Tal Schatsky

About

A New York City-born director, choreographer, and movement director, Tal was most recently based in Chicago before relocating to the UK. Working across both drama and musical theatre, Tal makes ensemble-driven work with strong movement components, often utilizing a playful transformation of objects and space, and an emphasis on music, rhythm, sound, and humour. They are often drawn toward the abstract or the surreal that exists in contrast with the painfully real.

Tal’s work aims to breed hope, resilience, and a sense of meaning in an increasingly chaotic, disconnected, and transactional world. Tal considers storytelling to be a task of meaning-making, and that in the repetition and embodiment of our stories, we find resilience and agency amid chaos. She is particularly interested in queer narratives, existential questions, and stories about art, nature, freedom, and hopefulness.

Tal is a graduate of Northwestern University, where they studied theatre, journalism and history. As a theatre student, they directed their first play as the winner of one of three coveted spots in the annual WAVE Director’s Festival at Northwestern. A trained dancer since a young age, Tal began choreographing concert-style pieces in her adolescence, and had choreographed three full-length theatre productions by the time she graduated university.

Since graduating from university, Tal has choreographed, assistant directed, and performed across several prominent venues in the Chicago area including Paramount Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Music Theater Works, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, and Northwestern University’s Wirtz Center. She also loves working with school-age children in educational settings, and has experience teaching and choreographing for ages 10-18.

Bio

Pronouns: she/they

Skills

Languages: French (intermediate proficiency)

Dance: Choreography, Ballet (high proficiency), Jazz (high proficiency), Musical Theatre Jazz (high proficiency), Contemporary (high proficiency), Commercial (high proficiency), Pointe

Movement: Movement Direction, Contact Improvisation, Viewpoints, Physical Theatre, Yoga, Strength Training

Music: Piano (intermediate proficiency, self-accompany),

Singing: (high proficiency)

Previous Qualifications: B.A. in Theatre (Northwestern University)

Theatre Credits

Nuclear War (Director/Choreographer) Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Orlando (Director) Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Peter and the Starcatcher (Choreographer/Assistant Director) Paramount Theatre

I Am a Camera (Assistant Director ) Porchlight Music Theatre

Indecent (Choreographer/Assistant Director) Wirtz Center

Men on Boats (Choreographer/Movement Director) Wirtz Center

Julius Caesar – Scenes (Director – Shakespeare’s Globe) Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

King Lear (Assistant Director) Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

The Indigo Forest (Director) Northwestern University

The Lighting Thief (Choreographer)  Northwestern University

The Little Prince (Movement Director) Northwestern University

Meet Me in St. Louis (Associate Choreographer) Stagedoor Manor

No, No, Nanette (Assistant Choreographer ) Stagedoor Manor

The Lightning Thief (Assistant Choreographer) Stagedoor Manor

The Wizard of Oz (Choreographer) The Heschel School

In Concert: Melatonin (Choreographer) Horace Mann School

In Concert: We Won’t Live Afraid (Choreographer ) Horace Mann School

TV/Film Credits

Necessary Creatures (Co-Creator/Director/Movement Director ) Royal Conservatoire of Scotland/On The Verge Festival