A Life in the Theater
Dave Munnell: When not directing plays and musicals, this Rochester resident is performing, teaching, writing
By Mike Costanza
Dave Munnell began writing works of fiction as a young boy.
“I’ve always loved stories, creating stories, creating worlds of people in my imagination,” the 68-year-old said.
That desire to create eventually led Munnell to a 42-year career in the theater.
During that time, the Rochester resident has acted in and directed scores of stage productions, written stage plays, screenplays and teleplays and run various theatrical programs, including one that honored the late comedienne Lucille Ball.
Last September, he brought the character of Judge Turpin to vivid life during Blackfriars Theatre’s production of the famous musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
Munnell was born in a Philadelphia suburb, then moved around Pennsylvania with his family while his father, a Bell telephone Company employee, was transferred to different parts of the state. Besides writing stories, he wrote a stage play and acted in high school plays. Upon finishing high school he enrolled at the University of Delaware, intent upon becoming an engineer.
After taking courses in the theater program, Munnell decided to major in psychology and minor in theater. After acquiring a bachelor’s degree, he headed to Florida State University to study stage directing. In 1983, he headed off to New York City with a Master of Fine Arts degree in directing in hand.
“I really wanted to be a director,” Munnell said. “I wanted to be the next Jerry Zaks or Hal Prince.”
Jerome [Jerry] Zaks is an award-winning stage and television director and the late Harold [Hal] Prince was a legendary director and producer who was known for his work in musical theater.
Since then, Munnell has directed a substantial number of stage plays. Initially, many of them were staged in New York City’s cafes, clubs and small theaters. “Bachelor Holiday” was written by his friend, Alan Ball, who based the off-off-Broadway comedy upon his own experiences.
“Alan at the time was living with other broke, starving artists in a broken-down brownstone in Brooklyn,” Munnell said. “It’s basically a clash of all these crazy personalities.”
The play was fun to direct and got a good response, but never made it off-off-Broadway. Ball went on to become an acclaimed writer and director for film and television. He is best known for penning the screenplay for the film “American Beauty,” for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
After leaving New York City, Munnell directed scores of plays around Upstate New York, including the Jewish Community Center’s Center Stage Theatre production of “Relatively Speaking,” the Bristol Valley Theater’s production of the suspense comedy “Murder at the Howard Johnson’s” and the Fredonia Opera House’s production of the musical “Always…Patsy Cline.”
When not directing plays and musicals, Munnell has performed in a great number of them, including the Bristol Valley Theater’s production of “Murder on the Nile” and the Fredonia Opera House’s presentation of the musical “The Fantasticks.” He’s most proud of having played the lead in Blackfriars’ 2017 performance of “Death of a Salesman.” Munnell played the aging traveling salesman Willy Loman, who fantasizes about future successes as his world is crumbling around him. That quality allowed him to relate to the tragic character.
“I connected to his feeling that ‘It’s just round the corner,’ that sort of ‘never giving up,’ which is a quality I have,” Munnell said.
Munnell also played the cruel and corrupt Judge Turpin in Blackfriars’ 2024 production of “Sweeney Todd.”
“The roles I like the most are villains and comic characters,” he said. “I actually think there’s a similarity, because both of them usually have an obsession, something they’re obsessed with doing.”
Turpin’s and Todd’s obsessions draw them together to a bloody end. The judge imprisoned Todd on false charges, raped his wife and wants to marry his daughter. Todd is intent upon revenge and cuts a lot of throats on his way to Turpin. Most recently, Munnell played Duncan and Siward in “Macbeth,” a production of the local theatrical group The Company Theatre. The last “Macbeth” performance took place Feb. 16.
Behind the curtains
In addition to working onstage and behind the curtain, Munnell has also held administrative positions with a number of theatrical companies.
For about six years, he was the executive director of the 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center.
“I was pretty active in programming a lot of multiethnic kinds of performances, African American, Hispanic, which at the time was pretty radical,” Munnell said.
In recognition of his willingness to offer such programming, Munnell was presented with the NAACP Award for Promoting Diversity in the Arts.
Munnell was also the artistic director of what was then called The Lucille Ball Festival of New Comedy for three years.
The weeklong festival, which is now called the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, was held each year in Jamestown, the hometown of the late actress, comedian, producer and studio executive. Munnell was in charge of just about all aspects of the event, which took about a year to set up.
“I created the program, did the artistic vision, also was heavily involved in logistics and contract negotiations,” he said.
Those attending the festival could enjoy plays, vaudeville performances and stand-up comedy acts, participate in play and short comedy film contests and enjoy themselves in other ways. About 60 artists, directors, actors and writers participated in the festival and comedian Ellen DeGeneres and Lucie Arnaz, Ball’s daughter, were among the headliners.
Munnell has also written screenplays and is working with his friend, Jonathan Tammuz, on two television miniseries. One is the medical thriller “Heartless” and the second is a science fiction satire set in Silicon Valley. The two friends have written the initial episodes of both series and are trying to find producers for them.
“Studios nowadays mostly do distribution,” Munnell said. “So, your first step is you have to get a production company that has some credibility in the business to agree to produce it.”
While spending time onstage and behind the curtain, Munnell has also taught others about acting and directing at SUNY Geneseo and the Rochester Institute of Technology. He was the head of RIT’s theater program and a senior lecturer in that program when he retired from teaching in 2020.
Going There 1,000%
Actors, directors and writers have lauded Dave Munnell’s work on stage and behind the curtain.
Blackfriars Theatre artistic director Brynn Tyszka commended him for his performance in the theatrical company’s recent production of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” Munnell played the difficult part of the villainous Judge Turpin, whom Todd murders.
“It’s always tricky having to cast or play the villain to an anti-hero, which is the case with Sweeney Todd, because you have to be an actor who’s willing to be ultimately unlikeable, vile and abhorrent in every way,” said Tyszka, who directed the production. “Only the best and most knowledgeable actors are willing to do that and he [Munnell] was willing to go there 1,000%.”
British-Canadian director, screenwriter and teleplay writer Jonathan Tammuz has known Munnell since 1999 and considers him a friend and pleasure to work with.
“He is open to ideas, collaborative, writes beautifully and is incredibly fast,” Tammuz said. “I am particularly drawn to his subversive sense of humor when dealing with serious subject matter — my favorite type of material.”
Tammuz directed the Oscar- nominated short film “The Childeater” and is also the director of Stephen-Tammuz Productions, which develops and produces feature films and television programs. He and Munnell have written the initial chapters of two television miniseries and are searching for producers for them.
David Andreatta said Munnell can stay in character even with his pants down — literally.
Andreatta played Happy “Hap” Loman and Danny Hoskins played Biff Loman in Blackfriar’s 2017 production of the iconic tragedy “Death of a Salesman.” Munnell played their father Willy Loman, the play’s main character.
“He led that entire cast and played it (Willy Loman) with such conviction that was impressive to everyone involved,” Andreatta said.
Willy spends much of the play complaining about his lot in life, but as the end of the first act nears things are looking up for the family. He’s preparing for bed and talking to his two sons, but in the midst of his monologue something goes wrong and his pants fall down. Munnell didn’t break character.
“He says something like ‘Would you look at this? Would you look at this? You can never find a good tailor in this town anymore,’ adlibbing about the state of dressmaking and tailors without missing a beat,” Andreatta said.
Andreatta and Hoskins then headed to their bedroom, where they struggled to hold in their laughter in while marveling at Munnell’s ability to stay in character. “It was an incredible display of acting and concentration the likes of which I’ve never seen and that I’ll never be able to forget,” he said of his longtime friend.