Bio

David Neumann and Advanced Beginner Group’s original work has been presented in New York at PS 122, New York Live Arts, The Kitchen, Abrons Arts Center, Central Park Summerstage (where he collaborated with John Giorno), Celebrate Brooklyn, Symphony Space (where he collaborated with Laurie Anderson), The Chocolate Factory and The Whitney. ABG has also performed at the Walker Art Center, Alverno College, MASS MoCA, The Fusebox Festival, The Ringling Festival and the American Dance Institute, among others. Neumann was a performer for many years working with, among others, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Big Dance Theater, Doug Elkins, Doug Varone and Sally Silvers. Recent projects include: choreographer on Hadestown (NYTW), The Total Bent (Public Theater), War (Lincoln Center III), Futurity (Ars Nova and Soho Rep), An Octoroon (Soho Rep/Theater for a New Audience), directing Geoff Sobelle in The Object Lesson (BAM and NYTW), and choreographing Hagoromo at BAM Harvey with Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto. He is currently professor of theater at Sarah Lawrence College. Most recently, Neumann’s work, I Understand Everything Better received two 2016 NY Dance and Performance Bessie Awards, one for Outstanding Production and one for Outstanding Sound Design/Music Composition. This year he has been named a 2016 Artist in Residence at the SETI Institute and was awarded a Robert Rauschenberg Residency. Over the years Neumann has received three “Bessie” Awards, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award, an Asian Cultural Council Fellowship (Noh immersive), residencies at MASS MoCA, ADI, MANCC, and support from the Rockefeller Foundation, Creative Capital, NYFA and National Dance Projects among others.

David Neumann’s work as a freelance choreographer, director and performer includes a wide range of projects and disciplines. Since 1999, Neumann has worked behind the scenes to craft plays, operas, films and multi-disciplinary performances. From avant-garde theater to blockbuster films, classic opera to new musicals, David’s diverse experience has given him a unique ability to articulate ideas through performers’ bodies. Whether playing one of Shakespeare’s kings or a virus-infected zombie with an appetite for Will Smith, the performers Neumann works with gain from his multi-layered approach.

David coaches individuals, has moved dozens of people through city streets, staged a hundred musical numbers, directed puppets, friends and drag queens, organized multiple Greek choruses and continues to find new ways for the human body to communicate. He has worked with stars from the ballet, film and avant garde worlds, as well as those never having stepped on a stage, learning valuable lessons from each.

Neumann has many years of teaching experience working at Juilliard, NYU, Princeton and Yale and is currently a tenured professor in the Theatre Department at Sarah Lawrence College. He has received three Lucille Lortel Award nominations and one Fichandler for his work on Cabaret at Arena Stage. He is the Artistic Director of ‘Advanced Beginner Group’, a multi-disciplinary performance company, which has been awarded three Bessie Awards. He is a 2019 Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, and Tony Award nominee, as well as the recipient of the 2019 Chita Rivera Award for Choreography for his work on the Broadway musical, ‘Hadestown’. Recent and upcoming projects include the musical ‘Swept Away’ at Berkeley Rep, and choreography and coaching for ‘A Marriage Story’, starring Scarlett Johanssen and Adam Driver.

Resume

Contact >> abg.david@gmail.com