LOS ANGELES: USC School of Dramatic Arts has named David Bridel the dean of the school, effective today. Bridel has served as the interim dean since July of 2015, and succeeds Madeline Puzo in the role.

“Thanks to the school’s outstanding faculty and staff, the talent of its graduates, and the quality and passion of the current student body, the school is primed for future greatness and recognition under professor Bridel’s leadership,” said provost Michael Quick in a letter to the University.

Bridel currently serves as associate professor of theatre practice in voice and movement. Previously, he held the positions of associate dean of global initiatives, director of the MFA acting program, and head of the movement program within the MFA acting department at USC. In addition to teaching, he is a director, playwright, performer, and choreographer. He is the associate director of the theatre company Four Clowns, and the founding artistic director of the Clown School in Los Angeles. His plays include I Gelosi and Sublimity, which won the Best Satire Award at the 2013 United Solo Festival in New York. He is also the recipient of an ARC Grant from the Center for Cultural Initiatives, a Cultural Engagement grant from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, an Entertainment Weekly Special Events Award, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fiction Award, among others. He co-authored Clowns: In Conversation With Modern Maters with Ezra Lebank. Bridel has contributed to American Theatre magazine and The Soul of the American Actor periodicals.