Dafidd McCracken

It was simply by circumstance that Dafidd met Harold Clurman. Dafidd and Mr. Clurman, the legendary founder of The Group Theatre, were both at the University of New Mexico when one afternoon Dafidd, a political science major at the time, slipped into the theatre department and took a seat in Mr. Clurman's Master class. As good luck would have it no one asked Dafidd to leave and as he listened to Clurman's passionate style of social and artistic ideals Dafidd was quickly struck with such a soaring certainty about what he wanted to do with his life that within three days he had switched his major from political science to theatre arts. In collage he acted in everything from Shakespeare to experimental plays, winning accolades and the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center/American Collage Theatre Festival Award for acting. This lead to an invitation to join the professional resident acting company at the celebrated Tony award winning Alley Theatre in Houston. His first week at the Alley, Dafidd was cast in a play opposite the late Ruth Nelson, another founding member of The Group Theatre. The Alley with its two theaters and range of classical and new plays gave Dafidd his first experience in repertoire theatre and all that goes with it. At one point during his second season with the Alley he was cast in a production of Freidrich Duerrenmat's existential play "The Visit". An important production to be apart of for it was to mark the return to the stage of one of America's most venerated actresses, Emmy, Tony and Acadamy Award nominee Ms. Kim Stanley. Unfortunately on the first day of rehearsal Ms. Stanley sent word that she had had a change of heart do to her well-known bouts with stage fright and that regrettably the production would have to go on without her. About this time Dafidd met and was asked by the prolific award-winning British playwright Alan Ayckbourn to take part in the first ever exchange of acting companies between the United States and the UK. As a member of Mr. Ayckbourn's repertoire acting company Dafidd spent the next year in England on stage almost every night. One of the highlights was sharing in the experience of the creation of Ayckbourn's most ambitious production to date, "Intimate Exchanges". A 3000-page play, with 30 scene, 16 different endings, and only two actors. It took an entire year of evenings to perform the play in its entirety. Upon returning to the United States Dafidd relocated to the San Francisco Bay area and quickly established himself as a veteran stage actor working with companies such as the Berkeley Stage and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival where he worked with directors, actors, and playwrights from San Francisco's seminal Magic theater company. It was in San Francisco that he met yet another founding member of The Group Theatre, the distinguished Stella Adler. Ms. Adler all but insisted that Dafidd relocate to New York and study with her. It was in New York while studying with Ms. Adler and honing his skills in off-Broadway theatre that Dafidd took a part time job as a bartender at the Neil Simon Theater. On his first night he was sent up to the theater's empty balcony and told he would be working with someone named Aaron. That Aaron turned out to be Aaron Sorkin. They became quick friends and Dafidd has since appeared in a number of Aaron Sorkin's projects including Sports Night and a recurring role on The West Wing. Dafidd made his film debut in 1987 in an uncredited role in John Schlesinger's The Believers. His fist TV part came in 1988 in a recurring roll on the Young and the Restless. Since then he has moved freely between film, TV, and stage as an actor, director and writer. He also occasionally coaches privately and has taught at a few select universities around the country.