Director | Designer | Theatre Maker
SHIRA HELENA GITLIN
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ABOUT
Shira Helena Gitlin is a director, deviser, designer, and theatre maker. Shira's primary goal as an artist is to create and participate in collaborative, positive environments that emphasize identity, intersectionality, and creativity. As a director, Shira is drawn to musical theatre, plays with music, and pretty much any other art form that involves sound or music. They are interested in pushing musical theatre to new limits and crafting new works that showcase LGBTQIA stories.
Shira’s directorial debut was a production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Hampshire College—the school’s first musical in 10 years! The show was well-received and paved the way for future musical theatre studies within the college. Following this, Shira was hired to direct Shrek the Musical at Mohawk Trails Regional School, a combined middle and high school located in rural Massachusetts.
In the summer of 2017, Shira worked with Honest Accomplice Theatre as an assistant director and stage manager for ReconFIGURED, a devised production focusing on the narratives of women and transgender individuals. The play is based on personal experiences of those involved, and focuses on bodies that are invisible or conversely, too visible, to the public eye.
Since March of 2020, Shira has directed multiple short plays using Zoom. They participated in the 2020 Boston Theatre Marathon and the Playwright Platform's 48th Festival of New Plays. Shira's favorite project during this time was directing the second episode of Camp Strangewood, an anthology series about a haunted summer camp produced by Sparkhaven Theatre.
When they're not doing theatre, Shira can be found playing the banjo, doing arts & crafts, running around in the woods, and plane spotting.
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Shira was most recently the Artistic Fellow at SpeakEasy Stage Company and will serve as assistant director on Bright Star in Fall 2021.
BA in Directing with an emphasis on Musical Theatre, Hampshire College
Graduate of the Arden Professional Apprenticeship Class 26
Proud member of Ring of Keys and Director's Gathering
Shira is currently based in Boston, Massachusetts and uses they/them/theirs pronouns.
DIRECTING
THIS SUCKS!
Homesick Play Project
December 2020
TALES FROM CAMP STRANGEWOOD
Episode Two: Mister Champagne
Sparkhaven Theatre
July 2020
Written by James La Bella. Performed by Grace Trapnell, James Wechsler, Jo Michael Rezes, Michael A. Rosegrant, and Santiago MacLean.
LOST SEASON
Playwright Platform's 48th Festival of New Plays
June 2020
Written by David Beardsley. Performed by Shelley Brown, Madeleine Maret, and Kayla Gitlin. Butterfly creator: Emily Gitlin.
DEEP BLUE
Boston Theater Marathon XXII: Zoom Edition
April 2020
Written by Alex Moon. Performed by Dev Blair, Christina Mei Chen, and Julia Labuski
SHREK THE MUSICAL
Mohawk Trail Regional School
March 2017
Music Direction: Amy Crawford-Roberts
Sound/Lighting: Sam Whitney
THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
Hampshire College Theatre
December 2016
Music Direction: Maddie Williams
Lighting Design: Dani Aldrich
Set: Nancy Michaud
Pandemonium
FOLLOW: A WALK IN THE WOODS
Amherst College Theatre
May 2016
Devised with Denzel Wood, Benjamin Kissinger, and Naajia Muhammad
ASSISTANT DIRECTING
BRIGHT STAR
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
SpeakEasy Stage Company
February 2021
Directed by Paul Daigneault
RECONFIGURED
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/STAGE MANAGER
Honest Accomplice Theatre
August 2017
Co-Directed by Maggie Keenan-Bolger and Rachel Sullivan
48 NORTH
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/SOUND DESIGNER
Hampshire College Theatre
April 2017
Directed and designed by Dani Aldrich
GET IN TOUCH
Full professional and design resumes available upon request. To get in touch, please fill out this form or email shirahelenagitlin [at] gmail.com directly.
INSPIRATIONS
"I move through the fear because it doesn't strike me that there is another option."