Our Team

Joel Kirk is a New York City based award-winning theatre director and producer who specializes in the development of new plays and musicals. He has worked with The Public, New World Stages, Playwrights Horizons, Westport County Playhouse, The Lark, New Dramatists, to name a few. He has collaborated with Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, and Tony-winning artists as well as Pulitzer Prize winning playwrights. He has guest directed for NYU’S Grad Playwriting Program, Juilliard, Belmont University, and Fordham University’s Playwriting Program. Currently, he is developing two new plays, several musicals, and a new musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet featuring such authors as Emmy-winning composer Gary Fry, and Grammy nominated composers Cody Fry and LOLO. Joel is the Chairman/CEO of Joel Kirk Productions LLC: a production company that produces commercial theatre and comedy specials. He serves as the director/producer of the touring show Theater Adult featuring Comedian Gianmarco Soresi whose past guests include comedian Joel Kim Booster.

Before launching Discovering Broadway, Joel joined NewYorkRep as their first Associate Artistic Director. He proposed and launched the company’s education fellowship. He worked alongside Artistic Director Markus Potter and Executive Director Gayle Waxenberg.

As a filmmaker, his documentary Race Across America: Gears to a Cure premiered at Flix Brewhouse in Indianapolis. His work for IWDC was featured at the Indianapolis Roof Ballroom. In 2012, his short film Rotating Clock won Heartland Film Festival. He directed, produced, and co-authored the film Of What Remains which won Best Screenplay and Best Editing from C.H.S Film Festival.

As a writer, he co-authored the new musical If You Don’t Outdie Me in association with the Virginia B. Ball Center Commission and the Brown County Playhouse. Joel is a recipient of Indianapolis Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2023. He is co-owner of Yoke Pavilion, a 107-year old commercial building in Garfield Park, and co-founder and chair of the nonprofit Imagine Indy, whose mission is to increase the quality of life and culture in the Garfield Park community through public spaces, gardens, and art. He is a Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Union Observership Class of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. Joel graduated Ball State University in three years with a degree in Theatrical Directing.