Neal J. Freeman is a Brooklyn-based theater artist and the founder and Artistic Director of Engine37. He also serves as Executive Director of The Gallery Players, Brooklyn's premiere Off-Off-Broadway theater company.

Neal graduated from Cornell University in 1997 with a degree in English and Theatre Arts. As an honors directing student, he received the rare opportunity to direct on the Cornell mainstage during his senior year (David Ives' All in the Timing). Neal continues to serve the Cornell Department of Theatre, Film, & Dance as an Associate Artist and has returned to Ithaca twice as a guest director.

After graduating Cornell, Neal worked in Baltimore for seven years as a director, writer, teacher, and performer. He held a long association with Open Space Arts, a non-profit community arts center, where he directed works by Shakespeare, Brecht, and Oliver Goldsmith as well as new works including his award-winning production of Fifty-Fifty by Rich Espey (winner, Best Production, 2003 Baltimore Playwrights Festival).

Neal worked as writer, director, and performer for ten years on Open Space Arts' annual Great Doings Day, an outdoor festival featuring new works for giant puppets. While in Baltimore, he served as an assistant to directors Irene Lewis, George Faison, and David Schweizer at Baltimore's CENTERSTAGE where he also appeared as an actor in Irene Lewis' productions of Mary Stuart and Sweeney Todd and worked in the box office and in Company Management.

Since moving to NYC in 2004, Neal has directed for The Gallery Players, Sonnet Repertory, Cornell University, Epic Theater Center, Ensemble Studio Theater, Naked Angels, and Engine37. Among his NYC directing credits are Shakespeare (As You Like It and The Tempest), Molière (The Learned Ladies), The Laramie Project, the musicals Thoroughly Modern Millie (2009 Review Fix Award winner, Best Musical), The Wild Party (Lippa), and Top of the Heap, Nat Cassidy's new play The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots (2009 NYIT Award nomination, Best Production of a Play), and TJ Edwards' new adaptation of Voltaire's Candide. Neal's puppet adaptation of Romeo & Juliet set in a world of consumerism run amok, entitled Fatboy Romeo, had a sold-out run at the Cherry Lane Theatre as part of the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival.

Neal has assisted director Bob McGrath of Ridge Theater on a handful of productions including Decasia Live!, Anatomy Theatre, Shelter, and Mac Wellman and David Lang's The Difficulty of Crossing a Field. He has worked on projects and readings at such venues as 45 Bleecker, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Kasser Theatre at Montclair, New World Stages, The Century Center, New York Theatre Workshop, BAM, St. Ann's Warehouse, Angel Orensanz, and the Lucille Lortel. Neal has served as a reader and dramaturg for the New York Musical Theater Festival and for 3 years served as the Manager of Research and Labor Information Services for The Broadway League.

Neal received his MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College in May 2010.

Photos, press quotes, and resume are available at moatedgrange.com.