David Towlun

Theatre Production Manager

Contact
Phone:
+1 (781) 2832031
Email:
dtowlun@wellesley.edu
Department
Theatre Studies

Theatre production lecturer, production manager, and professional set designer.

As an artist, I am fascinated with theatre as a collaborative art form where one can be individually expressive within the greater framework of humanity. As a designer I am always looking for new ways to express an idea through a visual medium that is both succinct and abstract. As Production Manager, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with and help facilitate the ideas of a wide variety of both professional and student artists. What makes me most excited about working at Wellesley is the freedom to be vigilantly analytic of the creative process through the experiences I have with my students who are themselves, experimenting with new ideas. It is the notion of one's process being just as important one's product that makes working and creating theatre at Wellesley College a unique experience.
I started my career in Florida as a freelance scenic designer and technical director, pausing it for a few years to earn my MFA in Scenic Design from The Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film at SUNY Purchase College. From there I continued my professional career working in New York City as an assistant for legendary theatre designer Tony Walton on numerous projects off and on Broadway. Outside of working at Wellesley College, I continue to pursue a career as a freelance scenic designer for numerous theatres in New England and am able to bring those experiences with me to my students.
I have a deep fascination of the north Maine woods and often find myself camping along and paddling through Maine's interior waters in one of the several wooden canoes I've built. In fact, I am passionate about canoeing so much, that you may catch me paddling across Lake Waban as I commute to work from my house on the far side of the lake, where I live with my wife (a Wellesley Alumna) and our young child.

Education

  • M.F.A., Purchase College (State University of New York)
  • B.F.A., Purchase College (State University of New York)

Current and upcoming courses

Practicum: Theatre Production

THST345

This course offers the advanced students of the theatre arts an opportunity to incorporate the performance, stage management, set design, lighting design, costume design, sound design, and directing disciplines available within the department into one focused and fully-produced project through an immersive investigation of a full-length script. Students will conduct dramaturgical research to contextualize the world of a play, establishing connections among the text, actors, and production elements, and creating a platform for conversation in the Wellesley community. Concurrently, students will implement performance and production techniques, engaging every aspect of the collaborative process of theatre-making.  Actors and stage management will commit to 3+ scheduled rehearsals weekly. Students interested in participating as a designer or stage manager should contact the instructors significantly prior to registration.   Students interested in performance must audition in the first week of each semester - invitations will be issued by the instructors within the add/drop period. The course will culminate with a fully supported public production, to be directed, managed, and advised by Theatre Studies faculty, serving as a capstone of integrated learning in the department. 

More Info

  • Stagecraft for Performance

    THST207

    This course studies the craft and theory of the production arts in the theatre.  We will cover the practice of intent creation and explore how that intent is interpreted - from the designer's process to how that process is implemented by various craftspeople and specialists.