MARK STUVER
markstuver@mac.com
Writemarkdown.com
PROFILE
Kindling High Energy and New Perspectives for Film, TV, Web, Print, Theater and Dance
- Trusted Director, Collaborator, and Team Player
- Archetypal Insight and Psychological Awareness + Soft Skills
- Interdisciplinarian and Liminal Explorer for Top-Level Productions
- Professional Dancer (20yrs.), Actor (15yrs.), Screenwriter (13yrs.), Puppeteer (6yrs.)
DIRECTORIAL EXPERIENCE
VITAL BROOKLYN
2019-20 Presales Marketing Campaign and Investor Update Videos - Producer, Director, Writer, Designer
MOTIVF
2018 Life Saving Skills National Media Campaign - Director, Producer, and Writer of
Graphics and Animations, specifically targeted to reach historically underserved communities
BANDALOOP
2016 Man Walking Down the Side of Building, Leopold Museum, Vienna
Director of Trisha Brown's seminal vertical performance piece
2016 Out of Shadowland, Tokyo Disney Sea
Assistant Director to Amelia Rudolph in conjunction with Jim Vincent and Toru Shimazaki
2015 Intel ‘Legends and Luminaries Awards’ at the Dolby Theater, Hollywood
Director of opening and main performances in large-scale awards event
2012 Eastern Sierra Workshop
Director/Lead Instructor of safety and education teams in a wilderness setting
ENCOUNTERS at THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES and LA BREA TAR PITS
2015 Director of marketing short ‘Lightsaber-toothed Cat’ that received 13,000 views in first 24hours
2013 Director of 'Dinosaur Pajamas,' a Comedia dell’arte inspired short play featuring T. rex
2012 Director of First Fridays shows with BANDALOOP and NHMLA Performing Artists
REMEMBER THIS
2006 Co-director of this Isadora Duncan award nominated and Bay Guardian top 10 evening of dance-theater
PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE
2020 ARRI
Principal actor - the Cat Burglar - in the ARRI Signature Zoom Showreel "The Heist"
2017 NETFLIX
Puppeteer and Comedic Improviser for the 'K is for Kids: Puppet Movie' internal video
2000 - 2017 BANDALOOP
2017 Historic Jeddah Festival, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, soloist
2017 Africa's Cup of Nations Opening Ceremonies, Gabon
2016 Tianmen Mountain residency in Hunan Province, China
2015 and 2010 US EMBASSY sponsored performances in Shanghai, China and Delhi and Hyderabad, India
2010 Orange County Performing Arts Center, soloist
2008 PBS GREAT PERFORMANCES, DANCE IN AMERICA, soloist
2008 EUROPEAN CULTURAL CAPITAL, Stavangar, Norway
2004 LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, Emmy award winning segment
2004 AMERICA'S HEART AND SOUL, the feature film
2003 KENNEDY CENTER, Crossings tour
2002 EARTH SUMMIT, Soweto, South Africa
2000 FACE OF AMERICA, Wolf Trap, soloist
Interviews & appearances on CBS SUNDAY MORNING, 20/20, ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, amongst others
2016 THE TALE OF HILLBELLY
An innovative short by the award winning Encyclopedia Pictura, produced by WARP Films, starring Mark Stuver
2015 THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN
Appearance as Tony Rexton with the cast of ‘Jurassic World’ and improvised closing segment with Reggie Watts
2011 - 2015 NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES and LA BREA TAR PITS
Puppeteer of Hunter Rex, a life sized juvenile T. rex, and the animatronic head of Cali the Smilodon fatalis,
Host of Ice Age Encounters and Bandaloop guest performer at First Fridays
2008 - 2009 JOE GOODE PERFORMANCE GROUP
‘Wonderboy’: dancer, actor and puppeteer in this Joe Goode/Basil Twist collaboration with appearances at
Bumbershoot in Seattle, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Yerba Buena’s Mainstage in San Francisco
2009 THE FOOD CHAIN
By Nicky Silver, role of Ford Dolor at the Raven Playhouse, Los Angeles
2006 EQUUS
By Peter Shaffer, role of The Horseman/Nugget at the Off-Market Theater, San Francisco
2006 REMEMBER THIS
Evening length dance-theater duet at The Dublin Fringe, Middlebury College & Dancers Workshop, Jackson, WY
2005 JESS CURTIS/GRAVITY'S 'TOUCHED'
Experimental theater presented at Dock 11, Berlin and Yerba Buena Forum, San Francisco
2001 LISA RACE'S 'SOCIAL CLIMB'
Aggressively athletic dance-theater presented at The Duke on 42nd ST, NYC
WRITING EXPERIENCE
2024 FATHER'S DAY - homage to Arnold Schwarzenegger's most popular films, a story of fathers and sons, both born and chosen
2023 THE NEXT ONE - a sci-fi western that premiered at the LA Shorts Fest
2021 GREAT KILL - a horror sci-fi set in the mountain west
2019 GO BACK - a sci-fi comedy about aging gracelessly and trying to turn back the clock
2019 CALL ME ISHMAEL - a culturally relevant, contemporary and visually inventive retelling of the classic, Moby-Dick
2018 RIDE - thriller about a girl on a ride-share gone terribly wrong, Official Selection Beverly Hills and Oaxaca Film Festivals
2017 DARK WOLF - an action fairytale with a new spin on werewolves
2016 NATURAL HISTORY - a workplace sitcom based on Mark's time at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
2015 SHARED SPACE - a workplace sitcom set in space, Semifinalist, ScreenCraft Pilot Launch TV Script Contest (2018)
2014 SNAPSHOTS OF THE PAST - a Dinosaur Encounter written for NHMLA
2013 Rydell Essayist, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History
2013 MANCHESTER - a Neo-Noir set in LA, page-one rewrite in preproduction
2013 MA Thesis: Rain Maker: How Imagination and Fantasy Create Pathways to Empathy and Healing
2012 THE BOARDWALK GUARDIANS - an unconventional super hero comic book set on Venice Beach
2011 RAIN MAKER - an original epic sci-fi screenplay, WGA registered
2011 Contributor to the ‘Society to Save Rocks Quarterly Newsletter, Jan-March 2011’ Hyderabad, India
2010 RUMOURS - an original movie musical with the songs of Fleetwood Mac
2009 MOBY DICK - a wholly original and faithful adaptation of Herman Melville’s novel
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2016 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Master Class on improvisation and composition for Dance majors
2012 Eastern Sierra Workshop, Lead Instructor for three day, site-reactive dance workshop in a wilderness setting
2008 Stavanger, Norway, Workshops for Youth leading up to Bandaloop’s European Cultural Capital Performances
2006 Middlebury College, Visiting Faculty, Winter Term: Composition, Partnering, and Postmodern Technique
2004 - 2006 Destiny Arts, Youth Performers, Oakland, CA, Vertical Dance
2005 Dublin Fringe Festival: Teaching Performers Partnering
2003 - 2005 Dancer’s Workshop, Jackson, WY, Postmodern Technique
2004 Dartmouth College, Vertical Dance, Bandaloop
2004 Macau, China, Youth Outreach, Bandaloop
2003 Swarthmore College, Postmdern Technique, Bandaloop
2002 Soweto, South Africa, Youth Outreach, Bandaloop
2002 SUNY Brockport, Postmodern Technique, Race Dance
2000 Wolftrap Performing Arts Center, Youth Outreach, Bandaloop
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
2015 Upright Citizens Brigade, Long-form Improvisation and Storytelling
2013 Pacifica Graduate Institute
M.A. in Counseling Psychology, Traineeship Completed at Maple Counseling Center
2010 National Academy of Sports Medicine, Certified Personal Trainer
2006 - 2010 San Francisco’s Actor’s Studio, Studio ACT, Seydways Acting Studios, Saul Kotzebei
Fitzmaurice Technique, Sense-memory, Trigger technique, Stretch/Improvisation, Scene study, Voice work
2006 San Francisco City College and The Berkeley Writing Salon, Screenwriting
2000 - 2001 San Francisco School for the Circus Arts, Hand-balancing and Acrobatics
1998 Middlebury College
B.A. High Honors, Major: Theater-Dance, Minor: Circumpolar Studies abroad in Tasmania and Scotland
1993 Rifle High School, Co-Valedictorian
AWARDS
2018 Official Selection of Beverly Hills and Oaxaca International Film Festivals
2018 ScreenCraft Pilot Launch TV Script Contest Semifinalist
2012 Sono Osato Scholarship recipient for MA in Psychology
2006 Merit Scholarship Recipient, San Francisco’s Actor’s Studio
2005 Isadora Duncan Nominee for Outstanding Ensemble and Company Performance
2005 Top Ten of The Year in Art-Theater-Dance, SF Bay Guardian
2003 - 2005 Artist-in-Residence, Dancer’s Workshop, Jackson, WY
1999 Merit Scholar for Performance, Bates Dance Festival
1998 Choreography Scholar, Colorado Dance Festival
1998 National College Dance Festival Gala, Kennedy Center
1995 International Merit Scholar, University of Tasmania
1993 Rifle High School Co-Valedictorian, Bausch and Lomb’s
Outstanding Student in Science, Xerox’s Outstanding
Student in the Humanities, Outstanding Male Track Athlete
VOLUNTEER
2014 - Now Laketree Farm donations to Fallbrook Food Pantry, harvester
2013 - 2014 Surf Academy, surf coach to Santa Monica youth
2011 - 2012 Maple Counseling Center, Counseling Intern
2010 Star Paws, dog foster
2004 - 2010 Amazon Watch, performer and event support
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
2019 - 2020 VITAL, Community and Marketing Manager for NYC's largest climbing gym (opening 2021)
2016 - 2018 Motivf, Senior Creative Manager and Executive Advisor
2000 - 2017 BANDALOOP, Director, Lead Instructor, Collaborator, Performer, and Scout in diverse domestic and intl. settings
2011 - 2015 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Performing Artist: puppeteer/director/writer/host
2012 - 2013 Fratricidal Films, Screenwriter for page-one rewrite of screenplay ‘MANCHESTER’
2010 - 2011 Andrew Beath, Screenwriter and concept development of original screenplay ‘RUMOURS’
2008 - 2010 AMAZON WATCH, archivist, video capture, phone relations
REFERENCES AND WRITING SAMPLES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST