Manhattan Theatre Club (Jonathan Alper Directing Fellow), Williamstown Theatre Festival (J. Michael Friedman Directing Fellow), 24 Hour Plays: Nationals (2020 directing cohort), Ars Nova (Artistic Fellow), NAMT (Directing observership program).
He has been an associate/assistant to celebrated directors (including Olivier, Tony, Emmy, and Obie winners) such as Maria Friedman, Sam Gold, Billy Porter, Christopher Ashley, Christopher Gattelli, Whitney White, Trip Cullman, Zi Alikhan, Margot Bordelon, and Tyne Rafaeli.
Ryan has served as a visiting director at the University of Michigan, Fordham University, NYU Tisch’s Experimental Theatre Wing, the Atlantic Acting School, Waterwell/Professional Performing Arts School, and the Cathedral School of St. John the Divine.
He has been a reader for Page 73’s Playwriting Fellowship, Juilliard’s playwriting program, Roundabout’s Refocus Series, Ars Nova’s Play Group and ANT Fest, WTF’s Weissberger New Play Award, MTC’s Literary Department, Fault Line Theatre’s Iron in the Fire program, and the 24 Hour Plays Nationals.
Ryan is a graduate of Wesleyan University, where he double-majored in Theater and Italian Studies. He was the recipient of the Rachel Henderson Theater Prize and the Outreach & Community Service Prize in Theater, becoming the first-ever student to receive both awards bestowed by the Department of Theater. During his time at Wesleyan, he studied abroad in Bologna, Italy and Santiago, Chile. He is a proud Gen-Z/millennial cusp.