Janice Goldberg
courses taught:
PLAYS IN PROGRESS mentor
“My work has spanned mime to musical, contemporary farce to socially relevant, plays for women to plays full of testosterone, multi-media and otherwise. The connecting key is that they all tell a story. They have real moments – moments that take my breath away, strike a chord deep in my gut, make me laugh out loud, give me pause. Avant-garde? Not for me. Non realistic? Not so much. Shakespeare? Nah. Most importantly, I believe, when all is said and done, it’s the playwright’s play. I am only here to help you find your way. Offer ideas. I ask a lot of questions. Prod you to articulate what I don’t understand. Maybe what you don’t even understand. And if it’s not finished, meaning you haven’t typed ‘End of Play’ or ‘Blackout,’ no problem. Also, I find myself working on many solo shows – if you should be so inclined. Definitely in my wheelhouse.”
Interests: realism, story driven, short or full length, drama, comedy, anything in between, including socially relevant
JANICE L. GOLDBERG was recently awarded the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion Award for her work with new plays. Based in New York, she has directed over 75 new works, uptown and down, across the country, from university to Off-Broadway. She is the director of the lauded solo piece, I of the Storm, starring Richard Hoehler, which will open Off-Broadway in September at The Gym at Judson. As Producing Artistic Co-Director of AND Theatre Company, Janice has overseen the production and development of over 100 new plays. For AND she has directed Gary Garrison & Roland Tec’s The Rubber Room, Kristine Niven’s Buried in Time, numerous Eclectic Shorts, Boxers & Briefs, and Go Solos! She directed the Off-Broadway premiere of Rose Colored Glass, which she co-authored. It is published by Samuel French, Inc., and has had performances across the US and Europe. Rose Colored Glass was named as an NEA Big Read book in CA and MD.
As an invited guest artist, she selected and directed the 10 Minute Play Slam, the finale at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Alaska.
For over 15 years Janice served as a director and dramaturg in NYU’s Graduate Playwriting Lab, working with and guiding students in all levels of developing their work. She has shepherded numerous works from inspiration through perspiration to production. Those include June Ballinger’s (Passage Theatre) Once In…Never Out, which she continually directs up and down the East Coast; NYC Fringe Award Winners That Dorothy Parker, After Anne Frank, Felicitas, all of which were encored and enjoyed future productions. Other celebrated playwrights/composers worked with: Arlene Hutton, Joe Pintauro, Betty Shamieh, Eric Loo, Mosi Singleton, Dakota Powell, Scott Carter, Tom Diggs, Melanie Marnich,Molly Smith Metzler, Zac Kline, Caridad Svich, Jon Fraser, Mark Dunn, Fred Stroppel, Gregory Fletcher. And Flyovers by Jeffrey Sweet, working with Sandy Shinner of Victory Gardens in Chicago and featuring Richard Kind and Tony Award Winner Michele Pawk. Janice also directed the premiere of Carol Hall’s (Best Little Whorehouse…) The River Jordan Lamp for Artistic New Directions.
In addition to Rose Colored Glass, Janice is co-author of 12 plays with Susan Bigelow and directed each in Northern California. Their play Autumn Run was also selected for CAP21’s Blackjacks Project and performed at Suffolk College.
Janice’s work ranges in scope from mime to musical, from contemporary farce to courtroom drama, from plays for women to plays full of testosterone. A recipient of a Pilgrim Project Grant, a Writer/Director Residency at the Dorset Writers’ Colony, VT Janice has also been honored for her work at NYU and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. She has been a guest artist/director at numerous universities. She teaches the intensive workshop “Writing and Performing the Solo Show”, Nail-the-Job Audition Workshops and runs the AND Solo Writers’ Retreat. She wrote and directed an industrial for M&M*MARS and is a founding member of the First Look Theatre Company for New York University’s Dramatic Writing Program, a member of New Circle Theatre Company (Circle Rep), SDC and the Dramatist’s Guild.