David Petrarca

Director of Chicago's famed Goodman Theatre from 1988 to 2005, accomplished helmer David Petrarca stepped behind the camera as a director of television on the Golden Globe-nominated 1997 drama series "Nothing Sacred." Petrarca subsequently honed his small-screen craft steering episodes of WB and CW-network teen dramas and primetime soaps, from "Dawson's Creek" to "Everwood," on which he also served as a producer. He again pulled double duty as director and executive producer on both the critically- acclaimed comedy series "Eli Stone" and the hit Lifetime dramedy "Drop Dead Diva." Shifting successfully between screen and stage, Petrarca led the 2003 Broadway musical "A Year with Frog and Toad" to three Tony nominations, before completing his first feature-length motion picture, the musical direct-to-video sequel "Save the Last Dance 2." The director confirmed his consummate versatility helming a trio of wildly different HBO series, delivering within a single season notable episodes of the network's male escort comedy "Hung," the vampire soap "True Blood," and the provocative polygamist drama "Big Love." In addition to his career as a director, Petrarca shares his knowledge as an educator who has taught at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Northwestern University.