👋 Hi, I’m
David
Gorshein
I'm a
Designing content, learning, and live experiences that help people understand what matters and know what to do next.
I never expected a fascination with theater to lead me into conference strategy, executive communications, and brand experiences.
But the question that drew me to theater is the same one that drives my work today: what makes an audience pay attention, care, and take action? Over time, that curiosity moved from studying performances to designing them. Today, I help organizations translate complex priorities into content experiences that drive understanding, alignment, and action. My work spans conference programming, executive storytelling, learning experience design, and audience engagement. Clients have included Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Yum! Brands, United States Tennis Association, Chase, Crunch Fitness, and Cabi. Alongside my agency work, I teach at the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, where I design learning experiences reaching more than 800 students annually. Working with students reinforces the same lesson I see in every organization: people engage when ideas are clear, relevant, and meaningful to them.-
PhD
Theater and Performance
University of California, Los Angeles -
BA with high honors
Communication
Drama minor
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
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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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Debut Prize, LGBT Focus Group
Association for Theater in Higher Educaiton
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Research Prize
James Pendleton Foundation
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Cvent
Event-Led Growth (ELG) Certified
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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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HubSpot Academy
Social Media Certified
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Chekhov International Theatre Festival
Research Fellowship, Moscow, Russia
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Summer Fellow
Northwestern Performance Studies Institute
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Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation
Board Director | 2026–Present
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 also serve as a UCLA Admissions representative meeting and interviewing applicants to the program.
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
Published writing
• Peer-Reviewed Academic
– Jews on Broadway
– Transposing Broadway
– The Dig: Death + Genesis + The Double Helix
• Social
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(323) 213 9684