mission
Theater has a tremendous capacity to transform our perceptions. I direct theater to tell stories about the human condition and expand my understanding of the world. I seek to expand others’ understanding, and challenge barriers, prejudices, taboos in content and form.
It’s about working with people. I create community within the teams of artists I lead, with the fervent belief in the strength of a collective vision. It’s then about creating community within the audience and sharing that collective vision with them.
aesthetic
My work is experimental in process and content and form. It stands on what and who has come before, but plunges fearlessly into the unknown.
I create interdisciplinary live performances that are relevant, imaginative, and accessible.
I collaborate with space and humans, creating unique, holistic audience experiences.
I sculpt immersive worlds for my characters and for my audiences.
I am a storyteller. Narrative is exciting, but not always essential. I dream in non-linear space, and use image and movement and rhythm and design to probe our exquisite existence.
I am inspired by the everyday and the extraordinary.
process
I create performance through a practice of consciousness.
It’s about listening and breathing. Integrating the art of yoga into the creation of art. Honoring the work and the collaborators. Not accepting the hierarchies that titles impose. Acknowledging the genius of self and of others. Fusing ideas together. Sculpting the fusion.
I begin with an investigation. This can be solo, or with a group. It is the generation and investigation of an idea. What is it? What do we want to do with it? This is undertaken practically rather than cerebrally. We work on our feet. We get messy with art. We throw out ideas and images and possible avenues. And I take them and shave them and hone them into a concept for the project. A collective vision that is our springboard.
Specifically: I, or another, initiates a project with a kernel of an idea. I form an ensemble of artists across disciplines to tackle the idea. Our first meeting is a making -- everyone brings in ideas, we write and talk and share. Then we get up on our feet and start to physically explore possibilities. Everyone’s voice is heard - regardless of title or role. Actors can have lighting ideas, and sound designers can have set ideas. This is chaos, the good kind. Then we write and talk and share some more. I try to focus our ideas towards a concept. We take some time between makings. And we come back and do it again and again. (Depending on our timeframe.) I like to go on artist retreats for part of the initial process and workshopping. Being with nature and in a holistically artistic environment feeds the whimsical and the spiritual. We take the bucket of ideas, and make large word and image collages on the wall. We move the components around. We pare it down. We solidify our concept. We continue to brainstorm.
The exploration of the vision is the meat. It is the hands-on undertaking of an idea by an ensemble with a collective vision and goal. Each process is tailored to the ideas being explored. Every creation is unique. But on every project, I demand that all involved contribute actively in the rehearsal room and more than just in their chosen discipline. I lead the rehearsals. Unless another does.
Specifically: We begin our rehearsals together with our warmup ritual. We breathe, we move, we start the work in the warmup. Crafting the experience of the performance event is as important as crafting the relationships, the scenes, the images, the design. With our stated vision as our guide, I helm the project, ensuring we are creating in that vein, unless our genius demands we veer in a slightly altered direction. I remain open to possibilities while steering us towards our goal. We ask a lot of questions. We build our product collaboratively and with a rigorous exploration of our artistic impulses and any associated theory. We explore new ways of working and explode our assumptions for how we should be working. The closer we move towards our presentation deadline, the stronger my hand is felt in the sculpting of the whole. Ensemble members increasingly take charge of their designated area. And I ensure that the piece is moving forward creatively and cohesively. I shave off the excess and make bold and violent decisions, with consideration for others’ opinions. The piece becomes set. And yet, it is a living organism.
The sharing of the creation, with a space, with an audience, is a gift. It is a chance for those who have been outside of our process to now join us in dialogue. We pay immense attention to the details of presentation, curating the audience experience from the moment they reserve a ticket. The sharing is our opportunity to impact the world -- to boldly put forth our creative ideas into the artistic and greater communities, and to share this methodology of working. To inspire others to create in this fashion.