Biography

GREG GANAKAS, Stage Director

Award-winning director, choreographer and teacher Greg Ganakas is represented by DGRW Talent Agency, NYC.

A winner of the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Brigadoon), Ganakas' credits include direction of many musical theatre productions, as well as opera, television and industrials. Credits include collaborations with Disney Live Entertainment and Radio City Music Hall Productions. A committed educator, he has served on the faculty of New York University, where he founded their nationally-renown Music Theatre program.

Gankas' musical theatre directional credits include productions of Caroline, or Change at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC; Ain't Misbehavin' at the Dallas Theatre Center; the world premiere of God Lives in Glass at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York City, Double Trouble at Stage One in Wichita; the world premiere of The Times at The Long Wharf, New Haven; Oklahoma! at the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul; several productions at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut (Babes in Arms, George M, The Pajama Game, and Brigadoon. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Dean Goodman Award for Outstanding Production) at the American Music Theatre of San Jose; the world premiere of White Lies at the American Stage Company in New Jersey; the National Tour Revival of the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Winner of the 2005 Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Best Musical); and numerous producitons at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts. His acclaimed work on the long-running, award-winning production of A Christmas Carol at North Shore Music Theatre earned the honor of Best Production of the Season by The Boston Globe, as well as the Moss Hart Awards for Best Direction and Best Production of the Year.

His array of work in opera and concerts includes his direciton of "An Evening of Gilbert and Sullivean" with the Boston Pops and Beverly Sills, which was aired on PBS' Great Performances series. He has also directed productions for the Minnesota Opera, Opera Omaha (including their 2001 "All-American" Gala Concert), Glimmerglass Opera and Michigan Opera Theare.

Ganakas served as Artistic Director for six years of the John Harms Center for the Performing Arts in Englewood, New Jersey. Throughout his career, he has worked with numerous stars including Julie Andrews, Betty Buckley, Idina Menzel, Carol Channing, Jim Dale, Mary Tyler Moore, and Joel Grey. He is especially proud of his twelve-year association with New York University, where he founded the Music Theatre Program in the Steinhardt School of Education. His guidance and expertise helped make it one of the highest-regarded programs for musical theatre training in the country. Throughout his tenure, he mentored countless young artists, who have gone on to successful careers in the theatre and have made award-winning contributions to the performing arts.

Originally from East Lansing, Michigan, Greg Ganakas resides in New York City.