Will Detlefsen (he/him) recently returned to the Bay Area where he was born and raised after spending the last 15 years living in New York City. Will received his BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where he trained as an interdisciplinary artist at Playwrights Horizons Theater and received his Masters in Directing from UC San Diego.
Recent directing credits include Spring Awakening (Pace University), Edit Annie by Mary Glen Fredrick (World premiere at The Vortex in Austin, TX), Our Town (NYU), Pippin (Five Towns College), and The Straights by T. Adamson (world premiere at JACK, NY). Previous productions include Machinalia by Steph Del Rosso (Oakland Theater Project, JACK), Vieux Carré by Tennessee Williams, Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco, and Lear by Young Jean Lee (UC San Diego).
Will was the assistant director on the world premiere musicals Up Here (dir. Alex Timbers, La Jolla Playhouse) and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (dir. Des McAnuff, La Jolla Playhouse) as well as the associate director on Angels in America (dir. Tony Taccone, Berkeley Rep), To My Girls (dir. Stephen Brackett, Second Stage Theater), Orpheus Descending (dir. Erica Schmidt, Theatre for a New Audience), Cambodian Rock Band (dir. Chay Yew, Oregon Shakespeare Festival), and The Pain of My Belligerence (dir. Trip Cullman, Playwrights Horizons).
Will has taught Directing at the National Theater Institute at the O’Neill Theater Center as well as teaching Acting and Directing both at Muhlenberg College and UC San Diego. Will is currently an Acting and Directing Professor at San José State University. He lives in Berkeley with his husband, dog, and beautiful daughter, Ocean.
Recent directing credits include Spring Awakening (Pace University), Edit Annie by Mary Glen Fredrick (World premiere at The Vortex in Austin, TX), Our Town (NYU), Pippin (Five Towns College), and The Straights by T. Adamson (world premiere at JACK, NY). Previous productions include Machinalia by Steph Del Rosso (Oakland Theater Project, JACK), Vieux Carré by Tennessee Williams, Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco, and Lear by Young Jean Lee (UC San Diego).
Will was the assistant director on the world premiere musicals Up Here (dir. Alex Timbers, La Jolla Playhouse) and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (dir. Des McAnuff, La Jolla Playhouse) as well as the associate director on Angels in America (dir. Tony Taccone, Berkeley Rep), To My Girls (dir. Stephen Brackett, Second Stage Theater), Orpheus Descending (dir. Erica Schmidt, Theatre for a New Audience), Cambodian Rock Band (dir. Chay Yew, Oregon Shakespeare Festival), and The Pain of My Belligerence (dir. Trip Cullman, Playwrights Horizons).
Will has taught Directing at the National Theater Institute at the O’Neill Theater Center as well as teaching Acting and Directing both at Muhlenberg College and UC San Diego. Will is currently an Acting and Directing Professor at San José State University. He lives in Berkeley with his husband, dog, and beautiful daughter, Ocean.