ROBERT LACONI
STAGE dIRECTOR, THEATER TEACHER,
AUDITION COACH, & pRODUCER

I have worked from Broadway to community theatre on stage, film, radio, television, & children’s theater, as actor, director, manager, educator, & producer.  Before moving to the Lehigh Valley, I founded and was the Artistic Director of Theatre Arts Center NY for 16 years – a professionally-based NYC training program for youth, collaborating with over 50 Broadway and Professional Guest teachers, choreographers, and directors. Our students have gone on to work professionally on Broadway and throughout the U.S. I have directed many musicals, plays, and revues and have been teaching acting and musical theatre for over 20 years. 

NYC Acting credits include the internationally acclaimed LaMama, Playwrights Horizons, Odyssey Theatre, and many more Off & Off-Off Broadway shows, ranging from Shakespeare to Musicals, to Revues.  Regional credits include Gateway Playhouse (NY); Tibbits Opera (Michigan); Rodale/Pennsylvania Stage; Ensemble Studio Theater (Catskills); Porthouse Summer Theatre (Ohio); and the Italian-American Theatre Company of Rome.  Film appearances include Scorsese’s Last Temptation of Christ (filmed in Morocco), Goodfella’s, Night of the Zombies, and the original Annie (singer/dancer). In 2019 I was thrilled to produce the Off Broadway premiere of Tech Support at 59E59 Street Theatres.

On Broadway I was Director of Development at Circle in the Square; Associated Producer on Enchanted April (Tony nominations); Director of Development for Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Project at SONY Music International, and Director of Development at the Civic Theatre of Allentown.  I was very pleased to adjudicate virtually at the 2021 Florida State Festival and the 2023 Thespy Solo Musical Theatre Scholarship program for EdTA. In 2021 I was a producer on the premiere of Deception, a radio play presented by Project Mercury and Chatillion Stage Company. Summer of 2023 I was the Business Manager for the world premier of Teenagers in Love, a new play at the Chain Theatre in NYC. I have adjudicated and/or taught workshops at many state theatre festivals, including Florida, Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey.  I taught several workshops at the 2018 & 2019 Educational Theatre Association / International Thespian Festival in Nebraska.

In addition to teaching, I also offer virtual private audition and monologue coaching.  Member SAG / AFTRA & Actors Equity. 2024 students currently being scheduled.