Danilo Gambini is a director of Theater, Musicals and Opera, the Associate Artistic Director at Studio Theatre, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Recent credits include Ni Mi Madre at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (Obie Award Winner; Drama Desk Nom., Drama League Nom.,Outer Critics Nom., NYT Critic’s Pick, TheaterMania Editor’s Pick); Agreste by Newton Moreno at Spooky Action Theater; and the new musical Sabina, by Willy Holtzman, with music by Louise Beach and lyrics by Darrah Cloud, co-directed with Daniella Topol at Portland Stage in Maine.

Current projects in development include the new musical Thebes, composed and written by Katie Hathaway, Emma H. Sway, and Solon Snider Sway; and new play developments in collaboration with playwrights Aaron Coleman, Michelle J. Rodriguez, Noelle Viñas, David Zellnick, Mahira Kakkar, Roger Q. Mason, Will Brumley, Julián Mesri, and Arturo Luís Soria.

At Yale he directed Fun Home, a musical adapted by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori from Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Noah Diaz’s Rock Egg Spoon and Margaret E. Douglas’s Rest I’m Peace. At the Yale Cabaret, he directed Agreste (Drylands) by Newton Moreno, Ni Mi Madre by Arturo Luís Soria, and Truck (parts I, II and III) by Margaret E. Douglas.

Danilo also served as the Artistic Director of the 2019 Yale Summer Cabaret. His season, entitled Verano Cabaret, focused on exploring and expanding what it means to be Latino/a/x on a local, national and global level. He directed an all-female cast in Anne Carson’s new adaptation of Euripides’s Bakkhai, and adapted and directed the Brazilian children’s book The Swallow and the Tomcat (O Gato Malhado e a Andorinha Sinhá) by Jorge Amado. At Yale Repertory Theater Danilo served as Assistant Director to Laurie Woolery for the world premiere of El Huracán by Charise Castro Smith.

Prior to Yale, Danilo worked as an opera and musical theater director in Brazil, and as a casting director for film and television. Directing credits include Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Ariadne Auf Naxos by Strauss, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and the rock-opera TOMMY by Pete Townshend. He served as assistant director to Fernando Meirelles on Les Pêcheurs de Perles; to Iacov Hillel on Pélleas et Mélisande, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and on an adaptation of the French film The Intouchables by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano; to Mauro Wrona on Otello, Die Fledermaus, and on the world premiere of Boy and Freedom (O Menino e a Liberdade) by Ronaldo Miranda; and to Caetano Vilela on Mefistofele. At the renowned Theatro Amazonas opera house, Danilo served as assistant director to Caetano Pimentel on Tannhhäuser by Wagner.

Before Studio Theatre, he was the Associate Artistic Director at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, as well as part of the 20/21/22 Roundabout Director’s Group.

Danilo is one of the founding members of the Immigrant Theatermakers Advocates, a group of artists who have made it part of our practice to advocate for immigrants in the theater industry. itainitiative.org

Danilo holds a B.F.A. in Film and Television (Curso Superior do Audiovisual) from the University of São Paulo (ECA-USP), and an artist diploma as actor from the School of Dramatic Art (Escola de Arte Dramática - EAD), also from the University of São Paulo.