George Ferencz has been active in New York theatre as a director, producer and teacher for over four decades. Currently, he is a resident director of La MaMa E.T.C. where he has directed 31 productions during the last 29 years. Ferencz also continues as the Literary Curator of the La MaMa Experiments Reading Series for a 13th season. His most recent La MaMa production was the blues opera CONJUR WOMAN at Teatro La Communita in Rome.  This fall Ferencz directs CAMINO REAL as a guest artist at Point Park Conservatory in Pittsburgh

Ferencz has directed the premieres of over 30 writers including Juan Samsul Allam, Amiri Baraka, Jimmy Breslin, Migdalia Cruz, Roslyn Drexler, Hanay Geigomah, Josh Greenfeld, Aisha Rachman, Yasmine Rana,  Caradet Svich, Dan Thierreault,J Pieter-Dirk Uys, Jean Claude van Itallie, Mac Wellman, Edgar Nkosi White and Mike Zettler

In addition, Ferencz has directed classics from Shakespeare to O’Casey at regional theatres including Actors Theater of Louisville, Berkeley Rep, Cleveland Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public, San Diego Rep and Syracuse Stage. European productions include Mishima’s LADY AOI in Munich before a tour of Eastern Europe, Shepard and Smith’s COWBOY MOUTH in Berlin before a German tour and several jazz concerts in Italy for Max Roach Productions, including PERCUSSION SUMMIT with Roach, Tony Williams, Ginger Baker and a percussion orchestra M’BOOM. Notable New York productions as a director include the La MaMa productions of THE WARZONE IS MY BED, developed in the Experiments Series,   SHEPARD SETS, an Obie-award winning festival of Shepard plays with music by Roach, GHOSTS: LIVE FROM GALILEE, the Scottsboro Boys Blue Opera, and MONEY a jazz opera; the Lincoln Center Serious Fun production of JUJU; and the Impossible Ragtime Theatre productions of  O’Neill’s DYNAMO and THE HAIRY APE.

As the Founding Director of three New York non-profit theatres - The Impossible Ragtime Theatre, the New Living Newspaper and CEMENT inc - Ferencz produced over 30 shows.

Ferencz has taught directing at Yale School of Drama, Brooklyn College, N.Y.U., Columbia and Marymount as well as the Michael Howard Studio, the Lee Strasberg Studio and Playwrights Horizons Directing Lab. He conducted a Director-Writer Workshop at Columbia University for 15 years and served as a guest resident director at New Dramatists and Program Director for Intar’s Music-Theatre Lab. Ferencz has lectured on directing at Cornell, Ohio University, Kent State University, Syracuse University, a TCG Conference and an international directors symposium at La MaMa Umbria in Italy.
George Ferencz currently lives in Brooklyn with designer Sally Lesser and their son Jack.

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