Producing Artistic Directors—The Open Door Theater

FILIPPO ANSELMI. Born June 21, 1972 in Lugano, Swizerland, raised in Northern Italy, Filippo Anselmi arrived in New York circa 1976 and has lived and worked there ever since. As an author his talent surfaced in October '95, when his very first screenplay, Lasso Larue was awarded an opening night reading at the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe. Since then, Filippo's works have been produced all over Manhattan; from the Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Common Basis Theatre, and many more in between. His acting credits include a handful of Off-Off Broadway plays and he recently co-starred in Crazy with Marcus Shecenberg while at the same time performing five nights a week in his own play, TRACON, which Peter Marks of The New York Times dubbed "A breathless two hours."

JULIUS BREMER is originally from South Africa where he got a degree in Music. With a pop music career that was going nowhere he decided to pursue an old but never tested interest—that of acting. He has since appeared in many Off-Off Broadway productions as well as student and independent film productions. In 1995 he started up a film company with his partner, Vladan Nikolic, a film director from the former Yugoslavia. Their first film, CUT, to which he also wrote the film score, has played at various film festivals in the US as well as in Europe. Their first feature film, BURN, is now being shopped for distribution. As a founding member of The Open Door Theater he has acted in Bobby Supreme and Blur and has helped to co-produce most productions.

DAVID BURKE has been working as an actor in NYC for ten years. At the Tribeca Lab his direction brought 45 of W.B. Yeats' poems to life on stage. At the Common Basis Theatre he was involved in 12 plays as actor and director, originating roles in plays by Larry Kirwan, John Ford Noonan and Filippo Anselmi. On film, Burke appears in Hal Salwen's comedy His + Hers and Dani Levi's Don't... He has had principle roles on television's N.Y. Undercover, Swift Justice, and The Guiding Light. At the Open Door, he directed our production of We Make a Wall, created the title role of Bobby Supreme, and appeared as Hank in TRACON, as Herbert in Blur, and as Merritt in White Lies. Burke organized and first convened the Open Door.

ALLAN DENNIS comes to the Open Door via a circuitous route. After a brief flirtation with theatre in the early 60's, that included acting and playwriting, he took the first steps toward a career in film and television. His earliest jobs included the casting for two United Artists movies, The Young Doctors and Something Wild in the City. He became an Assistant Director on the TV series The Defenders and went on in that capacity to work on other series, East Side West Side, Mr. Broadway and The Nurses, among others. He was also an Assistant Director on the feature film Lilith.
     In 1970 Mr. Dennis began to direct television commercials for Fortune 500 companies like Kelloggs', Kodak and Proctor & Gamble. He helped found the successful TV commercial production company at which he spent the next twenty years. Hundreds and hundreds of TV commercials later, having won Cleos, Venice Gold Lions and other major awards, and after being nominated as TV Commercial Director Of The Year by the Directors Guild of America, Mr. Dennis has worked his way back to the theatre, where it all began.

DAVID MILLMAN directed the Open Door's new plays Bobby Supreme, TRACON, Blur and White Lies. He has appeared a number of times on the NYC stage, apparently under an alias. Millman studied liberal arts, film and engineering at Columbia. Other directing credits include the U.S. premiere of Jean Genet's Splendids and the first production of John Ford Noonan's Listen to the Lions at Marcia Haufrecht's Common Basis Theatre.
Now, he says he's writing something . . .