Dan Spurgeon
Director/Playwright/Sound Design
About the artist
Dan spent his childhood in Norman, Oklahoma devouring late-night horror movies and local theatre productions.
He studied theatre at Oklahoma City University and the University of Oklahoma, working as an actor in far too many videos, plays, musicals, and drag shows to remember them all. Finally escaping west to California, Dan earned a BFA in Motion Pictures from the Academy of Art in San Francisco, where he also met his husband and producing partner Drew.
Previously the Artistic Director of Cobblestone Productions in New York City, Dan produced the NYC premiere of Mary Hanes' The Crimson Thread and directed the world premiere of Jorjeana Marie's Ally, Mary Jane, and Me. He also wrote and directed original adaptations for the company, one based on Evelyn Piper's novel Bunny Lake is Missing. During his time in New York, he also worked for The Shubert Organization for several years, and studied playwriting with Pulitzer and Tony nominee Tina Howe.
Since arriving in Los Angeles six years ago, Dan has directed and written for a number of venues in a variety of projects. In 2010, The Visceral Company was founded around the production of the award-winning short film Bugbaby, based on Dan's script and starring cult movie legend Mink Stole.
Dan served as Artistic Director of The Visceral Company until 2015, and worked in a variety of capacities. His original play Ghost Light brought in sold-out crowds for Halloween 2012. In 2013, he won an LA Weekly Award for his direction of The Turn of the Screw, his staging of 70s cult film The Baby won a Best Of Hollywood Fringe award, and his original adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft stories played to standing-room crowds and garnered several nods from the 23rd Annual Ticketholder Awards. As well as an Ovation nomination in Sound Design for his work on The Mystery Plays, 2014 brought raves and award nominations for the Los Angeles premieres of drama Recall and musical Zombies from the Beyond, in addition to a new adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu. Check out The Visceral Company here.
As the landscape of small LA theatre rapidly changed for the worse, Dan decided to availa himself of his Canadian citizenship, and moved to Toronto. His adaptation of The Baby is scheduled to be produced by the award-winning Storefront Theatre/RedOne Collective in October 2015.
