About

Marina Montesanti is a theatre director and a Tony Award-nominated co-producer as part of Iconic Vizion Productions. Broadway (co-pro): Fat Ham, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical.  As Director (selected): I Hope this Letter Reaches Mitclan, Lenfest Center for the Arts; The Visit, Lenfest Center for the Arts; In The Bronx Brown Girls can See Stars Too, Vassar College and Lehman Stages; Uncle Vanya, Columbia University; Lizzie, Madison Theatre; Dear Mr. C, University of the Arts; EXIST, Columbia University; Savana Glacial, Irondale Theatre; Derecho, La Tea. Assistant Director; 1776, A.R.T. As Associate Director to Sergio Trujillo & Luis Salgado.

Montesanti has worked with ​​Roundabout Theatre Company, Gibney Dance, BAM, Signature Theatre, The Metropolitan Opera, and others. SDC member, SDCF Charles Abbott Fellow, TPOC Bway, Statera Mentorship Member - MAESTRA Music, Inc. Marina also taught at CAP21 for the Musical Theatre BFA Program. Director of new works awarded: The Jonathan Larson Grant, Hansberry Lilly’s, Kennedy Center National Playwriting award, Leah Prize.

Education: 

MFA in Directing, Columbia School of the Arts.

BFA, Dramatic Arts, The New School for Drama.

Philosophy

I’m excited by theatre where the boundaries of reality dissolve, different orders of time coexist, and space transforms—activated only by the collective imagination. I’m drawn to work that invites the audience to surrender to the logic of the play, where anything might happen.

As a director, I seek out plays and musicals that transcend tragedy—where shattered memories and tumultuous circumstances become catalysts for personal liberation and empowerment. I return the story to the character who was wronged, or the one history refused to see, reclaiming home through storytelling.

I am drawn to the theatre that listens to the ancient while whispering to the future. I trust simplicity—stripping away what isn’t essential so that what remains feels inevitable, alive, and charged by the power of the ensemble.

I’m especially taken by the scripts that resonate across cultures—often through laughter—and carry a cyclical sense of warning to them.

Upcoming 

Eugene Onegin: A Bluegrass Musical 

Book, original music, and lyrics by Sarah Gancher

Directed by Rachel Chavkin

Role: Associate Director

In The Bronx Brown Girls Can See Stars Too (or The F*ck Is You Lookin' At?)

By Amalia Oliva Rojas
Vassar College - In the Powerhouse Theater
Part of the The Leah Ryan Fund residency

Role: Director