About

David Chrzanowski came up in Chicago's storefront theatre movement, then moved onto the Shakespeare festival circuit and from there into original film and community-based storytelling. Through all of it, the rule hasn't changed: honor the text, tell the story.

He starts every project with "why this play, why now?" He's drawn to family dynamics, generational trauma, and character-driven work, a taste that goes back to growing up on O'Neill, Miller, and Williams and their take on the American dream and the common man. As a director, he sets the tone, makes sure the pieces work together, and knows the material well enough that everyone else's talent can come through. That means knowing the script backward and forward, with ten contingency plans for every scene, so actors and crew trust the preparation. Then he leaves room for the unexpected.

Film drew him in as a narrative tool: lens choices, lighting, editing, and the way color shapes the tone of a story. His short The Alibi, drawn from his own life and set on a single afternoon in 1982, premiered at the 25th Beverly Hills Film Festival and was selected for the Palm Springs Shorts market. He's now developing it into a pilot. Set in 2017, it follows a struggling Chicago history teacher who tells his young son about a seemingly innocent fishing trip, the one that first pulled him into his father's criminal world. Retelling it forces him to face the family legacy of violence, drugs, memory, and addiction he has spent his adult life trying to rewrite. With his partner Allison Sanchez, he runs False Dice Pictures, built on a simple belief: a great story deserves to be heard.

MFA, The Conservatory at Roosevelt University. AEA, SAG-AFTRA.