Orlando Pabotoy is an Obie Award-winning multidisciplinary theatre artist—a director, choreographer, designer, playwright and performer—and esteemed faculty member at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where he is head of the Physical Acting Intensive Lab in the Department of Drama’s New Studio on Broadway.

A graduate of the Juilliard School, Pabotoy is based in New York City. Recent projects include directing Everybody by Brandon Jacob Jenkins (Playmakers Rep.) and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Arts Center, NYU-Abu Dhabi).

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  • "Though Orlando Pabotoy’s fluid movement direction, along with Beatrice Capote’s Orisha choreography, strikes a powerful balance between the seamless and more Brechtian styles, the production finds itself stuck between them."

    —The New York Times

  • "Every detail was thoughtfully executed. We're thrilled with the outcome."

    —Former Customer

Recent and Upcoming Works

  • Everybody (2020)

    Synopsis: Based on its medieval original, Everyman, the play has a simple plot: Death comes to Everybody. Time is up. Can I, asks Everybody, bring someone to keep me company? Sure, if anyone will come. So then, the question is, who will stay with Everybody to the end? Beauty? Family? Stuff? Be ready to laugh and weep at this remarkable, heartfelt updating.

  • Henry VI

    Henry VI features scenic design by Kimie Nishikawa, costume design by Nicole Slaven, lighting design by Reza Behjat, sound design by Toby Algya, and prop design by Ryo Tatsumi. Orlando Pabotoy and Kimiye Corwin serves as movement directors; Peter Kim is associate producer for NAATCO.

  • The Caucasian Chalk Circle

    In a refugee camp, a fight breaks out over lost land. To seek resolution, a singer tells the fable of ‘The Chalk Circle’: in the midst of a bloody revolution, a servant girl risks all to raise the abandoned child of the Governor and his wife. Years later, when the Governor’s wife returns seeking her son, a rogue judge turns justice on its head. Can the test of the Chalk Circle determine which of the two women is the boy’s real mother?

After watching an excerpt of Julius Caesar on television, a 14-year Filipino boy locks himself in the only family bathroom to dive head-first into the world of ancient Rome, determined to make sense of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. The boy’s father, a former town mayor now exiled because of his democratic beliefs, joins his son in the bathroom. Using his own political experience, a father helps his son understand Caesar’s story, and real-life lessons about power, life, and loss.

Sesar was written and performed by Orlando Pabotoy and directed by Richard Feldman.

Project Highlights: Sesar

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