A Bio. Cause everyone's got one.
Dawn Kalani Cowle is an award-nominated theatre director currently based in Brooklyn, New York. An "Ex-Expat" and Las Vegas native, Dawn's route to becoming a theatre director is deeply rooted in her childhood after-school activities. From re-creating choreography from MTV music videos such as Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" in her living room to directing her Barbies in "Beverly Hills 90210" style melodramas, Dawn's love of theatre stems directly from her love of storytelling and sitcoms, particularly the "school play" episodes that lead her to sign up for her high school's freshman drama class in the first place. She directed her first one-act play at 15 years old, relying solely on what she had learned from the 80s & 90s sitcoms. Though she has moved beyond directing Barbies, her style in the rehearsal room and her work on stage still exhibits the flair of a pop culture kid.
Through her studies abroad and travel, Dawn has expanded upon the culture she consumes beyond "Must See TV." After spending four years in Santa Fe, New Mexico earning her BFA in Theatre with an emphasis in Acting from The College of Santa Fe, hitting up art galleries, learning how to make Mexican food, and developing her love for musical theatre and new works, Dawn took up the Casting/Literary Apprenticeship at The Walnut Street Theatre, America's Oldest Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The "City of Brotherly Love" became Dawn's cultural and artistic haven for four years, where she worked as a director, teaching artist, arts administrator, and acting coach. While there, she Co-Founded To The Wall Productions, a fringe theatre company dedicated to producing raw, provocative, and entertaining works. Between living in America's first theatre city, working at the oldest theatre in the country, and producing/directing regional premieres of quirky and provocative new works as Co-Artistic Director of To The Wall, Dawn's style as a director evolved, much like her fashion sense. In 2009, Dawn left behind the Liberty Bell for Big Ben when she relocated to London, England for her postgraduate degree.
A graduate of East 15 Acting School's MFA Theatre Directing Program, she now has a variety of tools in her director toolkit beyond the lessons learned from sitcoms. Her time at East 15 saw her travel to Bali to study Balinese Performance and the role of a director in a ritual performance culture where directors don't exist, in addition to dissecting the concept of a "great director" and the intrinsic differences between American and British Musical Theatre. Though her work is still heavily influenced by pop culture and the world around her, she at least has a very fancy (read: expensive) degree along with her professional experience working within London's thriving Off-West End/Fringe theatre scene to back it up. While in London Dawn directed the UK Premiere of Maury Yeston & Arthur Kopit's Phantom, the 40th Anniversary production of Godspell (for which she received an Off-West End Award nomination for Best Director) as well as a revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Her productions earned over seven Off-West End Award nominations over the course of three years.
Since moving to New York she has worked with the 24-Hour Plays on Broadway, as well as the 24-Hour Musicals and continues to seek out exciting new opportunities to tell stories that matter. She's recently returned to her roots and is pursuing an MFA in Television Writing at Stony Brook University so she create shows that bring people comfort and joy in hard times while also lifting up voices of underserved communities.
When she's not in rehearsal for a show, class, or writing for hours on end listening to brown noise, she's likely plotting future projects in her beloved little black book of ideas, catching up on her stories on Hulu, Netflix, or HBO Max, scouring the internet for vintage leopard print finds, or walking her Terrier/Lab mix rescue pup Bettie Page.
Through her studies abroad and travel, Dawn has expanded upon the culture she consumes beyond "Must See TV." After spending four years in Santa Fe, New Mexico earning her BFA in Theatre with an emphasis in Acting from The College of Santa Fe, hitting up art galleries, learning how to make Mexican food, and developing her love for musical theatre and new works, Dawn took up the Casting/Literary Apprenticeship at The Walnut Street Theatre, America's Oldest Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The "City of Brotherly Love" became Dawn's cultural and artistic haven for four years, where she worked as a director, teaching artist, arts administrator, and acting coach. While there, she Co-Founded To The Wall Productions, a fringe theatre company dedicated to producing raw, provocative, and entertaining works. Between living in America's first theatre city, working at the oldest theatre in the country, and producing/directing regional premieres of quirky and provocative new works as Co-Artistic Director of To The Wall, Dawn's style as a director evolved, much like her fashion sense. In 2009, Dawn left behind the Liberty Bell for Big Ben when she relocated to London, England for her postgraduate degree.
A graduate of East 15 Acting School's MFA Theatre Directing Program, she now has a variety of tools in her director toolkit beyond the lessons learned from sitcoms. Her time at East 15 saw her travel to Bali to study Balinese Performance and the role of a director in a ritual performance culture where directors don't exist, in addition to dissecting the concept of a "great director" and the intrinsic differences between American and British Musical Theatre. Though her work is still heavily influenced by pop culture and the world around her, she at least has a very fancy (read: expensive) degree along with her professional experience working within London's thriving Off-West End/Fringe theatre scene to back it up. While in London Dawn directed the UK Premiere of Maury Yeston & Arthur Kopit's Phantom, the 40th Anniversary production of Godspell (for which she received an Off-West End Award nomination for Best Director) as well as a revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Her productions earned over seven Off-West End Award nominations over the course of three years.
Since moving to New York she has worked with the 24-Hour Plays on Broadway, as well as the 24-Hour Musicals and continues to seek out exciting new opportunities to tell stories that matter. She's recently returned to her roots and is pursuing an MFA in Television Writing at Stony Brook University so she create shows that bring people comfort and joy in hard times while also lifting up voices of underserved communities.
When she's not in rehearsal for a show, class, or writing for hours on end listening to brown noise, she's likely plotting future projects in her beloved little black book of ideas, catching up on her stories on Hulu, Netflix, or HBO Max, scouring the internet for vintage leopard print finds, or walking her Terrier/Lab mix rescue pup Bettie Page.