Production Manager MSM Indiana University BA Berry College dgrindle@indiana.edu Whom do I contact about what?

David created the Stage Management Program at Indiana which includes training not only plays and musicals, but ballet, opera, and modern dance stage management. Graduates of the program have gone on to work at ACT, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theatre, Blue Man Group, LA Opera, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Indiana Repertory Theatre, The Kennedy Center, and other regional theatres and opera houses.

David speaks frequently at conferences on the role and training of stage managers, particularly in opera and other musical genres. He serves as Vice-Commissioner for Programming for the Management Commission of USITT as well as a mentor in the USITT Stage Management Mentoring Project.

In 2007-08 he was the Chair of the committee drafting standards and core competencies for BFA Stage Management Degrees which was approved unanimously by USITT and is currently in the national adoption process for the National Association of Schools of Theatre. He also helped negotiate the current AEA/URTA agreement in effect through 2010.

He is a member of the Opera America International Production and Technical Committee, Production Managers Forum, and the Stage Managers Association as well as a trustee for the Bloomington Area Arts Council. A contributor to Lawrence Stern’s text Stage Management for both the 7th and 8th editions he has also had articles published in Voices the Opera America Singer Newsletter and THE HEADSET, a publication of the Stage Managers Association.

In 2007 he partnered with Edmonton Opera in Canada and led group of students researching remote scenic storage for the company based on potential rental income and company partnerships. Also in 2007 he developed a course in Spectacle Management culminating in students touring theatres and shadowing stage managers at Cirque du Soleil, Phantom of the Opera, and Blue Man Group in Las Vegas. A relationship with Walt Disney World is also being developed to explore the challenges of theme park entertainment management including on site observation and coursework.

Prior to coming to IU in 2001, David was the Production Stage Manager and Orchestra Manager for the Atlanta Opera. While at Atlanta, he participated in an exchange with the Czech National Opera working on the Czech premier of Shostakovich’s Ekaterina Ismailova in Prague. He has worked around the United States as a stage manager for opera companies from Baltimore to Anchorage. He was the stage manager for the American premier of Michael Torke’s opera The King of Hearts at the Aspen Music Festival as well as the stage manager for Opera Grand Rapids arena production of Aida with a cast of over 500 people and 50 exotic animals which was one of the opening events for the Van Andel Arena. As an opera director, his shows at Summer Opera Theatre have been lauded by the Washington Post and the Washington Times.