👋 Hi, I’m
David
Gorshein
I'm a
Experiential strategist and leader designing live experiences that connect people through story, participation, and purpose
I help organizations turn strategy into live experiences people can connect with.
I lead experiential strategy, creative development, and delivery for live experiences, campaigns, and programs that ask people to participate. My work spans live events, video storytelling, and digital communications, with a hands-on focus on execution: how experiences are planned, delivered, and experienced, what people notice in the moment, and what stays with them after. Alongside my 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, audience response, and participatory learning, and sharpens my instinct for when ideas land and when they don’t. 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 story, attention, and building experiences that hold up with real audiences.-
PhD
Theater and Performance Studies
University of California, Los Angeles -
BA, High Honors
Communication
Text to Performance
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Experiential strategy and program design
Narrative design for engagement and participation
Live, video, and digital experience design
Cross-functional leadership & stakeholder alignment
Creative direction for live experiences
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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Debut Prize, LGBT Focus Group
Association for Theater in Higher Educaiton
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Research Prize
James Pendleton Foundation
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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 Member | 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