First Name
Ilana
Middle Name
M
Last Name
Brownstein
City
State or Province
MA
Country
Job Title
Director of New Work
Biography
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Ilana M. Brownstein is a dramaturg and director specializing in new plays, public arts advocacy, and work centered on a mission of equity, diversity, and inclusion. As a Lecturer at Boston University, she heads the dramatic literature core curriculum, teaches students at all levels, and is the advisor for the Theatre Minor program.

Professionally, she is the Director of New Work at Company One Theatre, and the Founding Dramaturg at Playwrights’ Commons. Previously, as Literary Manager at the Huntington Theatre, she created the Playwriting Fellows program and Breaking Ground Festival, programs celebrated as part of a 2013 regional Tony Award.

Her dramaturgy in the new play sector includes productions and workshops by writers including Kirsten Greenidge, Josh Wilder, Young Jean Lee, Aditi Kapil, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Natsu Onoda Power, Idris Goodwin, Rajiv Joseph, Lauren Yee, Lydia R. Diamond, Mia Chung, Qui Nguyen, Kirstoffer Diaz, Melinda Lopez, August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, A. Rey Pamatmat, Kate Snodgrass, Ronan Noone, Naomi Iizuka, Joyce Van Dyke, David Lindsay-Abaire, and Lisa Kron, among many others. She has served as a guest artist at festivals and theatres around the world, including C1 PlayLab, The O’Neill, Kennedy Center, New Harmony Project, New Dramatists, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Denver Center New Play Summit, Humana Festival, The Baltic/American New Play Workshop in Estonia, the Tofte Center, the Third Bohemia, the Freedom Art Retreat, and on Broadway (Theresa Rebeck’s Mauritius). In her public-facing work, she is a frequent moderator/facilitator, panelist, and invited delegate at conferences and convenings, and has adjudicated numerous dramaturgy and playwriting residencies and awards.

She holds an MFA in Dramaturgy (Yale), and a Directing BA (College of Wooster). Ilana is a Kilroys nominator for The List, on the National Advisory Board for HowlRound/A Center for The Theatre Commons, part of ArtEquity’s 2017 anti-racism Facilitator Training cohort, and is a two-time winner of the LMDA Elliott Hayes Award for excellence in dramaturgy (2008, 2014).

{updated 2018}
Interested in freelance opportunities
Languages spoken (New)
English, French