Steven Tanenbaum is the co writer/director of the Slamdance Grand Jury Prize winner (2022) Straighten Up and Fly Right. Tanenbaum was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a severe form of crippling arthritis, when he was eleven. The arthritis curved his spine into a vertebral question mark and accounts for his bent point of view and twenty-year streak of never stepping in dog poop. In 2004, walking home after a performance of his play, MONO, he was run over by a truck. Less than eight months later, while still recuperating, he directed, Coming Soon, his first feature film.

Tanenbaum started the film/theatre production company, Another Urban Riff, in 2002; and since then, has written and directed eight plays (including MONO which ran for 4 years), four short films and three feature-length films. His films were official selections at festivals around the world and have won numerous awards.  Tanenbaum’s plays have been performed in Paris, Barcelona and Sao Paolo.

For over a decade, Tanenbaum has worked with a dedicated ensemble that has developed a style of performing that could only transpire when the same artists collaborate together for many years. Other actors Tanenbaum has directed include: Ezra Miller (Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, The Flash), Andre Holland (Moonlight, The Knick), Mereille Enos (The Killing), Cara Seymour (The Knick), Lori Petty (Tank Girl), Utkarsh Ambudkar (Pitch Perfect), Sam Rockwell (True West), and Jessica Kresa/One Dirty Bitch (Three-time World Champion Professional Wrestler).
Tanenbaum is a published monologist. His one-man show, Q101 or How To Get To Rikers, a critical hit, was based on his experiences as a teacher in a maxi-maxi security facility and AIDS ward on Rikers Island.