COREY ATKINS

by Amy Herzog

DOBAMA THEATRE (CLEVELAND)

Six 2014 Times Theatre Tributes, including Best Production (Non-musical) and Best Direction (Non-musical)

"Director Corey Atkins is in perfect step with the playwright... He is confident enough in his actors and audience to allow long pauses to speak for themselves and build the tension. Although there are disquieting signs of things to come throughout the production, nothing is telegraphed and everything is surprising."
- Cleveland Jewish News

"...an intelligent and perceptive director..."
- Cleveland Scene

"Dobama’s production is superb. The writing, acting, staging and technical aspects all blend together to make for a compelling evening at the theatre. It’s a must see for anyone interested in theatre and the limits of the human condition.” 
-BroadwayWorld.com

SET Jill P. Davis
LIGHTS Marcus Dana
COSTUMES Inda Blatch-Gleib
SOUND Tom Linsenmeier
PHOTOS Steve Wagner

by William Shakespeare
adapted by Corey Atkins

LINCOLN CENTER THEATRE/
LINCOLN CENTER INSTITUTE

"Simply put, your show rocked! It was beautifully directed – had great style, rhythm and dramatic tension galore, and was leavened with warmth and humor. You guided the cast to marvelous performances. ...[J]ob very well done! Your adaptation also garnered much praise among the 20-odd English teachers who came to see the show with their classes." 
- Kati Koerner, Director of Education - Lincoln Center Theatre

SET Jonathan Collins
LIGHTS Kate Ashton
COSTUMES Candida K. Nichols
PHOTOS Jonathan Collins & Susan Cook

Written/Directed/Produced by Corey Atkins

CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE

*Centerpiece performance for Cleveland Play House's 100th Anniversary Gala Benefit, with guest performers Bobby Conte Thornton, Maggie Lakis, Emily Casey, Ray Shell, Mary Stout, members of the CWRU/CPH MFA Acting program and Play House staff.

SCENOGRAPHY Corey Atkins & Chris Kacsek
LIGHTS Michael Boll
SOUND Jim Swonger
PHOTOS by Dale McDonald

by Henrik Ibsen
Adapted by Jon Robin Baitz

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
Roe Green Visiting Director Series

SET Tamara L. Honesty
LIGHTS Mo Epps
COSTUMES Lisa Wilson
SOUND Stewart Blackwood
PHOTOS Andrea Hallgren

by Mike Bartlett

DOBAMA THEATRE (CLEVELAND)

4 Times Theatre Tributes, including Best Production (Non-musical) and Best Direction (Non-musical)

"Atkins has his lovers stalk around each other like wrestlers about to clinch, gladiators poised to strike or roosters ready to go at it in a basement cockfight, the choreography in service to the U.K. playwright’s tried-and-true theme that love is battlefield. [...] Generating steam without showing any skin isn't easy, but Atkins and his actors do it."
- Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Dobama Theatre’s production of Cock is top notch. It is the pure science of acting distilled down to its essence. This is the play that you wait to appear during the season. It is here. Go see it.”
- Cleveland Examiner

"Bartlett sets up the play as a battle. Corey Atkins, the play’s director, takes that lead... [U]nder the meticulous and creative direction of Corey Atkins, with some of the very best acting seen on a local stage, [Cock] is an absolutely must see production.  It’s an A+ experience.  "
- CoolCleveland.com

"The actors, director and designers are brilliant in this production. [...] Director Atkins makes shrewd use of the ring’s limited space, managing to create purposeful movement that caters to the sight lines of surrounding audience members while remaining true to the natural rhythms and verbal sparring established by the playwright. He also finds the humor amidst the bursts of dialogue and pushes the excruciatingly long silences between characters to the very brink of human endurance."
- Cleveland News-Herald

SCENOGRAPHY Corey Atkins
LIGHTS Marcus Dana 
SOUND Richard Ingraham 
PHOTOS Steve Wagner

by Naomi Wallace

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

Nominated for 5 Austin Critics Circle Awards, including Best Play (Drama), Best Direction, and Best Movement

"Slaughter City, by Naomi Wallace, is a play of ideas and under Corey Atkins' direction...it is also one with a heart. [...] A strong ensemble conveys the tedium and danger of assembly line repetition with mime and dance that recalls 'Stomp.' The fact that the spectacle is genuinely entertaining by itself makes the dance all the more unsettling in the context. We're stuck watching the workers' circus from the boss' seat. Filling a production with thought, feeling and spectacle is  hard task. Slaughter  is up to it."
- Austin American-Statesman 

"Though the cast only numbers 12, director Corey Atkins stages the scenes so as to imply a huge crowd of actors stomping about, and as the set changes occur, the actors march, chant, sharpen knives, and pound things on the floor – I cannot recall ever seeing a production in which the scene changes are as stimulating as the ones you'll see here. [...] Only rarely have I seen a play or production with as much of a social conscience."
- Austin Chronicle

SET Sarah Rae Davidson
LIGHTS Katie Hallee 
COSTUMES Kimberley Beverett
SOUND Billy Henry
MOVEMENT Corey Atkins
PHOTOS Amitava Sarkar 

by Kendall Lynch

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

World Premiere
Austin Critics Circle Award nomination - Best Movement

"...Austinist's readers would enjoy checking out Aisle 7. The acting was outstanding, the direction was strong, and the set was very cool. [...]  Because the performances were so good, we have to give props to director Corey Atkins. The play zipped along at a wonderful, frenetic pace, and the blocking -- dance-like moves from the ensemble, a rolling seduction scene in a grocery cart, and more -- was clever."  
- Austinist.com 

"Director Corey Atkins deserves credit for the impeccably rehearsed ensemble, which weaves in and out of scenes with robot-like precision."
- Austin American-Statesman 

SET Kim Gritzer 
LIGHTS Autumn Casey 
COSTUMES Kim Ngo 
SOUND D.W. Jone 
MOVEMENT Corey Atkins
PHOTOS Amitava Sarkar

by the CPH Playwrights Unit and other affiliated writers

CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE in association with the CPH/CWRU MFA ACTING PROGRAM

*A collection of new short plays commissioned by CPH for their Centennial Celebration. Performed by the CWRU/CPH MFA Acting Program class of 2018, faculty, and alums. Directed by Corey Atkins, Dennis Henry, Pamela DiPasquale and Eric Schmiedl.

ARTISTIC PRODUCER/SCENOGRAPHY Corey Atkins
LIGHTS Michael Boll
SOUND Jim Swonger
PHOTOS by Michelle Berki

by María Irene Fornés

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

SET David Utley
LIGHTS Frank Vela 
COSTUMES Candida K. Nichols 
SOUND Corey Atkins
PHOTOS Corey Atkins

by Barry Kornhauser

HANGAR THEATRE

"After the show there was a little boy (looked about 7) crying loudly in the house. The House Manager went over to see if she could be of help and I heard him shout, "I don;t want to leave! I want to watch it again!!"
- Stage Manager's report!

"Reeling was fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed myself--and my kids did, too.  I looked for you in person after the show, and you were leading a workshop--also fabulous. Thank you!"
- Lisa Bushlow, Exec. Director - Hangar Theatre

SET Jessica Moretti
LIGHTS Annie Wiegand
COSTUMES Mira Viekly
PHOTOS Jessica Moretti

by William Inge

CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY

SET Aaron Benson 
LIGHTS Michael Roesch 
COSTUMES Terry Pieritz 
SOUND Nathan Tulenson
PHOTOS Roger Mastroianni

by Lia Romeo

HANGAR THEATRE

SET Jessica Moretti 
LIGHTS Benjamin Weill 
COSTUMES Aimee Eoff 
SOUND David Huber
PHOTOS Jessica Moretti

CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE

While working as Associate Producer at Cleveland Play House, I came up with the concept for this short video to help audiences, community and funders understand that CPH's leading-edge Education programs weren't training the next generation of actors, but the next generation of citizens. As the video says: "When young people participate in CPH Education programs they are Rehearsing the Future."

CONCEPT Corey Atkins
CO-WRITERS/DIRECTORS Corey Atkins & Pamela DiPasquale
CAMERA Justin Nemecek