Hell: Paradise Found

Seth Panitch is a playwright, director, actor, and screenwriter. His plays include ALCESTIS ASCENDING (produced off Broadway at the Harold Clurman Theater, and in Havana, Cuba at the Teatro Raquel Revuelta by the Cuban National Office of Scenic Arts); HELL: PARADISE FOUND (produced off Broadway at the 59E59 Theaters and in Los Angeles at the Ventura Court Playhouse); DAMMIT SHAKESPEARE! (produced off Broadway at Urban Stages and the Westbeth Theatre Center, and in Los Angeles at The Globe Theatre); and WHAT’S TAKING MOSES SO LONG? (produced in Los Angeles at the Wooden O). In 2008, Seth became the first U S director to work in partnership with the Cuban National Office of Scenic Arts when he directed Shakespeare’s THE MERCHANT OF VENICE at the Teatro Adolfo Llaurado in Havana, Cuba. He subsequently directed Cuban productions of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, Christopher Durang’s BEYOND THERAPY, and his play ALCESTIS ASCENDING at the Teatro Raquel Revuelta and the Teatro Berthold Brecht. He has also directed off Broadway (Harold Clurman Theatre, 59E59 Theaters, Urban Stages) and at the Colorado and Texas Shakespeare Festivals. As a performer, Seth has worked off Broadway (59E59 Theaters, Urban Stages, Westbeth Theatre Center), regionally at the Colorado, Utah and Texas Shakespeare Festivals, and in Los Angeles at the Hillside Repertory Theatre, the Ventura Court Playhouse, The Globe Theatre, Dramatic New Art Theatre, and the Wooden O. His documentary, A Night in the Theater, has been published by Insight Media, and his second documentary Company HavanaBama: Directing Across the Gulf was screened by the 15th annual Sidewalk Film Festival. Since 2005, Seth has directed the M F A and Undergraduate Acting programs at the University of Alabama, where he was awarded the Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award in 2014, the Alabama National Alumni Association’s "Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award" in 2010, and was named the 2010 Druid Arts Educator of the Year. Seth received his B A at Occidental College in Los Angeles and an M F A in Acting at the University of Washington’s Professional Actor’s Training Program. He is a member of both the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and the Dramatists Guild of America, and the Illuminati, although he has steadfastly resisted branding any of their names on his chest.