IDEA, New Film From Award-Winning Playwright Itamar Moses, Premieres On YouTube

Itamar Moses, 2024 Drama Desk Award winner for Dead Outlaw, has premiered his latest piece, the film IDEA, on YouTube. 

IDEA follows the journey of a graduate student tasked with advising undergraduates on personal essays. As the student navigates the complexities of mentorship, the film delves into the perils and limitations inherent in such roles. This narrative further explores themes from Moses' recently acclaimed play, The Ally, offering a fresh and thought-provoking perspective.

Directed by Michelle Tattenbaum, IDEA utilizes Zoom-a tool emblematic of the COVID era-to tell its story. Tattenbaum's vision brings Moses' writing to life, using the seeming constraint of video conferencing to enhance the film's immediacy, naturalism, and emotional resonance.

IDEA is available for streaming on YouTube. 

About the Artists

Itamar Moses (Screenwriter) is the Tony Award-winning author of the plays Outrage, Back at Leipzig, The Four of Us, Celebrity Row, Back Back Back, Completeness, and The Ally, the short play collection Love/Stories and the musicals Nobody Loves You, Fortress of Solitude, The Band's Visit, Dead Outlaw, and An American Tail. Other awards for his work include Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, Obie, and Drama Desk awards. Television includes Men of a Certain Agte, Boardwalk Empire, and The Affair. He is a proud member of the Dramatists' Guild and the Writer's Guild of America East.

Michelle Tattenbaum (Director) is a director and producer of film, theater, and audio. She directed the New York premiere of the musical Nobody Loves You by Itamar Moses and Gaby Alter at Second Stage after directing the show's world premiere at The Old Globe (nominated for Best Director of a Musical). She directed and produced the short films "Idea" and "Use Your Words." She was the Producing Director for Gen-Z Media, where she directed many scripted podcasts, including the Peabody Award-winning The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel and Six Minutes which is downloaded millions of times every month. World premiere theater credits include The Sublet Experiment, a site-specific, touring production she directed and produced that played to sold-out crowds in New York City for over six months; the hip hop musical ms. estrada at the Flea; Dory Fantasmagory at New York City Children's Theatre. She directed Urinetown (in Danish: Tissebyen) at Fredericia Teater in Denmark, nominated for the Reumert (Denmark's Tonys) for Musical of the Year. She has directed workshops and readings at New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, Goodspeed Musicals, and the O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference. She is a Drama League Directing Fellow and an SDC member. Michelle has a degree in Theatre Studies from Yale.