DJ Salisbury

BIO for DJ Salisbury
As Director- Choreographer, DJ has set shows nationwide from California to Maine, Florida to Montana. Theatre's for which he has set shows include Paper Mill Playhouse, Musical Theatre West, Pioneer Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Sacramento Music Circus, ArtsCenter of Coastal Carolina, Hampton Playhouse, Gateway Playhouse, Bristol Riverside Theatre, North Carolina Theatre, Finger Lakes Music Theatre Festival, Ogunquit Playhouse, Theatre Raleigh, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, and Dallas Summer Musicals.

DJ Salisbury co-founded the Musical Writers’ Playground, a peer support organization for writers, and was its Artistic Director for five years. In the group he met composer Neil Berg (Off-Broadway’s The Prince and the Pauper, new musicals Grumpy Old Men and The Twelve) and began writing The Man Who Would Be King based on the Kipling novella. Selected and presented by three national musical theatre festivals, Moisés Kaufman has acted as the musical’s primary dramaturge. The show had a fully mounted production at the University of Buffalo in 2015.

Other musicals that DJ has written are Children on Their Birthdays -an adaptation of a Truman Capote story, In Search of the Sparkle- a family musical based on British story books, an original children’s musical magic show, Poodleful! (commissioned by Riverside Theatricals, composer Ken Clifton), Merlin’s Magicademy (produced in Six Flags theme parks throughout North America), and an Appalachian Christmas piece entitled Moonshine and Mistletoe (produced by Showlink LLC, given a major NYC reading at York Theatre, 2016; selected for production in December 2019 at the Jenny Wiley Theatre Company).

Currently, DJ is working on several new musical projects: Where the Lilies Bloom based on the Bill and Vera Cleaver novel, Chump Shag- A dance theatre piece based on the film noir of the 1930’s, Whisper Darkly -an immersive theatre piece set in a New York speakeasy circa 1928 being created in collaboration with Andrew Gerle (multi award-winning composer/lyricist).

DJ has been an SDC director and choreographer for 22 years and has worked nationwide in various capacities: As associate director, he worked on Baby (as revised for Paper Mill Playhouse), Harold and Maude (by Jones and Thalken), Long Road Home (book and lyrics by Barry Harmon), and Femme Fatale (by Hermann and Harmon). As assistant to Jeff Calhoun on The Will Rogers Follies, DJ worked alongside theater greats Peter Stone, Betty Comden, Adolf Green, Cy Coleman and Tommy Tune. Most recently he was associate director to Jeff Calhoun and Associate Choreographer to Lorin Latarro (choreographer of Broadway’s Waitress) on Between the Lines based on Jodi Piccoult’s novel.

DJ is contributing writer for the rock and roll musical CHIX 6 (by indie rock phenom Lourds Lane). He directed the show’s AEA workshop, multiple readings, and its Off-Broadway production. The musical has been optioned by The Nederlander organization.

Awards received include LA Scenie Best Director Award (Les Miserables, Musical Theatre West) and his play about Sandow the Magnificent, Perfect European Man, won Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Production Awards of Distinction in the 2010 Fresh Fruit Festival.

DJ’s musical screenplay “Only Time will Tell” was produced by RIPFest in 2009 and was selected to be screened in 2011 as part of ‘The Best Films of a Decade of RIPFest.”
DJ wrote Kindling, a screenplay commissioned and produced by administrative staff of New York Film Academy. It is currently in the short film festival circuit. It won Best Director at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival.
The film musical short “Bang Boom Pow” featured a screenplay by DJ and he co-wrote lyrics with composer Daniel Lincoln.
Atlantis Events commissioned DJ to write, direct, and produce The HoneyBoys and Versatile Reality Featuring the HoneyBoys for seven of its world famous cruises.
DJ has written industrial shows for Overland Entertainment in NYC, Creative Innovation Team NYC, and Corporate Magic based in Dallas. Major clients for which he has written songs and comic sketches include Rite Aid, Suzuki, Computer Associates, Prudential Real Estate, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Dallas Cowboys, Girl Scouts USA, and J.C. Penney.
In fall 2007, DJ was head writer (telescript and lyrics) for the state of Oklahoma’s Emmy winning Centennial Celebration featuring Reba McIntyre, Vince Gill, Shirley Jones, Carrie Underwood and Kelli O’Hara.
DJ wrote both music and lyrics for the opening numbers of three nationally televised Rose Parades in Pasadena.
Born and raised in Kentucky, DJ graduated with honors from Western Kentucky University with a BFA in Performing Arts.