Biography

Scott Faris leads the stage management program at the USC School of Dramatic Arts and is the Alice M. Pollitt professor and assistant professor of theatre practice in stage management at the School.

He began his career as an actor before becoming a production stage manager, where he worked with some of Broadway’s finest directors on productions of Cats, Les Miserables, City of Angels, Cabaret, Ain’t Misbehavin’, They’re Playing Our Song, Children of a Lesser God, Grease, Busker Alley, and Whistle Down the Wind, among others.

As a director, Scott has worked on a diverse range of shows, including William Shatner’s one-man show, Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It on Broadway; Light Falls at the World Science Festival, starring the theoretical physicist Brian Greene; and several concerts at New York’s prestigious Lyrics & Lyricists series at the 92Y. He has traveled to six continents to stage productions of the hit musical, Chicago, in a dozen different languages.

Beyond theatre, he is a successful director of grand spectacles and concerts. His acclaimed arena spectacular, Walking with Dinosaurs, had record-breaking runs at Madison Square Garden and London’s O2 Arena and raised the bar on arena entertainment. Other mega-scale shows include Apollo 11, the story of the first moon landing; Dinosaurs in the Wild; an equestrian extravaganza, Apassionata; George Lucas Super Live Adventure, a multi-media, theatrical experience that toured Japan. In Las Vegas, he directed Bette Midler’s The Showgirl Must Go On at Caesars Palace, EFX! starring Michael Crawford at the MGM Grand, and Véronic – Voices at Bally’s, and was part of the original team that created Siegfried & Roy at the Mirage Hotel.

He has done extensive work as a show doctor and has been a directing consultant for Cirque du Soleil. His latest directing project, Here, a VR short film based on the graphic novel by Richard McGuire, debuted at the 77th Venice International Film Festival.