Seth Panitch

About

Seth Panitch serves as a Professor of Acting and heads the MFA Acting Program at the University of Alabama. He balances his academic leadership with a prolific, multi-hyphenate career as an author, playwright, director, and filmmaker.

Academic Leadership and Honors

At the University of Alabama, Panitch has directed over twenty major productions. His directorial credits include Hamlet, Sweeney Todd, Othello, and Into the Woods. He also frequently appears on stage as a resident guest artist.

His dedication to education has earned him numerous institutional honors. He received the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Faculty Achievement Award and the University of Alabama’s Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Professor Award. Additionally, he won the Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award and the National Alumni Association’s Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award. Panitch earned his MFA in Classical Acting from the University of Washington’s Professional Actors’ Training Program.

Literature and Off-Broadway Theatre

On the global stage and page, Panitch is an accomplished storyteller. He is a published novelist, and Grand Central/Hachette Publishing released his debut novel, ANTIQUE.

His original plays have received critical acclaim at prestigious Off-Broadway venues like 59E59 Theaters, the American Place Theater, and Urban Stages. His notable theatrical works include Separate and Equal, Hell: Paradise Found (Broadway Play Publishing, Inc.), Alcestis Ascending, and Dammit, Shakespeare!.

In 2007, he made history when the Cuban Ministry of Culture (CNAE) invited him to direct a Shakespeare production in Havana. He was the first U.S. director to receive this invitation. Since then, he has returned to Havana to direct three additional celebrated productions.

Cinema and Professional Guilds

Behind the camera, Panitch wrote, directed, and performed in the feature film Service to Man. The film secured Best Picture honors at eight national and international film festivals, and Freestyle Entertainment Studios now distributes it. Terror Films is distributing its second film, The Coming, following its premiere at the Sidewalk Film Festival. His regional credits also include work at the Colorado, Utah, and Texas Shakespeare Festivals, as well as extensive theatrical work in Los Angeles.

Panitch is a proud member of several professional organizations. These include the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), the Dramatists Guild of America, the Authors Guild, and the Alabama Writers Forum. Far more importantly, he is married to Laura Panitch. She generously tolerates his late-night writing escapes and their dog, Moses, who uses him as a jungle gym.