Symank has directed and assistant directed for a variety of theatre, opera, and dance companies in both California and Texas. Symank's interest is in new play development, theatre for audiences aged 18-35, and community-based performance. Recent productions include Rare Earth (World Premiere - Front Line Theatre, SF), Anna Karenina (West Coast Premiere - Opera San José), and Our Story (Original Play - The Marsh Youth Theater, SF).
To view production documentation, including images, video, and reviews, please visit the PROJECTS page.
Photo by Clay Allison: The Long Christmas Ride Home by Paula Vogel (winner of Curve Magazine's 2006 Theatre Award - Unhinged Productions, Houston)
Symank has taught acting at UC Davis and CSU East Bay, and performed educational outreach for the Alley Theatre, Marsh Youth Theater, and Mondavi Center. For the Marsh Youth Theater he directed Our Story—an original play developed by the ensemble—and Gary Soto’s Novio Boy. Symank holds a BA in Theater Arts from Texas A&M University and a MFA in Dramatic Art (Directing) from UC Davis.
Please visit the RESUME/CV page to view Symank’s curriculum vitae.
Photo by Doug McKechnie: Our Story (The Marsh Youth Theater, SF)
Symank has served as an administrator and arts manager for a variety of companies, large and small, in both California and Texas. At present, Symank is the Managing Director of CounterPULSE in San Francisco. Other recent clients include Epiphany Productions sonic dance theater, Jess Curtis/Gravity Inc., and the Institute of Poetic Medicine. For Epiphany Productions Symank helped to manage both the programming and administration, including the company’s annual SF Trolley Dances festival and most recent international tour to Tunisia, North Africa.
For more information, please contact Symank via the methods listed on the CONTACT page.
Photo by Elazar Harel: Alonesome & Twosome (Epiphany Productions, SF)
Update: Strategy Training in Chicago
CounterPULSE was recently selected to receive strategic planning traning through National Arts Strategies at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. CounterPULSE was one of only twelve arts organizations from the around the country selected for this fellowship. Managing Director Symank, along with five other board and staff from CounterPULSE, attended the strategy training in December 2011, and learned many principles of strategy to apply in the organizations current strategic planning process.
For more information about CounterPULSE, please visit www.counterpulse.org.
Recently Closed: Rare Earth
Symank recently directed the world premiere of Front Line Theatre’s Rare Earth, a devised work of physical comedy and tragedy. Set in heightened verse, prose, and song, the play’s original text experimented with art’s relationship to time and history, and its capacity to be both fantastical and polemic. This original, Neo-Shakespearean work had multiple runs in San Francisco during Summer 2011, including performances at NOHspace as part of the 2011 FURY Factory, CounterPULSE, and The Garage/SAFEhouse. Production documentation will be posted soon under PROJECTS.
For more information about Front Line Theatre, please visit www. frontlinetheatre.org.