Darren Patrick Blaney, PhD is an actor, director, educator, scholar, solo performer, & visual artist who has taught acting, improvisation, and theater history at the University of Miami, Pomona College and the University of California. Dr. Blaney holds two certificates in Acting (American Conservatory Theater & UC Santa Cruz), and a B.A. in Art (Reed College.) He earned his Ph.D. in Dramatic Art with a graduate minor in Critical Theory at UC Davis, where he was awarded the Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship. His doctoral dissertation, entitled “Staging the Social and Cruising the Crisis: A genealogy of utopian aspiration in U.S. queer theater,” examined theatrical responses to various historical crises in the 20th and 21st Centuries.
As an actor, Darren has performed at The Main Street Playhouse, Stonewall National Museum, Island City Stage, Meeting House Miami, and Andrews Living Arts in South Florida; and in California at Cal Shakes, the New Conservatory Theater, Berkeley’s Shotgun Players, Shakespeare Marin, and at the Seaver Theater. In L.A. County, he was fortunate to act in the 30th anniversary production of Luis Valdez’ Zoot Suit, directed by Dr. Alma Martinez, an original cast member of the infamous 1978 Mark Taper Forum production. Darren trained intensively in ‘long form improvisation’ at Bay Area Theater Sports, and in Meisner technique with Ian McRae, former head acting instructor at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse.
Darren’s devised solo works and plays have been produced in the Bay Area at the San Francisco Fringe Festival, Phoenix Theatre, Exit Stage Left, The Marsh, Works San Jose, City College, Shotwell Studios, the Santa Cruz Chautauqua Festival, and The Broadway Playhouse. In Los Angeles, he presented original work at Highways Performance Space and at homo-centric, a monthly reading series for GLBTQ authors. His directing credits include Fifth of July (three KCACTF Region VIII Awards, for acting and ensemble) and Minatory Mansion at Pomona College; and The 24-Hour Play Festival, Burn This, The Dining Room, Talley’s Folly, and The Mask of Blackness at the University of Miami. He also served as company dramaturg for UM’s productions of Spring Awakening and Romeo and Juliet at the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.
Dr. Blaney has contributed essays and reviews to Oxford University Press, Theatre Journal, Modern Drama, New England Theatre Journal, and The Gay and Lesbian Review, Worldwide. He has presented at numerous academic conferences including ATHE (Association for Theatre in Higher Education), CDC (Comparative Drama Conference), and the University of Missouri’s Missouri Self-Taught: Lanford Wilson & the American Drama conference. His scholarly work explores the historical use of theater and performance in the construction of group and individual identity. By examining performance as an instigator of community and social transformation, Dr. Blaney’s academic writing argues for the socio-political relevance of drama, dance, and other forms of artistic expression.
A seasoned educator, Dr. Blaney has taught students of all ages for over 25 years. His first teaching position was as an art teacher to elementary school students, 2nd to 6th grade, at PS 154 in the South Bronx, where he participated in NYC’s Studio-in-a-School program from 1993 to 1995. In Southern California, Dr. Blaney taught both middle-school and high school students as a theater arts/critical inquiry faculty member, participating in Pomona College’s summer college-prep programs for gifted underrepresented students from 2008 to 2010. In addition to his work in art, theater, and higher education, Darren is a Red Cross-Certified Lifeguard and Water Safety Instructor, and has taught swimming to hundreds of students of all ages in South Florida and Massachusetts, from toddlers to seniors.