David Krasner has taught acting, directing, and theatre history for 50 years. He is currently Chair of Theatre at Five Towns College in Long Island, New York, where he oversees the BFA Program in Musical Theatre, Acting, and Design/Tech.
He was formerly Dean of the School of the Arts at Dean College for five years; Head of the BFA Acting Program at Emerson College for five years; Director of Undergraduate Theatre at Yale University for six of his ten years there; Head of the MFA Directing Program at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale for two years; and taught acting, voice, speech, and movement at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York for nine years.
As an actor in New York for twelve years he appeared on stage, film, and TV commercials. He received his Ph. D. from Tufts University, MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and BFA in acting from Carnegie Mellon University. He studied acting privately with Paul Mann, Kim Stanley, Barbara Loden, Earle Gister, and Jerzy Grotowski, and movement with Jewel Walker and Moshe Feldenkrais.
He is the author and editor of twelve books, three dozen articles, and over sixty book and performance reviews, ranging from theatre history, dramatic literature, a two-volume history of modern drama, acting, theatre and philosophy, theatre in theory, and a two-volume history of African American Theatre.
He has twice received the Errol Hill Award from the American Society for Theatre Research for the best work on African American Theatre, and in 2008 he received the Betty Jean Jones Award for the best teacher of American theatre and drama. He has served, and continues to serve, on a dozen editorial advisory boards, including Stanislavsky Studies, Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, African American Review, and Theatre Annual. He has been the co-editor of the University of Michigan Press’s series Theater: Theory / Text / Performance since 2006.
His students have won OBIE, Emmy, and Tony Awards. Though he has never received a tenure review, he has adjudicated over three dozen tenure reviews, including from schools such as Columbia University, Brown University, and Boston College. His last performance was as Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, the live performance of which was recorded and can be seen on YouTube.
David Krasner is currently producing, directing, and acting in his new film company, Hardball Productions, with his co-producer, Giancarlo Estrada. The first short film, titled Walk Away, is completed and submitted to film festivals. The second short film, titled Graduation, is in pre-production.