Dan schultz

Dan is a writer, actor, director and arts administrator living in St. Louis. He is the former Artistic Director of the Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville on California’s beautiful Central Coast. There he produced seven productions annually, including contemporary comedies and musicals, classic Victorian melodramas, and literary adaptations. As a director, some of his favorite productions at the Melodrama include The 39 Steps, A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia, The Foreigner, and Pump Boys and Dinettes. He wrote the spoof musical The Karaoke Kid, it performed at the Melodrama in 2017 and broke attendance records. That was followed up by his 2019 spoof Pappa Pia, a parody of one of the most popular musicals of all time. It played to sold-out houses all summer long and brought a whole new audience to the theatre. Dan regularly wrote materials for the company’s famous vaudeville revues.

Previously he was Artistic Director of the Okoboji Summer Theatre in Iowa. He produced 27 main stage shows and 12 TYA plays during his tenure. Notable productions included Always… Patsy Cline, My Way, Rich Girl, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Unnecessary Farce. He brought in guest directors, designers, and actors from across the country to work in a beautiful 420-seat theatre in a converted WPA airplane hangar. Dan is proud to have negotiated the theatre’s first Equity contracts.

While the last few years have been dedicated to producing, directing, and writing, Dan is also an accomplished educator and actor. He was a faculty member for seven years in the BFA program at Stephens College in Columbia, MO. He was awarded multiple distinctions for service and teaching, including the college’s highest honor, the Distinguished Teaching Award. He’s also served as adjunct professor at Cal Poly University. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and has performed at theatres such as The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theatre, and Phoenix Theatre.

Outside of theatre, Dan is a big sports fan and has a love/hate relationship with long distance running. He is currently enjoying woodworking in his garage and writing when his two year old daughter allows.