Photo by Joy Masi

Dane Eissler (he/they/it) is a Barrymore-nominated theater maker, visual artist, and educator based in Philadelphia, PA.

In Chicago, Dane produced, wrote, designed, directed, and performed in a number of original productions at A Dead Whale Productions, which he served as Co-Founding Artistic Director, including Forever Fetal, Apocalypse Twins, Hog'sBelly: A Fable Noir, I Love You, Jane Doe, and The Slather & Gibbs Show: LIVE, which toured to Mt. Carmel, IL and had a primetime run at The Annoyance TheatreHe also worked with The Whiskey Rebellion Theatre, Gorilla Tango Theatre, Living Room Vauntgardia, Rough House Theater, Windy City Performs, Women of the Now, and MTG- and SAG-nominated comedian Megan Stalter’s Freakfest.

In Philadelphia, Dane has worked with B.R.A.T. Productions, Azuka Theatre, and EgoPo Classic Theater.  At EgoPo, which he served as Artistic Producer for four years, he co-directed Williams' Stairs to the Roof with Lane Savadove, adapted and directed Gogol's The Nose, acted in the Barrymore-winning The Seagull, associate directed and acted in the world premiere of John Guare's full Lydie Breeze Trilogy, directed Shepard's Buried Child, co-created and directed UND3RGR0UND (a virtual adaptation of Dostoyevsky) with Damien J. Wallace, production designed a window walk-up production of Beckett's Rockaby, adapted and directed Alice: not your child's wonderland, and co-directed the world premiere theatrical staging of Langston Hughes' The Ways of White Folks with Ontaria Kim Wilson (Barrymore nominated).

In Provincetown, Dane has worked with the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, production assisting EgoPo's presentations of Samuel Beckett's Company and production designing Williams' And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens..., as well as directing and production designing repertory productions of The Glass Menagerie and Something Cloudy, Something Clear. He has also performed in Cody Plays at The Gifford House.

Dane is an Adjunct Professor at his undergraduate alma mater, Rowan University, where he teaches Experiencing Acting, Contemporary World Theater, and a seminar of his own creation, Queer Theatre (1920s-2020s). As a recipient of the 2024 Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, Dane will travel to Yogyakarta, Indonesia to study puppetry with Papermoon Puppet Theater, as well as present visual art and an original puppet performance in their international puppet festival, Pesta Boneka. Dane is pursuing his PhD in Creative Research from Transart Institute, in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University (UK).