Damon Bonetti is an actor, director, theater producer and teacher.He is the co-founding artistic director of The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective (The PAC), Philly’s only theater dedicated to rare-classical plays produced in site-specific locations. As an actor and director he has worked extensively in the Philly area, regionally and on national tours. He can be seen on camera in commercial and industrial work and is a professor at Rutgers University – Camden and Drexel University. Damon received his BA in Theater at Allentown College (now DeSales University) and his MFA in Acting from Florida State University / Asolo Conservatory.
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Producer
Under Damon’s leadership, The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective (The PAC) has become Philly’s premiere classical theater company, earning the prestigious June and Steve Wolfson Barrymore Award for an Evolving Theater Company in 2015. The company consistently receives critical praise and has won or been nominated for numerous Barrymore Awards. Damon’s production of John Webster’s The White Devil was picked as one of the top ten productions of the 2016/2017 season by the Philadelphia Inquirer. For The PAC, in addition to The White Devil, Damon directed Changes of Heart by Pierre de Marivaux (translated by Stephen Wadsworth), The Sea Plays by Eugene O’Neill on board the Tall Ship Gazela, Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca in collaboration with Drexel University as the Mandel Professionals in Residence Project (also in collaboration with Elba Hevia y Vaca’s Pasión y Arte) and received national attention with He Who Gets Slapped by Leonid Andreyev (adapted by Walter Wykes) a collaboration with the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts.
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As an actor for The PAC he has performed in The Duchess of Malfi by Webster (Duke Ferdinand), Creditors by August Strindberg (Gustav), All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare (Parolles) and Maria Marten, Or, The Murder in the Red Barn by Anonymous (switched roles every night between the villain William Corder and the fool Tim Bobbin.)
For PAC he helped establish the Venture Reading Series that, in the last few years, has begun collaborating with BIPOC theatre companies to expand the classical canon. Collaboration have included Teatro del Sol (Yerma by Lorca), Theatre in the X (In Splendid Error by William B. Branch and upcoming with Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (The Recognition of Shakuntala by Kalidasa.)
For PAC he helped establish the Venture Reading Series that, in the last few years, has begun collaborating with BIPOC theatre companies to expand the classical canon. Collaboration have included Teatro del Sol (Yerma by Lorca), Theatre in the X (In Splendid Error by William B. Branch and upcoming with Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (The Recognition of Shakuntala by Kalidasa.)
Actor
As an actor he has performed in nine shows at the Walnut Street Theater including Tom in The Glass Menagerie and Passepartout in Around The World in 80 Days (both also National Tours) Don Blades in The Best Man directed by Michael Wilson and Mortimer in Arsenic and Old Lace directed by Chuck Abbot (also co-production with The Fulton Theater) with number ten coming in 2022 as Howard in Death of a Salesman directed by Bernard Havard. With the Lantern Theatre he has played Pierre Laporte in Red Velvet and Ridley in Hapgood. He has performed in 12 of Shakespeare’s plays as Brutus (Julius Caesar), Duke Vincentio (Measure for Measure), Claudius (Hamlet) Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing), Petruchio (The Taming of the Shrew) the title role in Pericles and Mercutio twice (Romeo & Juliet).
Damon has a special affinity for Sherlock Holmes having played him three times in The Hound of The Baskervilles (Delaware Theater Company, Theatre Horizon and Lantern Theater – Barrymore Nomination for Outstanding Ensemble)
In new work, Damon originated the roles of Hassan Asfour in JT Rogers Tony winning OSLO at PlayPenn, The Reporter in Bruce Grahams RIZZO at Philadelphia Theater Company and Theater Exile, Le Falcone in Jared Michael Delaney’s The Hand of Gaul with Inis Nua Theater, Dov in Lucile Lichtblau's The English Bride with Theatre Exile, Dave in Adam Szymkowicz's The Fat Cat Killers with Flashpoint Theater and Matthew in David Lee White's Blood: A Comedy at Passage Theater.
Damon was nominated for the Barrymore Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play as David in Orange Flower Water with Luna Theater.
On camera, Damon has been seen in numerous commercials (Goya, Sirius XM, Car Sense, ESPN MNF), independent films and over a hundred industrials .
In new work, Damon originated the roles of Hassan Asfour in JT Rogers Tony winning OSLO at PlayPenn, The Reporter in Bruce Grahams RIZZO at Philadelphia Theater Company and Theater Exile, Le Falcone in Jared Michael Delaney’s The Hand of Gaul with Inis Nua Theater, Dov in Lucile Lichtblau's The English Bride with Theatre Exile, Dave in Adam Szymkowicz's The Fat Cat Killers with Flashpoint Theater and Matthew in David Lee White's Blood: A Comedy at Passage Theater.
Damon was nominated for the Barrymore Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play as David in Orange Flower Water with Luna Theater.
On camera, Damon has been seen in numerous commercials (Goya, Sirius XM, Car Sense, ESPN MNF), independent films and over a hundred industrials .
Director
A selection of his directing work outside of PAC includes two children’s musicals at the Walnut Street Theater (Stinky Cheese Man, Stinky Kids, The Musical!), two world premieres and one East Coast premiere at Passage Theater (The Goldilocks Zone by Ian August, True Story by EM Lewis – 5 Barrymore Award Nominations including Outstanding Director - and The Gun Show by EM Lewis) and 5 productions at Hedgerow Theater (The 39 Steps, No Sex Please, We’re British!, Boeing Boeing, Around the World in 80 Days and His Girl Friday (also co-adapter)). He collaborated with the international Renaissance music ensemble Piffaro on their program of music from the Golden Age of Spanish Theater, ¡Ay Amor! and directed the world premiere of The Rage of Achilles for Commonwealth Classic Theater Company. He has a long working relationship with playwright Ian August, staging reading, workshops or productions of 6 of his plays. Damon is also a co-founder with his wife , actor Charlotte Northeast and playwright/actor Jared Michael Delaney of 100TH MERIDIAN, a rock n’ roll theater company that is producing three original plays on three bands: The Hold Steady, T. Rex and The Tragically Hip. The last has already been realized in They’ve All Gone, and We’ll Go Too which Damon directed at the New Jersey Fringe Festival in 2019 and will be presented in the Edinburg Fringe in 2021.
Teacher
As an educator, Damon teaches a variety of classes at Rutgers University – Camden including Acting I (fundamentals and contemporary), Acting II (turn of the century and modern American), Acting III (Shakespeare with The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective in residence), Advanced Acting, Acting on Film and the Business of Acting / Audition Prep. At Rutgers he has directed Hamlet, Frankenstein (Austin Tichenor, adaptor), Proof, Becky Shaw and the shape of things.
Damon is a regular adjunct at Drexel University and has taught acting at Rowan University and Temple University and classes, master classes and camps for The Walnut Street Theater, The Lantern Theater and The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival.
Damon is a regular adjunct at Drexel University and has taught acting at Rowan University and Temple University and classes, master classes and camps for The Walnut Street Theater, The Lantern Theater and The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival.