Background & Biography: 

     MFA/Directing                                                                                                                                        University of Massachusetts Amherst, June 2001  

     Certificate of Film                                                                                                                                   New York University, June 2000  

     BFA/Acting (Circle-in-the-Square/Experimental Theatre Wing                                                              New York University, June 1988

     Professor,  Department of Theatre and Dance                                                                                       California State University, Los Angeles, 2001- Present

TEACHING

Undergraduate Courses: Acting I (drama), Acting II (comedy), Vocal Techniques for the Stage (Linklater & Roy Hart) Beginning and Intermediate Modern Contemporary Dance; Viewpoints; Choreographic Accompaniment; Advanced Performance, including Classical Acting and Acting for the Camera; Devised Theatre; New GE. Acting: Agency for Social Change (New GE); Performance Practicum in the Community; Advanced Creative Workshop; Play Performance

Graduate Courses: Theories of Acting; Experimental Theatre: History, Theory and Practice; Acting for Television; Movement for Performers; Acting for the Stage; Acting Studio; Projects in Teaching Theatre, Performance and Dance; Voice for the Actor (Linklater & Roy Hart Techniques); Viewpoints. Writing Preparation for Culminating Project Reports; Viewpoints

Winter 2017 – Spring 2018: Head of the MFA in TV, Film and Television/Acting Option

Fall 2018 – Spring 2019: Director of the MFA in Television, Film and Theatre

BIOGRAPHY

Tanya directs and choreographs theatre, opera and dance and is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Opera del Espacio. Credits include Tosca Jumps!, a multimedia adaptation of Puccini’s opera (EdgeFest/LATC, Highways, Luckman Intimate); Supreme Being by Richard Foreman; Romeo and/y Juliet(a), a Spanglish Re-Mix with Quantum Theatre, and a touring production of Ubu Roi in Brazil. She has directed Carmen (Pacific Repertory Opera), The Coronation of Poppea (CSULA) and The Medium (CSULA), an extracted semi-staged productions of Don Giovanni and The Barber of Seville with the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, the avant-garde multimedia opera The Wall: A Musical Misdeed, (CSULA) a semi-staged production of Phillip Glass’s Civil Wars with the LA Phil, La Traviata  and Anya17 with Angels Vocal Art,  as well as Savitri and River of Light with Festival Opera. At Long Beach Opera she choreographed The Man from Atlantis, The Clever One and Moscow, Cherry Town. At Los Angeles Opera she was the Assistant Director on Madama Butterfly, The Barber of Seville, Carmen, The Broken Jug, The Dwarf and The Merry Widow. With Barcelona director, Joan Font, she was the Associate Director on The Barber of Seville (Houston Grand Opera Theatre, L’Opera National de Bordeaux, Gran Teatro de Liceu, Canadian Opera Company), L’Italiana in Algers (Houston Grand Opera) and Cinderella (LA Opera, Opera Omaha, Washington National Opera).

With Opera del Espacio she directed/choreographed I’ve Fallen/Clap Off! at Highways Performance Space; The Way Of Water by Caridad Svich at Cal State LA, Bootleg Theatre, Cal Poly Pomona, Hollywood Fringe and South Coast Rep’s SCRamble; Meet Me @ Metro II and III ; Space: The Final Frontier presented at SOSE as part of the Company Creation Festival; Private in Public for the SoCal Dance Invitational Concert and the World Dance Alliance-Americas in Honolulu; Triple [Inter]sect dance concert at Highways Performance Space; multiple site-specific performances at the desert ruins at Llano del Rio, Downtown Art Walk, Brewery Art Walk, Echo Park Art Walk, The Series at the Standard and more. Recently she directed Norma at Skagit Opera and then spent 5 weeks in Japan studying with Masters in Butoh Dance with the support of the Aurora Foundation Challenge Grant. She then directed The News by Jacob TV with Long Beach Opera in June, and then the SoCal premiere of Adam Gorb’s ANYA 17 with Angels Vocal Art in July 2016.

Since 2001, Tanya has been a professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Cal State LA. After her initial years of setting up a comprehensive undergraduate acting program, Tanya expanded her teaching to the dance program and in the MA in Theatre program. She created the Teacher Training program for the graduate students, was the Director of the MFA in TV, Film, Television program, initiated Strategies for Professionals: Acting and Improvisation at the PaGE progarm in DTLA, and developed several collaborative projects with colleagues in the Department of Music, Art, English, Her teaching includes: Acting, Voice, Viewpoints, Contemporary Dance, Experimental Performance and more.

During her Fall 2014 Sabbatical, Tanya travelled Europe visiting theatre and dance programs, seeing productions and meeting artists. She taught Viewpoints workshops at Atalaya-TNT in Sevilla, the Superior School of Dramatic Art of the Islas Baleares Viewpoints Workshop with students presented to the entire school (this link as well). And the University of Islas Baleares – Viewpoints Workshop and post-workshop Interview Posted Online

- Video excerpts of prior productions

- Opera del Espacio and on Youtube

Recent Projects & Activities:

YouTube Channel: Videos of Prior Productions

Hamletmachine

 

Dreaming Of Our Future/Soñando de Nuestro Futuro

March 2020 Live - remounted for Zoom in Spring 2021

 

July 2018    directed Candide, Angel Vocal Arts, presented at A Noise Within

July 2016 - directed the Southern California premiere of composer Adam Gorb's work on survivors of sex trafficking, ANYA 17 presented by Angels Vocal Art.

 

              

Reviews: http://peoplesworld.org/human-trafficking-and-sex-slavery-the-opera/ 

and http://www.pasadenanow.com/living/contemporary-opera-addresses-sex-trafficking/

 

June 2016 - directed the multimedia opera The News by Dutch composer Jacob TV with Long Beach Opera, presented at the Broad Theatre. 

           

Reviews

THE ARGONAUT

BROADWAY WORLD

CLASSICALITE.COM 

THE DAILY NEWS/ LONG BEACH PRESS-TELEGRAM 

THE GUARDIAN  

THE JEWISH JOURNAL OF LOS ANGELES 

 

 

 

March 2016 - directed Bellini's Norma at Pacific Northwest Opera (formerly Skagit Opera) Excerpts on YouTube HERE

Review

 

Oct/Nov 2015 - Directed 2 one-act operas for Festival Opera in the Bay Area, Savitri by Holst and River of Light by Jack Perla.

Oct 2015 - Opera del Espacio dance/performane event at Highways Performance Space

Triple [Inter]sect is an inter-generational feminist examination of the tangible and abstract forces that jostle, push and ply the female body. Three divergent female voices (di)(con)verge in an evening of dance and performance from Opera del Espacio, Gayle Fekete and Mechanism Dance Theatre.

    Highways Performance Space

 

    

 

 

La Traviata with singers in the Angels Vocal Arts Summer Opera Intensive Professional Program, July 2015

 

 

 

Guest Teaching, Workshops and Conference Presentations

2019     Germany: Hochschule der Median, Stuttgart. Introduction to Acting for Digital Storytellers: Solo, Partner and

            Group Embodied Exercises and Explorations of the Theories of Acting of Meisner, Hagen, Adler and more.

2016    Coordinator for the American College Dance Association Baja Regional Conference, hosted at Cal State LA, that included over 30 area dance programs,

             4 Adjudicated Concerts, 3 Informal Concerts and over 450 attendees. Conference Website

2015     Department of History, Cal State LA, Colloquium Presentation: “The Politics Of Outdoor Performances: Who Gets Access And Who Gets Ignored" 

             CSU Symposium on University Teaching. Presentation of “Dare to Fail and Fail Big!”

             Directors Lab West, Workshop leader: Let the Space Tell the Story: Creating Exciting Theatre In Non-Traditional Spaces

2014    Spain: University of Islas Balears, Palma, Mallorca - Viewpoints Workshop; Escuela Superior de Arte Dramatica de Ilas Balears - Viewpoints Workshop

             Atalaya-TNT Sevilla - Viewpoints Workshop; University of Sevilla - Acting workshop

             Opera Ára, Barcelaon: Guest speaker and panelist

2011    University Theatre Festival, Blumenau, Brazil: Viewpoints Workshop

            University of Uberlandia, Brazil: Viewpoints Workshop

            Ubu Roi, University of Blumenau, Brazil: co-directed and choreographed with Prof. Patricia de Borba

2010    University Theatre Festival, Blumenau, Brazil: Viewpoints Workshop

IX Congreso Ibero-Americana de Teatro Universitario (AIATU), Lima, Peru: Viewpoints Workshop & Panel Presenter

2009    ImprovFest, Los Angeles: Viewpoints Workshops for professional dancers and performers

2008    ImprovFest, Los Angeles: Viewpoints Workshops for professional dancers and performers

            Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, CSULA: Viewpoints workshop

2007    VI Congreso Ibero-Americana de Teatro Universitario (AIATU), Chihuahua, Mexico: Viewpoints Workshop for students from Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru,

Costa Rica and Mexico.

Roosevelt University, Chicago: Intensive Viewpoints course for MA Directing students in the Fast-Track Program.

Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv, Israel: Acting Workshop for singers in the Young Artist Program.

2006    University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Guest Artist: Viewpoints workshops

2004    Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Logan, Utah (Region VIII): Viewpoints workshops

Theatre Department, University of Chihuahua, Mexico. Guest Lecturer

Rosana Gamson/Worldwide Dance Theatre Company (RG/WW): workshops to strengthen ensemble, introduce basic acting technique and vocal training for   upcoming bilingual production with Contradanza (Mexico City) based on Carlos Fuentes’ book Aura.

2003    Directors Lab West: Viewpoints workshop for professional directors and choreographers, Pasadena Playhouse.

2002    National University of Tucuman and La Baulera Cultural Center, Argentina: Viewpoints Workshops

 

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA)
Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)
Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME)
Association of Ibero-American University Theatres (AIATU)

AWARDS & RESIDENCIES

• American Communities Program Fellowship, Spring 2024 to support research on the developement of La Panza Monologues in collaboration with Women's, Gender and Sexualities Studies
• Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) Award, Spring 2024 to direct La Panza Monologues in collaboration with Women's, Gender and Sexualities Studies
• Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) Award, Spring 2021 for the development of Dreaming of Our Future
• Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) Award, Fall 2019
• Aurora Foundation Challenge Grant 2015/16: studied Butoh with Master Teachers in Japan
• ATHE Innovative Teaching Award/KCACTF Region VIII, 2014
• GSE Rotary Program to Mexico, March/April 2004
• Partner of the Americas: Sponsored trip to attend Experimenta 5 Theatre Festival/Conference in Rosario and to conduct workshops with students of the National University of Tucuman and professional performers at La Baulera Cultural Center (Argentina), December 2002.
• NEA/TCG Theatre Director Finalist, 2001
• Certificate of Excellence in Teaching, awarded by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2000
• Federick Loewe Fellowship, Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation, 1997 & 1998

RELATED EXPERIENCE

• Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Region 8 - led workshop "Using Viewpoints for Staging," 2020
• Imagining America National Gathering; Presentation on new devised play about DACA and immigration, 2019
• Opera Ára ("Opera Now"), Guest Speaker on New Opera, Teatre Lliure, Barcelona, Nov, 2014
• Directors Lab West, Guest Panelist, "Working Internationally" 2014
• ATHE/ATME Panel Participant, “Atomic Dancing”; paper, video and live performance presentation, Aug. 2013
• Directors Lab West, Alumni Committee, 2009.
• Viewpoints Workshop Facilitator: Guest Artist Mary Overlie at the Directors Lab West, May 2005
• Co-coordinator of Viewpoints Intensive at CSU Summer Arts with guests Mary Overlie, Anne Bogart, SITI company members and Nina Martin, June/July 2004.

• TCG online interview: Traveling & Working Abroad

TRAINING

• BFA Acting NYU, Tisch School of the Arts: Circle-in-the-Square and the Experimental Theatre Wing
• MFA Directing UMass/Amherst
• The Viewpoints: Mary Overlie and Wendall Beavers (Experimental Theatre Wing/NYU)                               
• American Mime Theater Company directed by Paul Curtis (Company Member 1991-1993) 
• Dance & Movement: Modern, Postmodern, Contact Improvisation, Stage Combat, Martial Arts
• Directing: Joseph Chaikin and Jean-Claude Van Italie/ The Living Theater: Judith Malina  
• Commedia del Arte and Mask: Guy Friexe & Erhardt Steifel of the Theatre du Soliel           
• Roy Hart Theatre/Experimental Vocal Technique: Richard Armstrong          
• Tight Rope Walking: Philipe Petit/ Clown: Dale Scott/ Circus: Hoovey Burgess                     
• Linklater Vocal Technique: Andrea Haring (Circle-in-the-Square)     
• Stanislavsky, Boleslavsky and Hagen Acting Methodology: Alan Langdon (Circle-in-the-Square)

LANGUAGES: Fluent Spanish and French: conversational Portuguese and Russian

Comments on works directed by Ms. Kane-Parry:

 Space: The Final Frontier: “The cumulative effect of all this is that of an academic treatise straining to be enhanced by the kinetic power of design and dance. That goal is frequently met, thanks to the evocative quality of Kane-Parry's choreography, and the way the bodies collide and seem to roll through each other.”  - Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly

The Way of Water by Caridad Svich, adapted by Opera del Espacio: “In L.A.'s site-specific production of Caridad Svich'sThe Way of Water, Opera del Espacio is making the disaster tangible -- and implicating the audience in the event. You might even find yourself pouring an oil-like liquid onto the actors or helping to load company members into body bags by the end of the performance.” – Sarah Taylor Ellis, LA Weekly

Tosca Jumps! “In this striking distillation by Tanya Kane-Parry of Puccini's operatic masterpiece, the music is abridged, the lyrics are lip-synched, and the performers borrow fascinating movement that seems to range from Chinese opera through contemporary street dance. Supertitles- a new opera convention -add typographic humor to the work and allow modern obscenities to replace pages of libretto.”  - Dany Margolies, Critic's Pick, Backstage West

Supreme Being “Text and images wash over you…meaning emerges from the show’s recombinant associations and repetitions” – Philip Brandes, Los Angeles Times

Romeo and/y Juliet(a) “Goes to extremes (with) undaunted vision” – Luis Reyes, LA Weekly

Romeo and/y Juliet(a) “Director Tanya Kane-Parry abstracts the Bard’s scenario through diverse performance art tactics: gender-bending, outsized sound effects, anachronistic asides”  - David Nichols, Los Angeles Times

Romeo and/y Juliet(a) “It is an exciting, individualistic approach… in the manner of a Cubist painting, with glimmering flashes of action and dialogue, with a bit of Dadaism thrown in. [Kane-Parry’s] tempos and rhythms are impeccable…The piece is full of insightful action and is fascinating from beginning to end.” – T.H. McCulloh, Back Stage West

Romeo and/y Juliet(a) “Emphasizing dance and movement over dialogue, the piece — relayed in Spanglish — juxtaposes Shakespeare’s basic plot and fragments of his text with contemporary street speech and images. Performers cavort in and around trash cans while, now and then, someone appears in spiked, thigh-high patent leather boots/ erotic gambols/ recurrent slamming of bodies against walls.” – Deborah Klugman, LA Weekly

The Cure “Juxtaposes ordinary things in strange ways but invests them with a sense of utter familiarity” – Martin Washburn, The Village Voice

The Cure “Underlying outrageousness beneath a surface of deliberate, restrained and controlled emotional truth and subtlety…mysterious…compelling” – Richard Foreman, Playwright/Director

Trojan Women “Ballsy…you applaud the effrontery each time…can’t take your eyes off it for a minute…hardy souls are in for a treat” – Eric Grode, Backstage

Romeo and/y Juliet(a) “Modern theatre seems old fashioned when compared to this production…To say this production is surreal is an understatement. It’s more of a fracprism, where the original is divided into dozens of pieces that seem to have been squeezed through a multi-layered prism, refracting a distant image of the original, but creating a whole new entity in the process… Here, director Tanya Kane-Parry is experimenting with a style that takes a lot of guts to even attempt, let alone pull it off. What emerges from her imagination is part dream, part nightmare, half–fantasy, half-wish, layered onto a tale that begins with hatred between two families and results in the ultimate end for the protagonists… [Kane-Parry] knocks your socks off with something wild and off-beat.”   – Jose Luis, ReviewPlays.com