Renee Philippi
Renee Philippi, Co-Artistic Director of Concrete Temple Theatre, holds a BA (Theatre/PolSci) from University of Michigan–Flint (Class Valedictorian) where she was the recipient of the prestigious Maize & Blue award for Academic Achievement, a MA (Creative Writing/English) from City College/CUNY and a MFA (Theatre/Directing) from Brooklyn College/CUNY. Her work has been seen in numerous venues in and around New York City as well as at Palace Theatre, CT; Guadalupe Arts Center, TX; Southern Theatre, MN; Atlanta Arts Festival, GA; The Field Museum, Chicago; Lied Center, Nebraska; Shepherds College, WV; Deutsches Theater, Berlin; Tuchfabrik,Trier, Germany; Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh.
Renee’s credits as a director include: In the Boom Boom Room by David Rabe performed in infamous Show World, 42nd Street; Lesser Wars by Native American playwright, Diane Glancy, Henry Street Settlement, NY; Broccoli Beast by John Deak performed by the Stamford Symphony Orchestra and children from Stamford, CT elementary schools. The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller, a concert version performed as a goth-punk-opera, SoHo Playhouse, NYC. Renee has Assistant Directed for: Steven Berkoff, Michael Rudman, Frank Castrof, and Charles Nelson Reilly.
As a playwright, Renee’s credits include: A commission for 3 plays for students to perform, Kearsley H.S., Flint, MI: Muses of Knives, The Land of the Buffed & Puffed, Cherry-Baby; Haunted Sailor performed at Judson House Project: a series of performances to celebrate Judson House in Judson House prior to its demolition; The Last Temptation of Adrian Leverkuehn, an adaptation of Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus performed at Greenwich House Music School with a small orchestra and choir; She Who Burns: Le Cirque du Wonder World, a transgender 10-character play inspired by Andreyev’s tragic-comedy, He Who Gets Slapped, The Bank, chashama@Queens Plaza.
Renee has been the Administrative Program Director of the City College Fellowships Office since September 1992, a fellowships program created to encourage and prepare students (primarily minorities) for doctoral studies. At the City College/CUNY, Renee has taught World Humanities, a literature survey core course, Creative Writing, Freshman English, and Women’s Studies.
In addition to being a member of Spiderwoman Theatre, Renee is an alumna of Women’s Project & Production’s Directors Forum, Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab as well as an affiliated artist of New Georges. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at Arts at St. Ann’s Puppet Lab, Mabou Mines, Playwrights Center of Minneapolis, St. Bonaventure University, Nantucket Historical Association, the Directors Company’s New Adaptations for the Stage, and a Directing Fellow at Williamstown Theatre Festival. She has been awarded several Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Grants, a chashama AREA Award, a Henson Foundation Grant and an Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project Commission. Her play, Harry is Gone Fishing, won both the Ross Alexander Drama Award & Goodman Fund Award. She has participated in International and National Panels: Many Voices, Playwrights Center of Minneapolis and Equity & Excellence: Eradicating Racism from the Academy in conjunction with Mellon Foundation, in Cape Town, South Africa.
