Salvatore Mannino
Artistic Director & Extraordinary Professor of Theatre Arts
Departments
- College of Music and Media
- Theatre Arts & Dance
Programs
Bio
Sal Mannino is an independent creative producer originally from New Orleans, LA. He has collaborated with a variety of companies in New York, Los Angeles, and other cities around the country. In addition to producing independently, Mannino is also a co-founder of NightLightLabs, a Los Angeles-based interactive media company specializing in technology-driven storytelling.
With NightLight Labs, Sal serves as the Producing Director where he oversees the day-to-day operations of the company. NightLight develops adventures that aim to challenge the status quo of how audiences absorb and interact with storytelling. NightLight’s creative endeavors span across multiple modes of interaction including virtual & augmented reality (XR), projection mapping, location and application based experiences, and content creation. In addition to producing their own work, NightLight also collaborates with other artists and organizations to deliver their interactive projects. The company’s recent original project, The Dial, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival where it was met with overwhelming acclaim. NightLight Labs has also collaborated with The Metropolitan Opera, Porsche, Human Rights Foundation, NOAA, Pride, Mousetrappe, RYOT, Invertigo Dance Theatre and musician, Andrew Bird.
Prior to forming NightLight Labs, Mannino served as a producing associate with Mara Isaacs and her company, Octopus Theatricals where he collaborated on the Tony Award winning musical, Hadestown, Signature Theatre’s presentation of Theater For One in addition to US tours for Phantom Limb Company, Hungary’s Bela Pinter and Company and Poland’s Song of the Goat Theatre. Sal has also collaborated with the Center for New Performance where he served as an associate producer and contributed to the world premiere of Fantomas: Revenge of the Image at the Wuhzen Theatre Festival and the world premiere of Lars Jan’s The Institute of Memory (TIMe) at REDCAT. In New York, Sal also founded the Rebirth Theatre Company, where he produced developmental workshops and concerts. Sal has worked professionally as an actor and stage manager on many productions around the country including a pre-Broadway tryout of Soul Doctor, National Pastime at Playwrights’ Horizons, and many other regional experiences. He has collaborated on new works with companies such as Theatre for the New City, Workshop Theatre Company, and the Algonquin Theater Company in addition to collaborating with INTAR Theatre's HPRL Program, and training with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company.
Mannino has taught Independent Producing at CalArts, and has served as a guest lecturer at University of Colorado - Boulder, Loyola University New Orleans, and the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. Sal holds his MFA in Creative Producing from the California Institute of the Arts and his BA from the University of Southern Mississippi.