NYWIFT Blog

By Paige Hapeman

Let’s all give a warm welcome to our new NYWIFT Member, Michelle de la Rosa!

Michelle de la Rosa is a freelance theatre and film director based in New York City. She is a native New Yorker with Puerto Rican and Jewish heritage. As a director, she has participated in several NYC theatre festivals. She studied directing under the mentorship of John Grabowski at the Acting Studio in New York. She is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and now NYWIFT! As a playwright, her short play Spell It (2021) was produced by the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. 

Continue reading to learn more about Michelle and how she got to where she is today as an artist.

NYWIFT member Michelle de la Rosa

Tell us about your journey becoming a director and writer! 

Well, it took me a long time to get here. I was around the arts my entire life being from the city. I graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Art History. I always knew I wanted to be an artist. I just didn’t know what my path was going to be and what kind of artist I wanted to be. 

In my late 20’s, I was a competitive bodybuilder, but that started to take its toll after a few years. I felt that I needed something else that was more expressive, so I started taking acting classes. But the funny thing was that when I was in acting class, I kept saying I was going to be a director. But, at the time I didn’t have an idea of how to even pursue directing. I loved acting, but I think the drawback for me was that I didn’t have a huge desire to be up front and center. 

After acting, I started to study academic fine art at various art ateliers in NYC. I studied anatomy, color theory, drawing and painting. I fell in love with watercolor because of how expressive the medium is. You can create all sorts of effects with just water. But, after a few years, I started to hit a wall with visual art because I was still searching for a live storytelling element.

One day a friend asked me, “Why do you always talk about directing, but never do it?” That was my lightbulb moment. I immediately signed up for my first theory class in directing at The Acting Studio NY where I also was able to get my feet wet by participating in their studio festivals.

Since then, I’ve been hooked on directing and have now been directing for about four years. Directing allows me to use all my artistic sensibilities from all the different art forms I have studied in addition to my influences.

Writing came to me through directing. By directing other people’s work, I realized that I wanted to also create the story as well.

What led you to join NYWIFT?

I recently went to the 2024 NYWIFT FinanceHER Institute. Making films can be an insular process, especially as an independent artist, so I wanted to be a part of a supportive community as I make the transition to film.

Poster for Michelle’s film Julienne

You are currently in post-production on your first short film. What can you tell us about the film and how has the experience been so far?

My short film Julienne is a horror dramedy that pokes fun at diet and affirmation culture. I extracted some of my own experiences from when I was a bodybuilder and had to adhere to extreme diets. But I also wanted to make it clear that what Julienne is going through comes from how we perceive what is expected of us and where these external ideas come from. When it comes to diet and fitness, people hear what they want to hear until they realize it works or it doesn’t. 

There is a large special effects makeup component in my film that had to be intricately planned out. After several conversations, my make up team and I realized we needed to make prosthetics from scratch to get the exact look and effect we wanted. So, we went through the process of life casting and sculpting to ultimately create our own prosthetic pieces. Learning about the SFX makeup process has been such a rich learning experience. 

Being able to have a creative team to collaborate with and execute my vision has been really exciting. Everyone brought their own artistry and ideas that were built on top of what I was envisioning.

I have been making this project for almost two years and it has been so special watching something that I envisioned come to life in so many different ways. I am really proud of what my creative team made, and I can’t wait to share my film with the world.

Actress Thea Kraus waits patiently to be de-molded

You have experience directing both theatre and film. How do you find the experience differs between both art forms? 

Well, they both require the same amount of time, patience, and effort.

Theatre has a more organic process because you’re building the story with the actors in a rehearsal room for a few weeks. Film is very intimate and technical.

When I’m in rehearsals for a play, I don’t have to worry about moving a camera around. Whereas in film production, you have to be prepared and organized with at least the baseline of your vision so you can hope to have time to be spontaneous on set. I came to realize the camera frame is equivalent to the stage. I can have the same freedom I have on stage, it’s just now within the constraints of a camera set up.

But on the flip side, I feel I have more artistic freedom with film. With theatre you are so limited to the space and what it’s technically capable of that I find myself making a lot of artistic compromises. 

Film crew all smiles after finishing a production day

Are there specific types of stories that you tend to gravitate towards when directing?

Any stories that are high concept that leave room for a lot of imagination is up my alley. I love working with satire, absurdity, and the grotesque. 

You have participated in several theatre festivals. What are the most rewarding and challenging elements of participating in a theatre festival?

The most rewarding element of participating in a theatre festival is putting a play on its feet in such a short amount of time. Short plays have a certain electricity to them since they are new and ready to come to life. 

The most challenging element is how limited you are with the production. You don’t get much of a tech rehearsal in the actual space itself. Every festival is different, but at most you will get an hour or two for tech. So, you have to keep your technical elements very simple and work very quickly.  

Collage of props for Michelle’s productions

What has been one of your career highlights so far?

A short play I wrote was produced by the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. It is a legendary landmark in NYC for Puerto Rican artists, and I was proud and honored to participate in one of their festivals as a writer/director. 

What are you most looking forward to with upcoming projects? 

I am looking forward to making more films! 

I am enjoying being an independent artist and creating my own work. I hope to be in pre-production at the end of the year for my next project.

Follow Michelle on Instagram at @mdelarosa_director and keep up with her through her website.