Dr Benjamin Schostakowski is an award-winning director, educator, and published playwright. He graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) with a Graduate Diploma of Dramatic Art in Directing in 2013 and holds a PhD in Creative Industries from Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
Benjamin’s directing career spans theatre, opera, and interdisciplinary performance. He has directed and collaborated with leading institutions including Channel 7, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, La Boite Theatre Company, NIDA, the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), and QUT. From 2009–2012, he served as Artistic Director of the Festival of Australian Student Theatre and was appointed Associate Artist of Queensland Theatre Company in 2011.
In 2015 Benjamin was invited to attend rehearsals of Lazarus, the David Bowie and Enda Walsh musical directed by Ivo van Hove at New York Theatre Workshop. In 2016, he was awarded a Glorias Fellowship, returning to New York to observe Tony Award-winning Broadway director Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys) on workshops for Ain’t Too Proud and Robert Lepage on his production of 887 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Benjamin was a project director and investigator for the ARC-funded research project Reformulating Set Design Aesthetics via a Dialogical Model of Interactivity at UNSW. He holds the status of Associate Fellow (AFHEA) with Advance HE and serves as the Sector Representative for Arts, Culture & Creativity Committee for Waverley Council.
He is a regular director for major productions at NIDA, with credits including Reagan Kelly by Lewis Treston, Pool (No Water) by Mark Ravenhill, Carking It by Gretel Vella, Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (adapted by David Farr and Gísli Örn Gardarsson), and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, which he adapted for the stage. He also directed and adapted The Seagull by Anton Chekhov and will direct a new adaptation of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie.
Benjamin works with Opera Australia as Acting Coach for the Young Artist Program. His academic work includes an upcoming chapter publication on Stanislavsky and live video performance in contemporary theatre.