Diana Wyenn
About Diana
Diana Wyenn is an acclaimed director, choreographer, dramaturg, and creative producer. Working across theater, opera, contemporary music, dance, and film, her interdisciplinary practice explores themes of trauma and healing, equity and disability justice, environmental responsibility, and civic engagement through collaborative forms.
Known for developing new work and transforming personal experience into incisive, socially conscious art, Wyenn’s professional highlights include: the World Health Organization presenting her award-winning autobiographical solo performance Blood/Sugar, which confronts the shame, stigma, and misinformation surrounding diabetes; developing and directing the premiere of composer Theodosia Roussos’ debut opera Polymnia, a multigenerational work rooted in Roussos’ family history and resilience in the wake of genocide; and choreographing more than 100 young singers from the Los Angeles Children's Chorus and LAUSD’s Hoover Street Elementary School Chorus for the LA Philharmonic’s U.S. premiere of Andrew Norman’s A Trip to the Moon at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Her directing and choreographic work has been presented by leading organizations in the U.S. and Europe, including Center Theatre Group, LA Phil, LA Opera, Roundabout Theatre Company, Disney, Beth Morrison Projects, National Sawdust, Detroit Opera, MOCA, LACMA, Malmö Opera, Interlochen Arts Academy, New West Symphony, BroadStage, IAMA Theatre Company, Boston Court Pasadena, Synchromy, UCLA, CalTech, ASU Gammage, Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth, and Yale’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Wyenn’s work has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Arts and Disability Center, Center for Cultural Innovation, and the California Arts Council, among others. She has also revival and associate directed operas by David Lang, Meredith Monk, Missy Mazzoli, and Richard Danielpour for directors Elkhanah Pulitzer, Yuval Sharon, Tom Morris, and Peter Kazaras.
In 2017, Wyenn and her spouse, professional skateboarder-turned-music-video director Laban Pheidias, co-founded Plain Wood Productions, for which she directed and produced the premieres of new operas Roussos’ Polymnia and Lionelle Hamanaka and Daniel Kessner’s The Camp, and produced the international tour of Cassils’ Human Measure as well as music videos garnering millions of views for artists who include Satyricon and American Idol’s Alejandro Aranda. Additional film credits include choreographing Tova Katz’s Spit Me Out and performing in Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music.
Committed to education and mentorship for the new generation of artists, Wyenn is a frequent guest lecturer and has taught at UCLA, Pomona College, and Cal Poly Pomona. She received her BFA with honors from New York University, receiving the Founder’s Day Award. Wyenn currently lives in Los Angeles where she serves as Co-Artistic Director of Ammunition Theatre Company and on the CalRx Insulin Patient Advisory Council.