Michael DeFilippis he/him

Michael DeFilippis is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of New American Ensemble, where he’s directed John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Albert Camus’  The Just & the critically acclaimed and sold out revival of Chekhov’s Ivanov; Internationally he has directed Lev Steinberg’s 44 Minutes which ran to sold out houses and critical acclaim at the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He received his degree in acting from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; while there, he spent two years in apprenticeship to British director and pedagogue James Kemp, in the lineage of the Yat Malmgren Character Analysis, developed out of Laban movement theory. DeFilippis is an alumnus of the directing track at the National Theatre Institute and the LaMama Umbria International Director’s Symposium. In 2025 Michael became the first American director to ever be invited by Lev Dodin to observe the rehearsal process of the legendary Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg, Russia, with whom he now maintains a relationship. He serves on the directing faculty of the National Theatre Institute, is a guest lecturer at Princeton University, and privately teaches both acting and directing in Manhattan.