DARRELL LARSON

DARRELL LARSON is an actor, director, writer and teacher. He has directed more than 50 plays, since 1975, (including many plays by Sam Shepard around the country, including, in LA: COWBOY MOUTH (with Ed Harris), MAD DOG BLUES, THE UNSEEN HAND; in NYC: ACTION, THE SAD LAMENT OF PECOS BILL, KILLER’S HEAD. He directed and adapted Bob Dylan’s TARANTULA, in LA; and and also directed Steve Earle’s KARLA in Nashville; Denis Johnson’s PSYCHOS NEVER DREAM at Campo Santo in San Francisco, and Johnson’s SHOPPERS CARRIED BY ESCALATORS INTO THE FLAMES (with Michael Shannon) in NYC; Adam Rapp’s FASTER at Rattlestick Theater in NYC (with Chris Messina). He made his NYC acting and directing debut in Tom Strelich’s DOG LOGIC, (with Lois Smith, at American Place Theater) and his LA directing debut with Murray Mednick’s ARE YOU LOOKIN’ ?(starring Ed Harris and Helen Shaver). He also directed Mednick’s SCAR, (also starring Ed Harris, at the MET Theater in Hollywood). In 2019, so far, he has directed a critically acclaimed production of Shepard’s KILLER’S HEAD & THE UNSEEN HAND, at the Odyssey Theater in LA; as well as Deanne Stillman’s REFLECTIONS IN A D’BACK’S EYE, concerning gun violence, at Highways in Santa Monica.

As an actor he created the role of Coyote in Murray Mednick’s COYOTE CYCLE, at Padua Playwright’s Festival; appeared in ACTION (LA) and CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS (NYC), and SIMPATICO (Miami) all by Sam Shepard; Shakespeare’s COMEDY OF ERRORS at the Vineyard Playhouse (also directing); and a one-man show, THE CONFESSIONS OF DOC HOLLIDAY, in LA and NYC. Since returning to Los Angeles in 2013, after 20 years in New York, he has appeared in: PATERNUS (Rogue Machine), THE HILLARY GAME (Padua), CRAZY UNDERNEATH THE TREES (written with Rob Sullivan, various venues), SHADES OF DISCLOSURE (Skylight Theatre), LIANA & BEN (Axis Theatre), THE GARY PLAYS (Pauda/Open Fist), CLEARWATER (Padua), THE DANCE OF DEATH, (Odyssey Theater), and MEXICAN DAY (Rogue Machine).

Film credits include: MIKE’S MURDER (starring, with Debra Winger, directed by James Bridges), CHINA SYNDROME (directed by James Bridges), TWICE IN A LIFETIME (with Gene Hackman, Amy Madigan, and Ellen Burstyn), STEPMOM (with Julia Roberts, directed by Chris Columbus), FRANCES (with Jessica Lange), RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (directed by Jonathan Demme), MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (directed by Jonathan Demme) and many others.

On television he has appeared in literally hundreds of programs: LAW AND ORDER (3); LAW AND ORDER: SVU; GUNSMOKE; BONANZA; LA LAW; MARCUS WELBY, M.D.; THE DAYS OF NIGHTS OF MOLLY DODD; CONGRATULATIONS ITS A BOY (TV movie, starrring with Bill Bixby), STUDS LONIGAN, 100 CENTRE STREET, ROOM 222, and on and on.

Teaching experience includes twelve years in the Graduate Film Division at Columbia University, with stints at Rutgers, Purchase, the New York Film Academy (including their summer program for high school students from around the world), and the Actor’s Center in NYC. In 2007 he traveled to Kaliningrad, Russia, to host a classic American film festival, and teach multiple workshops for high school and college students.

He is a regular reader of his own work at Library Girl, Beyond Baroque and other venues on the literary scene in LA.