I am drawn to work that requires vulnerability and intimacy. In my professional life outside of directing, I have been an advocate and therapist for survivors of abuse. I know how to create and hold a space that feels safe to navigate trauma. As a director, I choose plays that ask us to take off our masks and reveal what is really going on. I invite material that makes us confront our humanity.
As a reader for the Relentless Award, I’ve discovered that the plays I always gravitate towards are relentless. Relentless in truthfulness and in fearlessness. I always ask “what did this play cost the writer?” The pieces that cost the writer something are the ones that really move me emotionally and intellectually. I am interested in plays that don’t offer me a safe distance and require me to open up.
I am someone who thinks and talks about gender, race, sexuality and religion all the time. My point of view is largely informed by being queer. I am always looking for opportunities to create art that reflects identity in an intersectional way. I have never seen my specific relationship represented in theater or film. I also rarely ever meet directors that look like me. All of this fuels me to tell stories that reflect my life and my community.
I always bring to my work a serious sense of play, dark humor and absurdism. I am thrilled by plays that creatively explore form. I aim to direct work that can both heal and provoke an audience. I am someone who is both extremely silly and can be very serious. I lead with a clear vision and love creating a vision with a team. I hope to continue to bring my authentic self to all the theater I create.