👋 Hi, I’m
David
Gorshein
I'm a
Creative director and live events leader helping brands and audiences connect through story, experience, and execution
I help organizations turn strategy into clear, well-executed live experiences.
I lead experiential strategy, creative development, and delivery for live events, campaigns, and platforms that ask audiences to show up, pay attention, and participate. My work spans live events, video storytelling, and digital comms, with a hands-on focus on execution: how experiences are planned, delivered on site, and experienced in real time - what people notice in the moment and what stays with them afterward. Alongside agency work, I teach at UCLA School of Theater, Film & TV, where I design courses in storytelling and new media. Teaching keeps my creative leadership grounded in live performance and audience response and sharpens my instinct for when ideas land, when they don’t, and how to adjust in the moment. I work fluently with advanced AI tools and emerging tech to support creative development and execution. But I’m less interested in novelty than in judgment. The work always comes back to story, attention, and delivering experiences that hold up when real audiences are in the room.-
PhD
Theater and Performance Studies
University of California, Los Angeles -
BA, High Honors
Communication
Text to Performance
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Creative and experiential strategy
Audience-centered storytelling and narrative design
Live experience, video, and digital experience execution
Cross-functional leadership & stakeholder collaboration
On-the-ground creative direction & delivery
Generative AI & emerging media in creative practice
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Biz Bash Event Experience Award
Taco Bell Franchisee Convention: “Unstoppa-Bell”
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GLAAD Media Award Nomination, Outstanding Talk Show Episode
Conan, First same-sex wedding aired on Late Night TV
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Excellence Review
UCLA 2024
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Continuing Lecturer Status
UCLA 2019
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Fellow
Mellon Program on the Holocaust in American and World Culture
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Recipient
UCLA Library Affordable Course Materials Initiative
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Anthropic
AI Fluency
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AWS
Generative AI for Executives
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Google
Generative AI for Educators
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Databricks Academy Accreditation
Generative AI Fundamentals
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Grants
UCLA Office of Instructional Development
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Research Fellowship, Moscow, Russia
UM Global Intercultural Experience
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Research Prize
James Pendleton Foundation
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Debut Prize, LGBT Focus Group
Association for Theater in Higher Ed
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Performance Studies
Northwestern University Summer Institute
Creative Highlights
I’m a Continuing Lecturer at UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, where I’ve taught 65+ courses, including:
– Introduction to Theater
– History of American Musical Theater
– History of American Theater and Drama
– Global Theater History
– Play Reading & Analysis
– Jewish Theater
– Classical and Medieval Theater
As an instructional designer, I received the UCLA Library Affordable Course Materials Award for expanding access to lower-cost textbooks.
I’ve also served as a UCLA Admissions representative since 2012.
I’ve taught at California State University, Long Beach, where I served as Coordinator of Critical Studies and led:
– Theater, Protest & Social Change
– Dramatic Theory and Criticism
I've taught at Loyola Marymount University:
– Western Theatre History and Literature
– 19th Century US Theater
I've taught at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy:
– Early Theater Traditions
– American Theater History
– Musical Theater History
Publications
• Social
• Peer-Reviewed Academic
– Jews on Broadway
– Transposing Broadway
– The Dig: Death + Genesis + The Double Helix
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(323) 213 9684