About

daniella vinitski mooney, phdI am an actress and practitioner-scholar working in the intersections of experimental performance, classical theatre, and identity politics. My training is through the NYU Tisch School Experimental Theatre Wing and the Royal Academy in London, with an emphasis in physical and Shakespeare acting styles.

I have had the pleasure of studying under and/or collaborating with companies and artists such as 6-Viewpoints founder Mary Overlie, Guggenheim Fellow Michelle Ellsworth, playwright Marina Carr, Whit McLaughlin, Pig Iron Theatre, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the Jewish Plays Project, the Naropa MFA program, and in major institutional new work development and dramaturgy. I am also an award-winning director for devised multi-media production, Carnivals & Snowstorms, and my plays have been described as “poetic and gorgeous” (InterAct Theatre); “lovely, lyrical, thought-provoking” (Cambridge University Press); “compelling and exciting” (Lilleth Glimcher former Flea Theatre resident director); “resonant; a gem” (Jewish Plays Project); and “solid Absurdist writing” (Bonaly).

As a scholar, my work has been published in Routledge, Bloomsbury, Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, Theatre History Journal, International Journal of Performance Art & Design (IJPADM), and Ecumenica. Current theatre projects include The Inventor, an award-winning Holocaust play seen through the lens of contemporary medical negligence, as well as my book manuscript, The Immersive Theatre of GAle GAtes, (currently under review for contract), and various dance/theatre shorts.

I have taught at the University of Pennsylvania (“Most caring professor at Penn”), the University of the Virgin Islands, the University of Colorado, Penn State, and guest-lectured at Temple and Pomona College. I am also a two-time grant reviewer for Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL), and have lived, trained, and worked internationally, including in Ontario, Israel, London, New Mexico, St Thomas USVI, New York City, and Philadelphia.