Dr. Dan Bacalzo

Dr. Dan Bacalzo is an Associate Professor and the Theatre Program Coordinator at Florida Gulf Coast University. He holds a PhD in Performance Studies from New York University, and has previously taught at both NYU and Hunter College. He is the former artistic director of Peeling, an Asian American writing/performance ensemble, and worked as a professional theatre journalist in New York City for 15 years, including eight years as Managing Editor at TheaterMania. His teaching/research interests include applied theatre, community-based performance, directing, and dramaturgy.

Dr. Bacalzo has directed several productions in FGCU’s TheatreLab, working with students, fellow faculty, and outside professionals to bring productions to life. This creative scholarship includes both classic and modern works. Among his favorite productions was a Covid-era Oedipus the King. Through a rehearsal process that was partially virtual and partially in socially-distanced live sessions, he staged the show without a live audience and with actors performing in cloth masks; hired one of the Theatre Program’s former students to do a multi-camera video shoot of it; and posted the production free-of-charge to the Theatre Program’s YouTube channel. It was also aired on WGCU, the local PBS member station. As of October 2025, the video has had over 15K views.

Dr. Bacalzo was the recipient of a 2025 FGCU Community Engagement Professor of the Year award for a service-learning project with his Applied Theatre class that partnered with the Marieb College of Health & Human Services to prepare for and participate in the inaugural “Disaster Day” – an interprofessional simulation that included his students – as well as a large number of community volunteers – made up to look like disaster victims and exhibit symptoms for student health professionals to diagnose and treat. He remains actively involved in planning for the next Disaster Day event, which includes running trainings for volunteer actors. He has included service-learning projects in several of his classes, with other notable collaborations including working with the Lee County Sheriff’s office on a hostage training scenario and a class project involving his students running an after-school theatre club at Franklin Park Elementary, for which they received a 2022 Eagle X “Children Are Our Future Award,” honoring outstanding service-learning projects that work with or impact children. 

Dr. Bacalzo has mentored several students who have served as assistant directors or dramaturgs for productions that he directs for the Theatre Program. Often, he’s received funding for these collaborations via Seidler Undergraduate Scholarly Collaboration Fellowships or the WiSER (Work in Scholarly & Experiential Research) research assistantship program. Among these projects was a collaboration with student Robin O’Connell on the FGCU Theatre production of Lauren Gunderson’s play Silent Sky, which Dr. Bacalzo directed and for which Robin served as dramaturg. The two extended their collaboration into a conference paper, which they co-wrote and co-presented at the Comparative Drama Conference in the spring of 2024. This was Robin’s first time to present at an academic conference, and their paper was well-received by the conference audience.

Dr. Bacalzo has engaged in interdisciplinary collaborations with FGCU faculty in other programs. He worked with Dr. Mari DeWees, who currently teaches in the Dept. of Justice Studies, on a 2019 improv theatre-based project at PACE Center for Girls in Immokalee, which received funding from an FGCU Community in Transitions grant and Scholarship Venture Research Fund Grant. He also co-taught a class with Prof. Jamie Wilson from the ROCK (Roots of Compassion and Kindness) Program, which involved bringing students to Shell Point Retirement Community for a series of performance workshops with some of the residents. Students also interviewed other residents and over the course of the semester, they developed a script responding to the impact of Hurricane Ian on the Southwest Florida area. “Reflections on Ian” was performed as a staged reading at Shell Point’s Tribby Arts Center as the class’s final project in spring 2023. Dr. Bacalzo is currently part of the interdisciplinary leadership team for the Gulf Scholars Program, which engages undergraduate students through a mix of coursework, internship opportunities, and research projects to identify and address the big issues faced by the Gulf Region.