Gregg T. Daniel Tackels Stoppard's HEROES At The Group Rep

Gregg T. Daniel Directs Tackles HEROES at the Group Rep
By JeAnne Hartman

Gregg T. Daniel directs HEROES, one of the three plays presented in rotating rep entitled, Rep*a*Trois, for the Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre in North Hollywood, California. Mr. Daniel was asked to be a guest director for the Group Rep's opening performance of the season.

Starting off in Brooklyn, New York, where he read his father's copy of the complete works of Shakespeare, Gregg T. Daniel has walked the path of the artist as he has traveled the world studying and performing in theater, film and television. Mr. Daniel studied at the respected New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He traveled to Spoleto, Italy, studying directing at the LaMaMa International Symposium.

Luckily Gregg T. Daniel found his way West where he has shared his acting skills as well as his directing talent since arriving in Los Angeles. When asked by the newly appointed Artistic Director of the Group Rep, Ernest Figueroa, whom he had known for years, to direct one of the first show of Ernest's inaugural season of plays this fall, he just had to say yes. Gregg was also excited to be directing a Tom Stoppard play. Mr. Daniel shared, "Any work by British playwright, Tom Stoppard, is a work I'd want to tackle as a director. Stoppard's language is very demanding. His verse is precise, muscular and rhythmic. To immerse oneself into the world of a Stoppard play is a treat for any director."

The No Ho community has seen Gregg T. Daniel's work before with the Antaeus Classical Theatre Company. He was part of a four-hour public reading of Eugene O'Neill's THE ICEMAN COMETH". Mr. Daniel recalls,"It's rare to get a chance to dust off an old chestnut like ICEMAN and perform it." Gregg is also excited that he most recently became the Artistic Director of the Lower Depth Theater Ensemble (www.ldensemble.org).

His work as an actor helps Mr. Daniel connect with his actors. When asked how his experience as an actor helps him direct, Daniel says, "Acting is a scary, risky, and vulnerable process. While a director naturally wants results from their actors to be effective, the actor's work must be organic, confident and centered - - that takes time." Mr. Daniel knows as an actor himself, and now directing, that he and the three-person cast of HEROES are taking a journey together.

When asked about a dream project he would love to direct, Mr. Daniel confided that he has "fallen in love with" a brilliant adaptation of Anton Chekhov's THE THREE SISTERS, which is set in Colonial Trinidad circa 1941 by Mustapha Matura, a Caribbean playwright which he plans to direct very soon.

Meanwhile, the NoHo Theatre & Arts District is lucky that Mr. Daniel is taking his time to direct at the Group Repertory Theatre, located at the Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood. Both the cast and the audience will continue to delight in the performances of HEROES along with the two other plays in repertory, BOSTON MARRIAGE and PAINTING CHURCHES running through the first weekend of November. For more information or reservations please call 818-700-4878 or visit www.thegrouprep.com.

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