Damaso Rodriguez

Dámaso Rodriguez is the Artistic Director of Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland's longest-running professional theatre company. He is a Co-Founder of L.A.'s Furious Theatre, where he served as Co-Artistic Director from 2001-2012. From 2007-2010 he served as Associate Artistic Director of the Pasadena Playhouse, where he directed main stage productions and oversaw programming for the Playhouse’s second stage, including its Hothouse New Play Development Program. His directing credits include work at the Pasadena Playhouse, Intiman Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Laguna Playhouse, A Noise Within, The Theatre@Boston Court, Odyssey Theatre, The Blank Theatre, The Road Theatre, The Zephyr Theatre and Furious Theatre.

Recent productions: the World Premiere musical Cuba Libre by Carlos Lacamara featuring the 3-time Grammy nominated band Tiempo Libre, The Miracle Worker by William Gibson, Portland premieres of Nina Raine's Tribes and David Ives' The Liar, the Northwest premiere of Carlos Lacamara's Exiles, the west coast premiere of Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal, the U.S. premiere of Dawn King's Foxfinder, the west coast premiere of Jeffrey Hatcher's Ten Chimneys in Portland at Artists Rep, the world premiere of Matthew Leavitt's The Boomerang Effect at the Odyssey Theater, Ruth & Augustus Goetz' The Heiress (starring Richard Chamberlain), Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes (starring Kelly McGillis), Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow (starring Sharon Lawrence) and the reading of Ellen Simon's Aunt Stossie's Coming for Five Days (starring Marsha Mason & Mary Steenburgen) at the Pasadena Playhouse; the reading of Steven Drukman’s The Prince of Atlantis for the Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Repertory, Clifford Odets’Paradise Lost at Intiman Theatre; Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, Tennessee Williams’ The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms, Bernard Shaw’s The Doctor’s Dilemma at A Noise Within. Furious Theatre credits include the Los Angeles premieres of Craig Wright's Grace, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s Boom and Hunter Gatherers, Bruce Norris’ The Pain and the Itch, Yussef El Guindi's Back of the Throat, Richard Bean’s The God Botherers, Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things, and the world premieres of Alex Jones’ Canned Peaches in Syrup and Matt Pelfrey’s An Impending Rupture of the Belly and No Good Deed, among many others.
Upcoming productions: Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth at Artists Rep.
His film directing credits include the darkly comic feature Pure Shock Value, which was selected as the Centerpiece Film of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and episodes of the web series A G.A.N.G. by screenwriter Matt Pelfrey (MTV’s Skins).

Dámaso is a recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, the Back Stage Garland Award, the NAACP Theatre Award, and the Pasadena Arts Council’s Gold Crown Award. In 2010 Furious Theatre Company was named to LA Weekly's list of "Best Theatres of the Decade." In 2012 he was honored as a Finalist for the Zelda Fichandler Award. In 2014 he was named a Knowledge Universe Rising Star. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.