Daniel Smith

Daniel Smith

Dan Smith is Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at Michigan State University. He has worked professionally as a dramaturg at several theatres in Chicago, and served as Associate Artistic Director/Resident Dramaturg of Caffeine Theatre from 2010-2012. His translations for the stage include Don Juan by Moliere; Love in Disguise by Marivaux; A Dangerous Liaison by Madame de Beaunoir; and The Horrible...
Dan Smith is Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at Michigan State University. He has worked professionally as a dramaturg at several theatres in Chicago, and served as Associate Artistic Director/Resident Dramaturg of Caffeine Theatre from 2010-2012. His translations for the stage include Don Juan by Moliere; Love in Disguise by Marivaux; A Dangerous Liaison by Madame de Beaunoir; and The Horrible Experiment by André de Lorde. He has co-translated and directed Carlo Gozzi’s The Serpent Lady at MSU. He provided an annotated translation of The Imaginary Invalid by Molière for Constance Congdon’s adaptation (Broadway Play Publishing, 2016). Dan has published articles, translations, and reviews in such journals as Performing Arts Resources, The Mercurian, Theatre Research International, Comparative Drama, Didaskalia, Performing Arts Resources, Theatre/Practice and Theatre Journal.

Plays

  • Asynchronous by Daniel Smith
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, zoom
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    Keyword: Covid-19, education + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, zoom
    Keyword: Covid-19, education, absurdism
    A Professor and Student attempt synchronous online interaction.
  • Logic Game 1 by Daniel Smith
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    ·
    Keyword: absurdism
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: absurdism
    Five characters from an LSAT-style logic game come to life and embrace the absurdity of their overdetermined existence.
  • Or/Elsie by Daniel Smith
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: parody/spoof
    Genre: parody/spoof
    A ten-minute non-musical parody/pastiche. Ann and Margaret have just watched the musical If/Then and are inspired to reflect on alternate versions of their lives as Anne and Peggy.
  • A Dangerous Liaison (translated from Madame de Beaunoir) by Daniel Smith
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: Dangerous Liaisons, marriage + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, melodrama, period, translation
    Keyword: Dangerous Liaisons, marriage, female villain, ingenue
    In this "fan fiction" adaptation of the novel "Dangerous Liaisons" by Choderlos de Laclos, Madame de Beaunoir imagines what might have happened if Madame de Merteuil took her revenge on Gercourt after his marriage to Cecile instead of before. A one-act melodramatic comedy from 1783. (2M, 2W; 1 M 3 W possible) Running time approximately 50 minutes. (Cuts can be made.)
  • The Horrible Experiment, translated from Andre de Lorde by Daniel Smith
    Cast: 
    6–7
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, horror + 2 more
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    Keyword: Grand Guignol, French + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, horror, melodrama, translation
    Keyword: Grand Guignol, French, medicine, death
    This Grand Guignol play features a melodramatic happy family (Dr. Charrier, his daughter Jeanne, and her fiance Jean) in the first half. Their lives are shattered when Jeanne dies in a car accident. The Doctor, who is interested in experimenting on dead bodies to advance his research in cardiology, makes a decision that leads to a frightening conclusion.
  • Don Juan (translated from Moliere) by Daniel Smith
    Cast: 
    8–20
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, translation
    Genre: adaptation, translation
    Don Juan and his valet Sganarelle traipse across Sicily, leaving behind jilted women and their angry brothers.
  • Love in Disguise (translated and adapted from Marivaux) by Daniel Smith
    Cast: 
    7–9
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: love, princess + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, melodrama, period, translation
    Keyword: love, princess, Classic
    Set in Barcelona at an indeterminate historical moment, Love in Disguise is the story of a Princess who is torn between her love for a nobleman (Lélio) and a more politically expedient match with the King of Castille, and of her friend Hortensia, who initially encourages her to pursue Lélio. But when it turns out that Lélio is the man who saved Hortensia from bandits, she wants him for herself. Love mingles...
    Set in Barcelona at an indeterminate historical moment, Love in Disguise is the story of a Princess who is torn between her love for a nobleman (Lélio) and a more politically expedient match with the King of Castille, and of her friend Hortensia, who initially encourages her to pursue Lélio. But when it turns out that Lélio is the man who saved Hortensia from bandits, she wants him for herself. Love mingles with political intrigue, as the old minister Frederic enlists a soubrette named Lisette to corrupt Lélio’s servant Harlequin, after the Princess has appointed Lélio Secretary of State. Will Hortensia and Lélio escape together? What will the Princess do if she finds out her best friend is her rival for Lélio’s affections? And how much does it matter that Lélio is a prince in disguise (a fact he reveals in a soliloquy early in the play)?
  • The Serpent Lady (adapted from Carlo Gozzi) by Daniel Smith
    Cast: 
    8–17
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: Gozzi, fairy tale + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, commedia dell'arte, fable/folktale, translation
    Keyword: Gozzi, fairy tale, puppets, magic
    Fairy queen Cherestani is married to the mortal Farruscad. She wishes to give up her immortality in order to live with him among mortals. The rules of the fairies require her to treat Farruscad cruelly. After he curses her for her cruelty, she is turned into a snake. Farruscad must pass the tests of the fairies in order to free her. This adaptation was originally performed at Michigan State University, with a...
    Fairy queen Cherestani is married to the mortal Farruscad. She wishes to give up her immortality in order to live with him among mortals. The rules of the fairies require her to treat Farruscad cruelly. After he curses her for her cruelty, she is turned into a snake. Farruscad must pass the tests of the fairies in order to free her. This adaptation was originally performed at Michigan State University, with a cast of 1 man and 16 women. It attempts to capture Gozzi's commedia dell'arte style, with scope for improvisation. The script calls for magic spells, which can be accomplished simply and theatrically. Translated and adapted in collaboration with Valentina Denzel.
  • The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (Cutting) by Daniel Smith
    Cast: 
    8–9
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, period
    This is a two-hour cut of Oscar Wilde's play, adapted in 2019 for Summer Circle Theatre. The cutting allows for just one scene change, from Algernon’s London apartment to the garden at Jack’s country home.
  • The New Messalina, translated and adapted from Charles-Francois Racot de Grandval by Daniel Smith
    Cast: 
    9–12
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, parody/spoof + 3 more
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    Keyword: Sex, neoclassical tragedy + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, parody/spoof, satire, translation, verse
    Keyword: Sex, neoclassical tragedy, parody, pastiche
    This is a rhyming verse translation of a pornographic pastiche from eighteenth-century France. In Foutange (Fuckland) the nymphomaniac Messalina struggles to find men capable of satiating her sexual desires. This plays out as a (very bawdy) parody of neoclassical tragedies, comparable to the Earl of Rochester's "Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery."