Dustin Wills
Dustin Wills comes to TUTTO Theatre from directing for The English Theatre of Rome and Teatro L’Arciliuto—the most popular English-speaking theatre in Rome, Italy. A native of Galveston, he received his B.A. magna cum laude in both Theatre & Dance and Shakespeare Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. While at U.T. he studied very closely with Suzan Zeder, Jill Dolan, Antonella Olson, and Elizabeth Cullingford. He has also studied British Literature at Oxford University and Italian Culture and History at the Palazzo Antici–Mattai in Rome.
To date, his work has centered largely upon the malleability of language; specifically how re-imagining classical text and structure to suit modern sensibilities enraptures audiences of every community. His scholastic efforts on a new play Ophelia garnered him the prestigious George H. Mitchell Award from The University Cooperative Society. He is the recipient of eight Austin Critics Table Award nominations (2006) and a win for Best Director for his audacious production of Cymbeline, or what I will. His past four productions developed in Austin have ended up on the Top 10 Theatrical Treasures and Pleasures year-end list of favorite theatre. His most recent work in Austin was on Ashes, Ashes, a world-premiere produced by U.T. and the U.T. Performing Arts Center. This production won the 2008 Kennedy Center Award for Outstanding Theatre for Young Audiences.
Across the Atlantic, the work Dustin produces in Italy only fuels his continued love for language. The plays he produced in Rome in 2006 (Ophelia) and 2007 (The Moths) were presented in English at the Teatro L’Arciliuto near Piazza Navona and were also offered as workshops to local universities as a means of studying both classical theatre and the English language. Both plays have been translated into Italian.
Dustin has also worked as a Tour Guide at the Vatican Museums and currently works for Theatre Action Project—an Austin-based arts program that targets the promotion of social dialogue through theatre in lower-income schools. Some of Dustin’s favorite Austin collaborators are Ann Ciccollela of Austin Shakespeare and Jaclyn Pryor whose Floodlines project in Austin annually wows audiences. Dustin plans to further his production of daring work with TUTTO Theatre and furthermore, is invested in cultivating new work in Austin that may travel (and translate) both nationally and internationally.
Official Press Bio for Mr. Wills
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