Dan Winerman is a theater and film director based in New York City. He recently directed Summer Break, based on a screenplay by Cary Gitter, and has numerous projects in development. He has directed and developed new plays at Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, New Dramatists, Lark Theatre, Flea Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, HERE Arts Center, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Midtown Int’l Theatre Festival, New York Int’l Fringe Festival, Young Playwrights Festival, Samuel French Short Play Festival, Summer Shorts Festival @ 59E59 Theater, NYU’s Dept of Dramatic Writing, and NYU’s Dept of Musical Theatre Writing. For Berkshire Playwrights Lab, Dan has directed staged readings of new plays by Anna Ziegler (Variations on a Theme), Sam Marks (The Old Masters), Jonathan Caren (The Recommendation) and John Cariani (Love/Sick). He has directed several plays by Agatha Christie including Murder on the Nile, The Stranger, and A Murder is Announced. Recently he directed two short plays by Cary Gitter at The Tank and is adapting them to film. Finalist: Drama League Fellowship and National Directors Fellowship. Guest Director: Pace University (Middletown), American Academy of Dramatic Arts (Mac Rogers’ Blast Radius), Fordham University, Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, and Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Dan has taught acting at AMDA, New York Film Academy, New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, Rider University, and Atlantic Theater Company. He teaches acting and directing in the Department of Film and Television, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. BFA: NYU, MFA: Boston University.
Please List the Title of Your Film at BIFF 2025
Summer Break
What was your first experience with film and how did it influence your first project?
I started my career as an actor and then became a theater director. I worked mostly with playwrights developing new plays. Along the way I began teaching acting, then I began teaching acting in a film school. Then I began directing films. SUMMER BREAK is my first film and it grew out of a one-act play I directed. The playwright and I adapted the script, and we cast the actors who starred in the play. SUMMER BREAK turned into an opportunity for me to share my love of comedy, romance, great acting, and great stories.
Who is (are) your favorite filmmakers?
John Carpenter, Akira Kurosawa, Joel & Ethan Coen, David Lynch.
What are you working on that no one knows about?
I’m currently in rehearsals for LOVE/SICK, a cycle of ten short plays by John Cariani, at T. Schreiber Studio in NYC. John Cariani and I first worked together when we developed LOVE/SICK some years ago as a staged reading at the Mahaiwe with Berkshire Playwrights Lab. I thrilled to be working on this play again and to return to the Berkshire’s artistic community!
Who would play you in a movie? What’s your go to movie snack? What’s the film title that best describes your life?
Sam Rockwell. CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND is an apt title for my bio pic. My favorite movie snack is popcorn and hot black coffee.
