Hosted by Coni Koepfinger and Brandy Chapman
Joan Kane (director/producer/dramaturg/writer/actor) is the founding Artistic Director of Ego Actus.
Selected work
Joan Kane directed Sycorax at HERE, Play Nice! at 59e59 theaters, I Know What Boys Want at Theatre Row, Six Characters in Search of an Author in Oslo, Norway and Kafka’s Belinda in Prague. She also directed both Safe and what do you mean at 59e59 theaters and in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, getting four star reviews for each.
Awards and honors
Joan was awarded Best Director in the 2016 United Solo Festival where she has directed six pieces. Joan was named lone of the 2011 People of the Year in honor of her contributions to the NY theatre scene and inducted to the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame by nytheatre.com. Her shows have been nominated for 61 awards, winning 21
Selected other work
Joan has also directed plays and readings at the Lark, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Urban Stages, Workshop Theater, Nylon Fusion, Articulate Theatre, Abingdon Theatre, Oberon Theatre, the Samuel French Short Play Festival, the Actors Studio, T. Schreiber Studio, the Broadway Bound festival and many others.
Education
Joan graduated from the High School of Performing Arts, studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse and has an MFA in Directing from The New School and an MS in Museum Education from Bank Street College.
Career Arc
Early in her career she was an Equity, AFTRA and SAG actress. She later became a teaching artist for Henry St Settlement, Young Playwrights and Theatre for a New Audience. Joan went on to teach in New York City Public Schools where she was also a staff developer and at Fordham University as an adjunct professor for both under graduate and graduate classes.
Memberships
Joan is a member of The New York Madness Company, Rising Sun Performance Company, The Episcopal Actors’ Guild, the League of Independent Theatre, the Dramatists Guild, New York Women In Film and Television and the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers. She is a voting member for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards Artistic Achievement committee and a Nominator for the Kilroys List. Joan is also an ex-officio Vice President for Programming on the Executive Board of Directors of the League of Professional Theatre Women.