Written by Jose Romero
At just 18, Dylan Pitanza enrolled in the One-Year Conservatory at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, following a childhood that included acting in Shakespeare Downtown and summers in the Young Actors Program. Today, he’s a full-time actor, director, and producer—and the co-founder of Utopia for Losers, a rising theatre company dedicated to putting up the plays others forget, abandon, or overlook.
Bringing Mud to Life
Utopia for Losers’ latest production is Mud by María Irene Fornés, an unflinching and emotionally raw portrait of a woman trapped in poverty, illiteracy, and toxic love. “I first encountered Mud during theatre history at Strasberg,” Pitanza says. “It was unorthodox and deeply human. There’s so much complexity in its subtext, and yet the dialogue says so little. It’s brilliant.” Set against the bleak backdrop of post-missile-crisis America, the story follows Mae, a woman suffocating in a love triangle with two men who wish to love her but lack the emotional capacity to do so.
Directing Mud, for Pitanza, has been a lesson in artistic responsibility. “This is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done—for myself and the cast. I feel a great responsibility to dedicate time and energy to truth,” he explains. The play, often performed with exaggerated absurdity, is approached here with rigor, intimacy, and respect. “A lot of productions have treated it like a comedic farce. But for me, as a Hispanic person, I’ve seen so many depictions where people like us are caricatured for entertainment. Mud is not that. It’s a piece full of immense pain. It deserves care.”
That care extended to the casting process, the rehearsal room, and the production’s tone. “This work is electric, loud, and aggressive—not to make fools of ourselves, but because that’s who we [Latinos] are. There’s a fine line, and we’re walking it with purpose. We’re being diligent about reflecting real people who have endured educational inequity, poverty, and systemic oppression.” Fornés, a Cuban immigrant and an underground legend of New York’s Lower East Side theatre scene, is rarely discussed in the cultural zeitgeist, Pitanza notes. “She’s a Hispanic woman, and her work matters. People engaged with Mud will leave knowing more about themselves.”
Utopia for Losers: Theatre for the Underdogs
Founded with fellow LSTFI alum Sawyer Barth, Utopia for Losers has carved out a space in the New York scene that Pitanza proudly describes as “punk and grunge.” Their mission is clear: amplify the voices of outcasts, outsiders, and overlooked characters. Previous productions include Art by Yasmina Reza, Welcome to the Moon by John Patrick Shanley, Reasons to be Pretty by Neil LaBute, and Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead by Eric Bogosian. These plays tackle everything from race relations to gender politics and personal disconnection.
Pitanza and Barth, both working actors with experience in film and TV, began the company out of frustration. “We’re fortunate to book industry jobs,” Pitanza says. “But so often you’re on set with people you don’t connect with, doing work that isn’t satisfying. We wanted to dive into something more fulfilling. So we started this.” What followed was the creation of a vibrant community made up of young artists from NYU, Fordham, Esper Studio, and, of course, LSTFI.
“We’ve built a network of creatives who are hungry to make something real. In this streaming age, it’s so easy to consume passively. But theatre demands you sink in, experience something, and come out changed.” The company is growing. Bigger projects are coming. But their philosophy remains grounded: tell the truth, amplify the voices that matter, and care deeply about the work.
From LSTFI to the Stage
The Institute left a lasting imprint on Pitanza’s process, not just as an actor, but as a director and producer as well. “The Method doesn’t let you cut corners,” he says. “It demands that you be truthful, immersed, and dedicated. That’s something I carry with me in everything I do. Whether I’m directing or acting, I’m not trying to manufacture something—I’m trying to be inside the play, live it fully, even in production design.”
Teachers like Ted Zurkowski and Marcel Simoneau were early champions of creating your own work, a message that stuck. “They were passionate about the idea that if the work isn’t coming to you, go out and make it.” For Pitanza, that meant learning every angle: how to secure rights, find rehearsal spaces, produce on a budget, and build community from the ground up.
He urges current LSTFI students to do the same. “Keep yourself busy. Keep learning outside the classroom. Make something that means something. Not just entertainment, but something that sticks to people and causes them to think about themselves and the world.”
Pitanza is clear-eyed about the paradox of being an artist today. “There’s ego in this industry—we all know that. But art can be selfless. It can be a protest. It can be a powerful shift in how people see themselves and others.”
What’s Next
Mud runs for five performances at the American Theatre of Actors, and tickets are available through the Utopia for Losers Instagram with a discount code LSTFI25 for current LSTFI students. All ticketing is handled through Humanitix, with service fees donated to charity—a fitting detail for a production rooted in care.
Looking ahead, Utopia for Losers isn’t slowing down. “It’s been a really exciting journey,” Pitanza says. “We’re continuously growing, continuously reaching further.” His personal takeaway from this process? “Good work prevails. If your heart is in the right place and you’re being kind and thoughtful, the work will find its audience. No matter what happens in the world, art that is made with care will always matter.”
For updates, follow @dylanpitanza and @utopia4losers on Instagram.
Because at the end of the day, as Pitanza puts it: “If we put weight and importance on creating good work, people will feel it.”