News
UCLA Distinguished Senior Award, Miracle Whipped and Xanadu
October 24th, 2011
UCLA's Alumni Association just honored me with the 2011/2012 UCLA Distinguished Senior Award, for my work while at UCLA at the school and in Los Angeles. I also will be directing Cayla Clark's one act play, Miracle Whipped at the Complex in Hollywood in December, and Xanadu with Act III Theatre Ensemble at UCLA in March.
Assisting Eve Ensler on her new Play
October 24th, 2011
Currently Assistant Directing the workshop production of Eve Ensler's new play, OPC. The workshop, directed by Eve, will be presented in the Melnitz Lab Theatre Space at UCLA. The piece, which will be presented as a staged reading with installation elements, will run briefly from Oct 31st - Nov 3rd at UCLA.
Center Theatre Group Executive Office Intern
September 13th, 2011
I've begun work as the Executive Office Intern at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. I'm currently working on The Rude Mechs I've Never Been So Happy and the Burglars of Hamm's Behavior of Broadus.
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for Directing Short Course
August 29th, 2011
I've been accepted into the Short Directing Course at RADA in London, where I'll be working with the head of the RADA MA Directing Program on Hamlet, Caucasian Chalk Circle, and Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice. In other news, UCLA Awarded me the 2011 Award for Best Emerging Director, and my production of Brecht's HAPPY END with the George Burns and Gracie Allen Scholarship and Fellowship in Comedy.
Hunter Bird Featured in PRIME Magazine
February 21, 2011
I was interviewed about my college experience by UCLA's Prime Magazine for the "Extreme" Edition. The article includes how I found my way into theater, my experience with cancer, and my current projects that I'm developing. Click here for the article.
2010/2011: UCLA Undergraduate Directing Continuum Completed
February 21, 2011
2011 marks the end of my work in the UCLA Undergraduate Directing Continuum. The program, which spanned a year and a half of concentrated directing training, culminated in my thesis production which took place earlier this month. Happy End, a melodrama with songs, features a score by Kurt Weill and a libretto by Bertolt Brecht. The production, with a cast of 15, was a paired down one act presentation of the show for the UCLA Theatre Department. During the Continuum’s various concentrations (Realism, Classical, and Non-Realism), I had the chance to work on: And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens… (Tennessee Williams), A New Brain (William Finn and James Lapine), King John (William Shakespeare), Dido Queen of Carthage (Christopher Marlowe), Interrogating the Nude (Doug Wright), and The Firebugs (Max Frisch).
Hunter Bird Profiled by Peninsula News
May 7, 2010
My hometown newspaper, The Peninsula News, profiled my work in school and my battle with cancer. Click here to check out the article.
2009/2010
June 1, 2010
2009-2010 marked a number of things: the beginning of my work in the UCLA Undergraduate Directing Continuum, Act III Theatre Ensemble's first full season, my appointment as Undergraduate Student Representative, and my continued work with the Festival of New American Musicals. The 2009/2010 Act III Season included: See What I Wanna See, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Sweet Charity, and the creation of the Monday Night Cabaret Series. The series, which features a coffee house-like evening of songs centered around a theme, quickly became a well attended event in the UCLA student performance scene. The Daily Bruin profiled the series in this article. The Daily Bruin also profiled student theater, and how renegade student producers must often do whatever it takes to make college theater happen.
Hunter Bird Profiled by Campus Circle
April 20, 2009
Campus Circle profiled by work with the Festival of New American Musicals in their "LA Faces" section. Click here to check out the article!
See What I Wanna See
December 9, 2009
Act III Theatre Ensemble presented my production of See What I Wanna See, which was attended by the composer, Michael John LaChiusa. In addition, I moderated a Master Class, during the composer worked with the cast on audition material. Broadway World issued a press release which can be read here. UCLA's newspaper, The Daily Bruin, also profiled the show in this article.
2008/2009
May 31, 2009
During 2008/2009, Act III Theatre Ensemble was founded at UCLA, and was created to allow students to produce, direct, and create projects they were interested in being a part of outside of the UCLA Theatre Department. Our inaugural production was Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, which featured a cast of 17 and was featured as a Preview Event for the Los Angeles Festival of New American Musicals. The Festival, and The Wild Party were both profiled in this article.
"Student Upstages Cancer": Hunter Bird Profiled by Daily Bruin
May 31, 2009
My battle with cancer was very kindly profiled by the Daily Bruin in this article. A crazy experience, but great to have it behind me now!