SPINNING A TALE
Dylan Delroy Davis is a creative filmmaker and director based in Cincinnati, OH, known for producing unique and unconventional films and plays. With a background in theatre and film, Dylan has directed and written several acclaimed short films and plays, collaborating with various theatre companies and festivals. As the Creative Director of Second Hand Henry Films, Dylan is committed to crafting original and thought-provoking content that challenges the norm.
Their written work includes the plays Constipated, People Eater, Channel Surfing: An Unauthorized Nightmare, The Hour Between, and the short story Move Thirty-Seven. They also wrote and directed the short films She’s Not Like Other Girls and What Went Wrong with the Domestic Dog, both produced by Second Hand Henry Films in 2025; the former was selected and screened by the Lift-Off Global Film Festival. “Move Thirty Seven” was published in Little Demon’s anthology Universe in Flux in 2025.
As a Director, they have worked with The Cincinnati Fringe Festival, The Know Theatre (Cincinnati, OH), Traffic Jam Theatre Company (Savannah, GA), The 404 Collective (Savannah , GA), The Savannah Theatre, The Conspirators (Chicago, IL), The Chicago Parks Department, and The Unvarnished Theatre Company.
They received their BFA in Acting from Northern Kentucky University and an MFA in Performing Arts from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD).
In 2024, they were named “Artist to Watch” by both Shoutout Atlanta and Canvas Rebel magazines. They have been the creative director of the independent collective Second Hand Henry Films since 2024 and a member of the Cincinnati Playwright’s Initiative (CPI) since 2026.
Photo by Maddie Steele
Art for me has always been a way in which I organized the chaos of the world around me, it was the way I found sense and meaning in a world I was slowly growing to find unpredictable. Along the way, the stage has provided me with so many experiences, loves, losses, triumphs, tribulations, good times, and bad - but at the end of the day, when I examine my relationship with art, I always arrive at one universal constant: art affirms the human experience, informs the culture of being, and makes us all feel less alone.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Photo by Maddie Steele
My passion and technique as a director wasn't taught: years of performing as an actor was my directing school. I learned what worked and I learned what didn't. I learned how I liked for a director to talk to me and I learned what I hated. I learned how to get my ideas across and I learned how to share the stage with the ensemble - this being my most important lesson.
You cannot move the world alone - you need every single person in your ensemble to stand with you, not behind or before you. An ensemble is a wolf pack - you can't cage them up and bark orders, you have to run with the wolves and that's where the adventure of "creating the thing" is born. In starting our wolf packs, we learn how to connect to each other and ourselves, and the material.
We howl together, sharing our message with anyone who will listen. There truly is no comparison to the shared experience of art and what it can do for the community, the culture, and the self. timeless. With a blend of creativity, strategy, and heart, we help ideas come to life. Every project we take on is an opportunity to learn, grow, and do something meaningful. We treat our clients like partners and our work like craft.
As a director, I search for new or subversive ways to explore the themes in the classics, or new ways to say what the piece has always said. I am an advocate for my performers - not only their time, but their physical and mental well-being and creative input. I don't direct my actors and I certainly don't show or tell them anything - I'm along for the ride with them. We rehearse together, we create together, and we dream together. My rehearsal room might sound scary, but the good news is you're never alone. In this unpredictable world, you have to invent something unpredictable - and you have to do it together.
You never have to howl alone.