Danica Selem

Danica Selem is a Croatian-born, New York and London-based theatre and film director. Her theatre work includes Phaedra’s Love at Columbia University; Cherry Orchard Remix: A Party for the End of the World and I Saw Your Mama Dancin’, in development with New York Theatre Workshop; Verity Sits in Her Apartment for LimeFest at The Tank; La Cocina at The New School; Mad Forest: A Play from Romania at Montclair State University; and Moonshiner for Adult Film.

Her short films include Parallel, which won First Prize at Sci-Fi-London, and Mothers and Lovers with Esco Jouléy and Or Schraiber, winner of the Grand Prize at the New York Indie Shorts Awards and Best Short Film at the New York Short Cinema Awards.

As an associate and assistant director, she has worked on Electra / Persona at the National Theatre, Suddenly Last Summer at the Fisher Center at Bard, Coriolanus at Theatre for a New Audience, and The Cherry Orchard at St. Ann’s Warehouse. She has collaborated with Benedict Andrews, Daniel Fish, and Ash Tata and trained with Katie Mitchell and Ivo van Hove.

Selem is a former New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Directing Fellow and Drama League Special Projects Resident. Her work has been supported by Cornell University, LMCC, Columbia University, and New York Theatre Workshop, and presented at New York Theatre Workshop, New York Stage and Film, The Drama League, Pioneer Works, IPADÉ – A Prelude to The Shed, Dixon Place, Theater at the 14Y, The Tank, BOLD Theatre in London, and others.

She holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from Columbia University School of the Arts, an MA in Architecture from Pratt Institute, and a BA in Architecture and Urban Design from the University of Zagreb. She is an Associate Member of SDC.

Her background in architecture continues to inform both her directing and teaching practice. She founded Bodies Intersect Buildings, a working group exploring the intersection of architecture, performance, and ecology. She has taught and directed at universities including Columbia University, Cornell University, Pratt Institute, Montclair State University, The New School, and CUNY, and previously served as a Visiting Professor in Cornell University’s Department of Architecture.