Statement of Directing Philosophy
My identity as a multifaceted theatre artist is integral to my work as a director. I approach every aspect of the production from multiple perspectives, directly and intimately engaging with my collaborators to create a nuanced and dimensional piece of theatre. I believe in curiosity and in creating spaces where we are dedicated to progress, rather than immediate perfection.
I am a director who is defined not by product, but by process. I use the rehearsal room as a laboratory to explore detailed text work, distinct movement vocabularies, and inventive revelations of space to deepen the means through which we can communicate both within the world of the play and in our lives outside of the theater. I believe in shattering the walls of the rehearsal room and pushing a play until it breaks so we have the opportunity to rebuild our understanding of the work as a company.
I am interested in projects that are highly theatrical and deeply intimate. As film and television continue to innovate, so too must live theatre and I feel that the strongest way to accomplish this is by leaning into the aspects of live performance that cannot be adequately replicated on film. I am a director who builds bold new experiences and I firmly submit that this will increase the vitality of the art form on a national scale, even when the work is done at a personal and local level.
Presently, I am also working to find new means of de-centering the white colonial narrative that has long been a part of American theatre. I am asking how we can make a larger push through multiculturalism and towards heightened cultural competency, and uncovering ways in which art can be an essential part of that discussion. While this is not an issue for which I have a defined solution, it is a conversation with which I am trying to actively engage. At the moment I believe that one part of the solution is to engage with new work and devised theatre, where there are more generative voices participating in the creation of the work. I also think that part of the solution is teaching an awareness of how and from were our value systems have been indoctrinated, and creating a network of creators with whom those value systems can be questioned, challenged, or heightened in order to create a paradigm shift.
Because I am also a playwright, I have a natural inclination toward new work, but I appreciate the flexibility and perceived universality of “classic” plays across all cultures (although I am most well-versed in Shakespeare, Cowley, Ibsen, and Chekhov). Some of the contemporary writers I love include: