SIMON LEVY  

Writer/Director

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Current Biography 

SIMON LEVY - theatre director and producer, playwright and screenwriter - is the Producing Director for The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles.

REPRESENTATION

Personal Contact:
VM: 818-825-7083
slevymuse@aol.com
 
NEW YORK/LA:
Ron Gwiazda
Amy Wagner
STEWART TALENT
Literary Division - Agent
1430 Broadway, Suite 601
New York, NY 10018
212-315-5505 ext. 153
 
LONDON:
Jean Diamond
DIAMOND MANAGEMENT
31 Percy Street
London W1T 2dd
T: 0207-631-0400
jd@diman.co.uk

SimonHeadshot2023.jpeg

Since 1993, Simon has been the Producing Director for the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. He has directed 26 plays and been lead producer for over 50 shows for the Fountain.

His trilogy of F. Scott Fitzgerald stage adaptations - The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and The Last Tycoon - are published by Dramatists Play Service, www.dramatists.com. They are the first authorized adaptations that have been granted exclusive rights by the Fitzgerald Estate

The Great Gatsby was a Finalist for the PEN Literary Award in Drama, and has been produced over 600 times worldwide. Please visit The Great Gatsby Play website - www.TheGreatGatsbyPlay.com - for more information about current, upcoming, and past productions.

Tender is the Night won the PEN Literary Award in Drama, as well as 7 Drama-Logue awards including Best Production and Direction.

The Last Tycoon won 5 Back Stage West/Drama-Logue awards including Best Adaptation and Best Direction, and was nominated for the prestigious Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Ted Schmitt Award for Original Play. 

He is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's Milton Katselas Career Achievement Award in Directing. And has been nominated twice for the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation's Zelda Fichandler Award.

Some of the plays he's directed include:

I, Daniel Blake, which opened October 2024 to excellent reviews and ran through November 24, 2024 at the Fountain Theatre

Prior to that, he directed The Lifespan of a Fact, which opened February 2023 to rave reviews and was extended until May 2023. It was subsequently remounted at Rubicon Theatre in Ventura for an October 2023 run with the original cast.

Prior to that, he directed Lucy Kirkwood's The Children, which opened November 6, 2021 to rave reviews and ran through January 23, 2022 at the Fountain Theatre.

Prior to the pandemic, in 2019, he directed Daniel's Husband. Critics' Choice! Los Angeles Times. OVATION Recommended! Over a dozen rave reviews.

In 2018, he directed the 5-month sold-out run of the West Coast Premiere of a revised version of Chaim Potok's The Chosen. Critic's Choice!, Los Angeles Times. OVATION Recommended!

At the same time he also directed Mark Harelik's The Immigrant running at Sierra Madre Playhouse until May 26, 2018. OVATION Recommended! 

In 2016 he directed the award-winning production of Tennessee Williams' Baby Doll, and the West Coast Premiere of Athol Fugard's The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek which was Critic's Choice in the Los Angeles Times, and was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as one of the Best Theater Productions of that year.

In March 2015 he directed Reborning by Zayd Dohrn at the Fountain Theatre, which was also Critic's Choice in the Los Angeles Times.

His acclaimed production of the Los Angeles Revival of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, which he directed, had an extended 3-month run at the Fountain Theatre - and was named by the Huffington Post as one of the Top L.A. Theater Productions of 2013, and won numerous awards including the Best Production (Revival) Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle.

Prior to that he directed the World Premiere of Stephen Sachs' contemporary deaf/hearing retelling of Cyrano, a co-production with Deaf West Theatre, which received rave reviews at the Fountain Theatre and had a 4-month sold out run. It won, among other awards, 4 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, including Best Production, Best Adaptation, Best Direction, and Best Actor.

In 2011, his production of the West Coast Premiere of Tennessee Williams' last play A House Not Meant to Stand was a critical success at the Fountain Theatre and is the recipient of numerous awards and nominations, including being named by the Huffington Post as one of the Top L.A. Theater Productions of 2011.

In 2010 he directed the Los Angeles Premiere of Michael Hollinger's Opus, which received rave reviews, was extended twice, and was the recipient of numerous awards and nominations, including the OVATION, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly, and Back Stage Garland awards for Best Production, Best Direction, and Best Ensemble, among others.

In 2009 he directed Anna Ziegler's Photograph 51, which was Pick of the Week, L.A. Weekly, received OVATION Award nominations for Best Season/Best Production/Lead Actress, received L.A. Weekly Award nominations for Ensemble/Lead Female Performance/Lighting Design, and was the recipient of other nominations and awards.

He has produced the following plays by Athol Fugard at the Fountain Theatre: U.S. Premieres of The Blue Iris, The Train Driver, and Victory, the West Coast Premiere of Coming Home, and the World Premiere of Exits and Entrances, all of which received rave reviews, plus numerous awards and nominations. These are among the dozens of shows he's been lead producer of at the Fountain.

His directing and producing credits are numerous, over 125 productions in Los Angeles and San Francisco that have won hundreds of awards. 

In San Francisco he was the Founding Producer of the Playwrights Unit, One Act II, which specialized in new work by local writers; became Artistic Director of the One Act Theatre Company where he produced and directed many award-winning productions; and was general manager of San Francisco's hit revue, Beach Blanket Babylon.

He has taught Playwriting at Chapman Univeristy, Playwriting at UCLA Extension for many years, was a site evaluator for both the National Endowment for the Arts and California Arts Council, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, Theatre Communications Group, the National New Play Network, the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, as well as a host of political, environmental, humanitarian, and arts advocacy groups.

slevymuse@aol.com

www.fountaintheatre.com

www.TheGreatGatsbyPlay.com

 

 

 

 

Fountain Theatre

Doollee - Playwrights Information Center