Department of Theatre Assistant Professor David Reed Earns Title of ‘Fight Director’

Assistant professor David Reed has been awarded the title of “Fight Director” from the Society of American Fight Directors. Receiving the award earlier this year, he became the 71st individual worldwide with the same title, 65 of whom are currently practicing.

According to the society, “a Fight Director is any individual who is endorsed by the SAFD to direct and/or choreograph incidents of physical violence in a professional entertainment setting.”

In addition to his newly awarded Fight Director title, Reed is a Certified Teacher with the SAFD, as well as an associate member of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and a Certified Intimacy Director with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators.

Reed discovered his talent for fight choreography and directing during graduate degree studies at Louisiana Tech University, where he earned an M.A. in speech/theatre. After learning that the program held more certified fight choreographers than any other institution in the country, he took one class and immediately saw a future in the field. 

Reed says, “It made sense to me in a way that other performance theories had not. I could immediately see the application of theory and practice in the drills and performance.”

Reed went on to earn an M.F.A. in directing from Baylor University, all the while continuing to seek out training across a spectrum of movement pedagogies, most notably Commedia Dell’Arte with international master Antonio Fava and Meyerhold’s Biomechanics with Gennady Bogdanov. However, it is through combining fight choreography and directing that he found his preferred mode of storytelling through movement. 

“Really the practicality of it was most likely what led me to directing and fight directing in general. Working in stage combat provided a practical vocabulary for storytelling which I have in turn utilized in all facets of theatre.”

Reed can be found teaching movement, stage combat, and various other classes, in addition to his Fight Director and choreographer roles with multiple shows for the U of A Department of Theatre, as well as regionally and across the country.

For more information about his class offerings, please inquire by email at theatre@uark.edu.

This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.