MA in Performance Studies - New York University
MFA in Dramatic Writing - New York University
PhD in Theatre Studies - National University of Theatre&Film, Bucharest, Romania
Saviana Stanescu (www.saviana.com) is a Romanian-born award-winning playwright and scholar, winner of New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Script, UNITER Best Romanian Play of the Year, Samuel French OOB Festival, Marulic Prize for Best European Radio drama, etc. Saviana's creative work has been widely presented internationally and in the US.
Recent productions include "Bee Trapped Inside the Window" with HartBeat Ensemble, "What Happens Next" at Cherry Artspace, “For a Barbarian Woman” at Fordham/EST in NYC, “Aliens with extraordinary skills” at Women’s Project, “Bechnya” at Hudson Theatre in LA, "Waxing West" at La MaMa Theatre, "Suspendida" and “Vicious Dogs on Premises” (with Witness Relocation) at Ontological Theatre, “Polanski Polanski” and “Aurolac Blues” at HERE Arts Center, “The E-Dating Project” at Strasberg Institute for Theatre&Film, and the site-specific "I want what you have" at the World Financial Center.
Saviana's plays have received readings and workshops at The Lark, Long Wharf Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, New York Stage&Film, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Playwrights' Foundation, Traveling Jewish Theatre, Immigrants Theatre Project, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Origin Theatre Company, PS122, HERE, etc. “Aliens with extraordinary skills” (Inmigrantes con Habilidades Extraordinarias) and “Final Countdown” (Cuenta Regresiva) had a long run in Mexico City at Teatro La Capilla, Teatro El Milagro and Foro La Gruta in 2010-2012. “Bucharest Underground” won the 2007 Marulic Prize for Best European Radio-Drama. In Stockholm, Sweden, Saviana’s play “White Embers”, a Samuel French OOB festival winner, was in the TOP 3 of Best Plays in 2008.
Ms Stanescu's published books of poetry and drama include: "For a Barbarian Woman" (NoPassport Press), “The New York Plays” (NoPassport Press), “Aliens With Extraordinary Skills” (Concord Theatricals), “Waxing West” (2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Full-length Script), "Google me!", "Black Milk", "The Inflatable Apocalypse” (Best Play of the Year UNITER Award in 2000). She co-edited the anthology of plays “Global Foreigners” (with NYU professor Carol Martin) and “roMANIA after 2000” (with CUNY professor Daniel Gerould).
Saviana is a member of EST (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and a Usual Suspect with New York Theatre Workshop. She was a 2007-2008 NYSCA playwright-in-residence with Women’s Project and writer-in-residence for Richard Schechner’s East Coast Artists. As a 2005-2007 TCG fellow with the Lark Play Development Center, Saviana's plays “Waxing West” and “Lenin’s Shoe” had barebones productions. She was the Director of Eastern European Exchange for the Lark and the curator of playgroundzero (the new play readings series of the experimental theatre festival undergroundzero in NYC).
Saviana is the founder and Artistic Director of "Immigrant Artists and Scholars in New York" (IASNY), and curates/runs the IASNY programs "New York with an Accent", "Global Poetry Series", and "LIBERTY's DAUGHTERS - Immigrant Women's Monologues."
Dr. Stanescu holds an MA in Performance Studies (Fulbright fellow) and an MFA in Dramatic Writing (John Golden Award for excellence in Playwriting) from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. She completed her PhD in Theatre Studies with the National University of Theatre&Film, Bucharest, Romania. Dr Stanescu has taught/lectured at NYU's Tisch, in the Drama Department (2004-2012), Strasberg Theatre&Film Institute, NYU's English Department, Fordham University, Columbia University, Arizona State University, Penn State University, Hofstra University, Pittsburgh University, University of Connecticut, Smith College, London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Mexico City's Hellenic Cultural Center, Transylvania Tg Mures University, Vienna's KulturKontakt, Chicago's Renaissance Society, Einhorn School of Performing Arts - Primary Stages NYC, etc.
Saviana has taught a wide range of Dramatic Writing and Theatre/Performance Studies courses including: Playwriting, Advanced Playwriting, Script Analysis, Contemporary Developments in Theatre&Performance, Re-Imagining the Classics, Experimental Theatre, Global Drama&Performance, Introduction to Theatre Studies, Contemporary Women Playwrights, Theatre&Feminism, Theatre of the Absurd, Writing/Performing the Immigrant Experience, Performing Autobiography, Performative Writing, etc.
