Pirronne Yousefzadeh is a Brooklyn based theatre director. Recent projects include QVC by Sam Hunter (Partial Comfort Productions), The Tenant (The Woodshed Collective), and Grace, or the Art of Climbing by Lauren Feldman (Barrymore Nomination, Outstanding New Play).
She has directed and developed work at The Public/Joe's Pub, New York Theatre Workshop, Ars Nova, Soho Rep, Playwrights Horizons (Sam French Festival), Theatre Row, The Woodshed Collective (The Tenant: Best of 2011, The L Magazine), Partial Comfort Productions, Noor Theatre, HERE Arts Center, New York Musical Theatre Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Wild Project, Dixon Place, The Living Theatre, The Lark Play Development Center, New Dramatists, Brooklyn Lyceum, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Two River Theater Company, Milwaukee Rep, Berkshire Fringe Festival, Power Plant Productions, Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre, and Hangar Theatre, where she was a 2006 Drama League Directing Fellow.
With support from New York Theatre Workshop, New Georges, and The Space at Ryder Farm, Pirronne is currently developing a new ensemble-based piece, The Food Project (Working Title), with playwrights Nastaran Ahmadi, Lauren Feldman, Charise Castro Smith, Leah Nanako Winkler, and a company of actors.
Pirronne has assisted Anne Bogart, both on Who Do You Think You Are (SITI Company), and at the 2007 Training Intensive in Saratoga Springs, where she trained extensively in Suzuki and Viewpoints. She has also assisted Leigh Silverman (world premiere of Coraline), Tina Landau (world premiere of Paula Vogel's A Civil War Christmas), Anne Kauffman, Kip Fagan, Aaron Posner, Eleanor Holdridge, and Joseph Hardy, among others.
Pirronne received her M.F.A. in Directing from Columbia University, where she was a Shubert Presidential Fellow and Matthews Fellowship recipient. She studied with Anne Bogart, Robert Woodruff, and Brian Kulick, and directed Big Love by Charles L. Mee, Fool for Love by Sam Shepard, and several devised pieces. In 2010, Pirronne was among five directors chosen to take part in a course in collaboration at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, taught by Oskar Eustis and Rinne Groff.
Pirronne trained at Shakespeare's Globe in London, and graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Theatre and English Literature from Washington University. She is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop and the Fellowship Coordinator, New Georges Affiliated Artist and member of The Jam, member of the Old Vic/New Voices Network, and an alumna of the Emerging Artist Fellowship at NYTW, 2011 Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Ensemble Studio Theatre's Resident Director Program and Drama League Directors Project. Pirronne has been a guest artist at the UCSB Summer Theater Lab, led by Naomi Iizuka, and has taught for education programs at McCarter Theatre, Two River Theater Company and Play Group Theatre. She was on the faculty at Bard High School Early College, and is a directing mentor at Fordham University and guest director at Ramapo College. Pirronne continues to train in Suzuki and Viewpoints with SITI Company. Current and upcoming projects include Barking Girl by Susan Bernfield (Chrysalis Theater Company), The Shape of Things (Ramapo College), and a new play by Adaire Kamen (Fordham University), as well as several readings at The Lark Play Development Center and New York Theatre Workshop.
Photo by Christine Jean Chambers.