As I’m getting ready to remount (August 24! at the Rose!) my 2018 production of Antony and Cleopatra at Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company, I have been thinking about my first time directing it, back in 2003. The whole thing sounds crazy to me, when I think about it. My undergrad theater department, which I had […]
I often get the question, “Do you only direct Shakespeare?” Of course not. I love all forms of Renaissance verse drama! Joking! But people do ask this, often. I thought it might be interesting to run my stats. Although I list my directing credits very comprehensively, for this analysis, I didn’t count any staged readings, […]
People I hardly know have started coming up to me and saying, “So, I hear you’re doing As You Like It at Harrisonburg High School next year,” which I guess means I can announce it! I’m excited to work with HHS students on their spring show. I’ve had a few eye rolls from snotty people […]
I’m thrilled to share that I’ll be working with the York College Theater Division this fall! I’m directing On The Verge or: The Geography of Yearning. Being invited to do a show written in my lifetime is a fun change (much as I do love Renaissance drama!), and working with a new group of collaborators […]
Most images by Seraphina Zorn, taken at the Dog Story Theater in Grand Rapids, March 5, 2019.
I have been noodling over a mystery for the past couple of weeks, and I’m curious to hear other theater makers weigh in on it. The audience response to Richard III at Pigeon Creek Shakespeare has been incredible. People are hissing and booing at Richard when he’s messing with Queen Elizabeth. High school kids at […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to do a play about wickedness with such fundamentally kind people. Richard, after all, isn’t the only mean-spirited or ambitious person in this play. A number of people are out for revenge. At least three are willing to take a life in exchange for a few […]
The process for Richard III at Pigeon Creek was unusual because I spent the first three weeks (of a four-week process) directing via Skype. Now that the show is up and I’m done with my bit of it, I wanted to take some time to reflect on how it went, overall, and what I might […]
I knew, going into Richard, that I would have a huge personal connection with the women in this play. “It’s a play about motherhood,” I kept telling people who raised a skeptical eyebrow when they heard the title. I didn’t expect to be so moved by Richard’s sociopathy. I’m completely the opposite of a sociopath, […]
My master’s thesis (one of them…) was about using sounds to communicate information about what was happening off-stage. It’s a core component of the “theater of imagination” that we engage with in the Original Practices community. I’m always a little disappointed when I go see a show and I notice that they’ve cut or ignored […]