“Besides achieving detailed and sensitive performances from the cast, the director of all three plays, Janet Bentley, has visualized the work with inventive physical staging, using different areas of the stage and theater to great effect."
- Review of Blankets and Bedtime: 3 Restless Plays
"Director Janet Bentley’s inspired staging has the cast of 12 creatively entering from all over the theater and scenes are performed in different areas as well. Ms. Bentley crucially has actors conveying the right tone of the plays and songs.”
- Review of Mr. Chekhov & Mr. Porter
"Janet Bentley’s appealing modern musical score and the crashing effects are sharply rendered by her strong sound design."
- Review of Rising Sun Performance Company's production of Friendly's Fire by John Patrick Bray
Janet Bentley (they/them/theirs) is a director, dramaturg, writer, actor, film editor, sound designer, graphic designer, and composer. They hold an MFA in dramaturgy from the University of Iowa, a BA in theatre from the University of South Florida, and have multiple years training and experience in piano, dance, voice (opera and musical theatre), acting, and teaching theatre. Janet made their international debut as a director/deviser, theatre instructor, and sound designer at Ashtar Theatre's International Youth Festival in Ramallah, Palestine, winning an award for their co-direction of The Waiting Room with Co-op Theatre East, NYC. Some New York credits include world premieres of The Dark and Our Fantasia by John Patrick Shanley (Director; NFTC/Tada!), Everything Is Super Great by Stephan Brown, directed by Sarah Norris (Sound Designer/New Light Theatre Project), ray gun say0nara by Steven Mark Tenney (Directing/Co-Video Design; NFTC/The New Ohio Theatre), (a)loft modulation by Jaymes Jorsling (Asst. Sound Design/Off Broadway; the american vicarious/Mezzanine Theatre-ArtNY), Round Went The Wheel by Frank Ceruzzi (Director/Sound & Video Co-Design; The Lion Theatre/Theatre Row), Basement by Michael Hagins (Director; Roly Poly Productions--Nominated for two New York Innovative Theatre Awards), Guns And Ammunition (Writer; The Kraine Theatre - directed by David Adam Gill), Friendly's Fire by John Patrick Bray (Original Music/Sound Design; Rising Sun/The 14th Street Y Theatre), CC: You In Hell! by Mark Levy (Directing/Sound Design; The Kraine Theatre), Life X 3 by Yasmine Reza (Original Music/Sound Design @ NLTP/Urban Stages), Detroit '67 by Dominique Morriseau (Sound Designer; Kingsborough-CUNY), Experimenting With Katz by David Adam Gill (Sound Designer; Theatre Lab/NATC), an original dance-play called Horse (Director/Writer; Planet Connections Theatre Festivity 2017), Brooklyn (Cain's Adventure) by Mario Fratti (Director/Original Music by The Roly Polys; Theatre For The New City), Mr. Chekhov and Mr. Porter (Director/Development/Scenic Designer; Medicine Show Theatre), Lila on the Wall by Edward Allen Baker (Director; Pica/The Bridge Theatre-Shetler Studios), Abu Casem’s Slippers by August Strindberg (Director; The Gene Frankel Theatre), The Troubadour Struck by Lightning by Ed Malin (Director; FringeNYC), Blankets and Bedtime: 3 Restless Plays by Erik Champney (Director/Producer; Planet Connections Theatre Festivity), After Tartuffe by Judy Klass (Director; The Wild Project), Queers for Fears by Ed Malin (Director/Video Design; F*ckfest @ The Brick), The Addicts by Ed Malin (Director; Theatre for the New City), The Big Funk by John Patrick Shanley (Live Original Music; NFTC/La Tea), Incendiary Agents by Jack Karp (Dramaturg/SM; NFTC/The New Ohio Theatre), "This Round's On Us" (director/playwright in multiple festivals with NFTC - since 2013), and Coventry Carol by James McLindon (Emerging Artists Theatre). Regional directing credits include As You Like It, The Pillowman, Baal, The Woman From the Sea, Time on Fire, Parallel Lives, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Randy Noojin’s The Knife Trick. Upcoming: February 2020, The Roly Polys create sound for The Brecht Project, directed by Jerry Heymann with New Light Theatre Project. May 2020: Janet directs Mansfield by Bruce Jones at the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival (Postponed due to COVID-19). Up next: Michael Is Black by Michael Hagins, a digital theatrical performance with cinematic elements (directing, development, DP work, editing, scoring, sound). Film Upcoming: Delicacy by Bruce Jones (directing & development, editing, scoring, DP work, audio recording, sound mixing), This Is Important by Janet Bentley (directing, editing, scoring, mixing). Film/TV: Official Selection at the New York Indie Theatre Film Festival 2020 for Stage Left Season One Episode Four - "University Settlement Performance Project"- directing, editing, sound, and scoring and Official Selection at the Art Of Brooklyn Film Festival/Digital Edition 2020 for Stage Left Season One Episode Three, "MAAFA" - editing, co-directing, and sound design. Janet has served as venue director for FringeNYC, venue manager & technical director for the 2019 SoFi Festival, and producing director at T. Schreiber Studio. Janet is a member of Nylon Fusion Theatre Company (NFTC), New York Madness, New Ambassadors Theatre Co, and The League Of Professional Theatre Women. They are listed in Parity Productions Online Database. Janet is co-artistic director and founding partner at Roly Poly Productions. For more info, click on the button below.
- Review of Blankets and Bedtime: 3 Restless Plays
"Director Janet Bentley’s inspired staging has the cast of 12 creatively entering from all over the theater and scenes are performed in different areas as well. Ms. Bentley crucially has actors conveying the right tone of the plays and songs.”
- Review of Mr. Chekhov & Mr. Porter
"Janet Bentley’s appealing modern musical score and the crashing effects are sharply rendered by her strong sound design."
- Review of Rising Sun Performance Company's production of Friendly's Fire by John Patrick Bray
Janet Bentley (they/them/theirs) is a director, dramaturg, writer, actor, film editor, sound designer, graphic designer, and composer. They hold an MFA in dramaturgy from the University of Iowa, a BA in theatre from the University of South Florida, and have multiple years training and experience in piano, dance, voice (opera and musical theatre), acting, and teaching theatre. Janet made their international debut as a director/deviser, theatre instructor, and sound designer at Ashtar Theatre's International Youth Festival in Ramallah, Palestine, winning an award for their co-direction of The Waiting Room with Co-op Theatre East, NYC. Some New York credits include world premieres of The Dark and Our Fantasia by John Patrick Shanley (Director; NFTC/Tada!), Everything Is Super Great by Stephan Brown, directed by Sarah Norris (Sound Designer/New Light Theatre Project), ray gun say0nara by Steven Mark Tenney (Directing/Co-Video Design; NFTC/The New Ohio Theatre), (a)loft modulation by Jaymes Jorsling (Asst. Sound Design/Off Broadway; the american vicarious/Mezzanine Theatre-ArtNY), Round Went The Wheel by Frank Ceruzzi (Director/Sound & Video Co-Design; The Lion Theatre/Theatre Row), Basement by Michael Hagins (Director; Roly Poly Productions--Nominated for two New York Innovative Theatre Awards), Guns And Ammunition (Writer; The Kraine Theatre - directed by David Adam Gill), Friendly's Fire by John Patrick Bray (Original Music/Sound Design; Rising Sun/The 14th Street Y Theatre), CC: You In Hell! by Mark Levy (Directing/Sound Design; The Kraine Theatre), Life X 3 by Yasmine Reza (Original Music/Sound Design @ NLTP/Urban Stages), Detroit '67 by Dominique Morriseau (Sound Designer; Kingsborough-CUNY), Experimenting With Katz by David Adam Gill (Sound Designer; Theatre Lab/NATC), an original dance-play called Horse (Director/Writer; Planet Connections Theatre Festivity 2017), Brooklyn (Cain's Adventure) by Mario Fratti (Director/Original Music by The Roly Polys; Theatre For The New City), Mr. Chekhov and Mr. Porter (Director/Development/Scenic Designer; Medicine Show Theatre), Lila on the Wall by Edward Allen Baker (Director; Pica/The Bridge Theatre-Shetler Studios), Abu Casem’s Slippers by August Strindberg (Director; The Gene Frankel Theatre), The Troubadour Struck by Lightning by Ed Malin (Director; FringeNYC), Blankets and Bedtime: 3 Restless Plays by Erik Champney (Director/Producer; Planet Connections Theatre Festivity), After Tartuffe by Judy Klass (Director; The Wild Project), Queers for Fears by Ed Malin (Director/Video Design; F*ckfest @ The Brick), The Addicts by Ed Malin (Director; Theatre for the New City), The Big Funk by John Patrick Shanley (Live Original Music; NFTC/La Tea), Incendiary Agents by Jack Karp (Dramaturg/SM; NFTC/The New Ohio Theatre), "This Round's On Us" (director/playwright in multiple festivals with NFTC - since 2013), and Coventry Carol by James McLindon (Emerging Artists Theatre). Regional directing credits include As You Like It, The Pillowman, Baal, The Woman From the Sea, Time on Fire, Parallel Lives, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Randy Noojin’s The Knife Trick. Upcoming: February 2020, The Roly Polys create sound for The Brecht Project, directed by Jerry Heymann with New Light Theatre Project. May 2020: Janet directs Mansfield by Bruce Jones at the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival (Postponed due to COVID-19). Up next: Michael Is Black by Michael Hagins, a digital theatrical performance with cinematic elements (directing, development, DP work, editing, scoring, sound). Film Upcoming: Delicacy by Bruce Jones (directing & development, editing, scoring, DP work, audio recording, sound mixing), This Is Important by Janet Bentley (directing, editing, scoring, mixing). Film/TV: Official Selection at the New York Indie Theatre Film Festival 2020 for Stage Left Season One Episode Four - "University Settlement Performance Project"- directing, editing, sound, and scoring and Official Selection at the Art Of Brooklyn Film Festival/Digital Edition 2020 for Stage Left Season One Episode Three, "MAAFA" - editing, co-directing, and sound design. Janet has served as venue director for FringeNYC, venue manager & technical director for the 2019 SoFi Festival, and producing director at T. Schreiber Studio. Janet is a member of Nylon Fusion Theatre Company (NFTC), New York Madness, New Ambassadors Theatre Co, and The League Of Professional Theatre Women. They are listed in Parity Productions Online Database. Janet is co-artistic director and founding partner at Roly Poly Productions. For more info, click on the button below.
Photo by Al Foote III - http://alfoote3photography.com/