Director
With the encouragement of actor John Glover, Adrian got his start as a director workshopping a stage adaptation of Sam Shepard short stories while a student at Towson University. His directing highlights include Neil LaBute's A Good Thing (world premiere) and Reasons To Be Pretty, Stephen Metcalfe's Spittin' Image, and Courtney Antonioli’s The Mount (presented at Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox, MA). As an associate director, Adrian worked with his mentor Austin Pendleton on both the world premiere and Broadway production of Stephen Adly Guirgis' Pulitzer Prize winning play Between Riverside and Crazy (which opened at the Helen Hayes Theatre on November 2022), as well as on Anne Stockton's The Speed Queen (presented as part of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing Prison). He also worked with David Schweizer on the Baltimore Center Stage production of Lynn Nottage’s Crumbs from the Table of Joy, named best non-musical of the year by Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal. In addition to directing established work, Adrian has developed and directed many new plays. As Associate Artistic Director of Hudson Theatre Works he oversees The Forge Company, an incubator for new work, and has premiered new plays by Dan O'Brien, Joanne Hoersch, Neil LaBute, John Patrick Shanley, and many others.
2020-2021, during the height of the pandemic, Adrian moved his directing activity online and into streaming live productions. With Hudson Theatre Works, he directed online readings and produced a six month Virtual Festival of original monologues by prominent playwrights. He produced the new musical Elliot & Me, which was shot on stage without an audience and streamed by Hudson Theatre Works, Sonoma Arts Live, Laguna Playhouse, and Chagrin Valley Little Theatre. In 2022, it was performed live at each of these venues.
Adrian has directed educational productions at Towson University, Brooklyn College, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He is a member of The Actors Studio Playwrights and Directors Unit and an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC). Adrian served on the Drama Desk Awards Nominating Committee and is a recipient of the Joel Zwick Scholarship in Directing, Friars Foundation Scholarship in Performing Arts, and Steve Yeager Theatre Fund Scholarship in Acting. He earned his MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College.
