Seth Rozin
Seth Rozin (born June 12, 1964) is an American theatrical producer, director, playwright and published author/illustrator. He is the Producing Artistic Director of InterAct Theatre Company in Philadelphia, which he co-founded in 1988. He has produced 104 plays for InterAct, including 48 world premieres, which have garnered 26 Barrymore Awards and 97 nominations. He has also garnered individual awards, including the 1999 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction (LEBENSRAUM), the 2018 Brown Martin Philadelphia Award (as playwright of HUMAN RITES), along with two playwriting fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and New Play Commission from the Foundation for Jewish Culture. He is also the author/illustrator of The Artvark, published in 1999.
Life
The son of renowned psychologist Paul Rozin (born 1936) and culinary historian Elisabeth Rozin (died 2006), he was born and grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He was active as a performer, director, writer and board member in Lower Merion High School’s student-run, after-school drama program, LM Players, and was the school’s first student to earn the status of Honor Thespian. He went on to study liberal arts at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was active as a performer, director, writer and producer for numerous student theatre groups, including Penn Players, Quadramics and Front Row Theatre (which he originally founded in 1983 as Arts House Theatre). After graduating from UPenn in 1986, Rozin spent several years as the program director for CHAMP, designing art-based activities for homeless mothers and children at the Penn Museum. He also taught playwriting workshops for Philadelphia Young Playwrights, while serving as staff for LM Players.
Rozin is the co-founder of Philadelphia Scenic Works, a nonprofit, community-driven scenic fabrication shop, and MusiCoLab, dedicated to improving the climate for the development and production of new musicals in the Philadelphia region.
Rozin has served as President of the Boards of Philadelphia Artists Collective (2015-2018), National New Play Network (2002-2006 and 2014-2016), Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia (1999-2001), and Women’s Theatre Festival (1996-97), as well as a member-at-large for New Paradise Laboratories and Fresh Visions Youth Theatre.
InterAct Theatre Company
Under Rozin’s leadership InterAct has evolved into one of the nation’s leading producers of new plays of societal relevance, and one of the Philadelphia region’s most respected and celebrated professional theatres. Rozin has been a vigorous advocate of mission-driven theatre, consistently championing the company’s four core values: Artistic risk, exemplified by the company’s unwavering commitment to developing, commissioning and producing new plays; Civic Engagement, exemplified by the company’s longstanding track record of facilitating dialogue about difficult and complex social, political and cultural issues and ideas; Diversity, exemplified by the company’s leading efforts to represent a robust range of stories, characters and cultures, and through progressive hiring practices; and Collaboration, exemplified by a history of co-productions with other theatres (Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, 59E59, New Georges, Act II Playhouse, Passage Theatre) and community organizations (Asian Arts Initiative, Painted Bride Art Center, Amnesty International, Mural Arts Program).
Among Rozin’s most celebrated InterAct productions are the world premieres of Thomas Gibbons’ 6221 (1993) and PERMANENT COLLECTION (2003 and 2013), and Christopher Chen’s CAUGHT (2014), and the regional premieres of Israel Horovitz’ LEBENSRAUM (1999), Jason Sherman’s IT’S ALL TRUE (2001), Kristoffer Diaz’s THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY (2009), and Will Snider’s HOW TO USE A KNIFE (2017).
National New Play Network
Rozin has been actively involved in the rise of the National New Play Network, since InterAct was first invited to be a founding member theatre in 1998. He has twice served as President of the Board of Directors, from 2002-2006 and 2014-2016, and has served as Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee since 2018, during which NNPN embarked on a field-leading commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion and access. Rozin has been instrumental in launching several of NNPN’s key programs, including Rolling World Premieres and the annual Showcase of New Plays. InterAct has hosted two Showcases (2002 and 2011) and two annual conferences (1999 and 2016), participated in 10 Rolling World Premieres, been awarded three NNPN commissions and one collaboration grant. As a playwright, Rozin has participated in two Rolling World Premieres (BLACK GOLD in 2008) and TWO JEWS WALK INTO A WAR… (2009-10).
Directing
Rozin has directed 59 productions for InterAct, including acclaimed and/or award-winning productions of EUREKA DAY by Jonathan Spector (2019), THE GREAT LEAP by Lauren Yee (2019), HOW TO USE A KNIFE by Will Snider (which garnered six Barrymore Award nominations, including Outstanding Overall Production, in 2017), THE NETHER by Jennifer Haley (which garnered three Barrymore Award nominations, including Outstanding Overall Production in 2016), BLACK PEARL SINGS! by Frank Higgins (which garnered the inaugural Brown Martin Philadelphia Award in 2010), THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY by Kristoffer Diaz (which the Philadelphia Inquirer cited for “Best Direction” in 2009), PERMANENT COLLECTION by Thomas Gibbons (which garnered four Barrymore nominations, including Outstanding Overall Production, in 2003), IT'S ALL TRUE by Jason Sherman (which garnered five Barrymore nominations, including Outstanding Overall Production in 2001), LEBENSRAUM by Israel Horovitz (which garnered the Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Overall Production, Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Ensemble in 1999), and 6221 by Thomas Gibbons (which the Philadelphia Inquirer cited for “Best Production” and “Best Director” in 1993).
Rozin has also directed for the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles, Blue Heron Theatre in New York, and Act II Playhouse in Ambler, as well as multiple productions at the University of Pennsylvania.
Plays
Rozin is the author of more than a dozen plays and musicals, including SETTLEMENTS (finalist for the Jewish Plays Project’s 2020 Festival), HUMAN RITES (winner of the 2018 Brown Martin Philadelphia Award; published by Broadway Play Publishing; produced at Phoenix Theatre in 2017 and InterAct in 2018), THE THREE CHRISTS OF MANHATTAN (produced at InterAct in 2015), A PASSING WIND (produced at the Kimmel Center’s Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts in 2011), TWO JEWS WALKED INTO A WAR… (published by Playscripts.com; a National New Play Network Rolling World premiere at Florida Stage, New Jersey Rep, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Shadowland Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, InterAct Theatre Company, Florida Studio Theatre, GEVA Theatre, Barter Theater, New Repertory Theater), BLACK GOLD (an NNPN Rolling World Premiere at InterAct, Phoenix Theatre, Arts West Playhouse, PROP Thtr in 2008), MISSING LINK (which garnered a Barrymore Award nomination for Outstanding New Play following its InterAct premiere in 2002), and MEN OF STONE (published by Playscripts.com; garnered a Barrymore nomination for Outstanding New Play following its premiere at Theater Catalyst in 2001).
References
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