17
Nov

Pages for Stages: Jalissa Fulton

I’m so excited to share the first of our Stages of Pages for Stages project (not sure what that is? Read the intro). The first actor brave enough to share her page is Jalissa Fulton. Huge thanks to her, and to the Anthropologists, the theater devising the show we talked about. The Actor Jalissa Fulton […]

11
Nov

Stages of Pages for Stages

I’m about to start a new project over here, and I’m pretty excited about it. Recently, I was working on Measure for Measure at the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company. One evening in rehearsal, I was talking to an actor and happened to glance down at their script. What I saw was fascinating—colors, notes, scribbles, arrows. […]

19
Apr

Healing Powers

Come spiritCome charmCome days that are warmCome magical spellCome help him get well If you’re a former theater kid who now has a both favorite kind of ibuprofen and a favorite Taylor Swift song, you probably recognize these words. They’re the ritual created in the last scene of the musical Secret Garden, where the children […]

20
Jun

Merry Wives program note

As we approach the last weekend of Merry Wives at Quill Theatre, I wanted to share my program note. “Why this play? Why now?” indeed. This is the Merry Wives summer. As we gather in Richmond, audiences are convening in Los Angeles, Bismarck, Atlanta, and countless other cities to experience the same slapstick romp. Shakespeare’s […]

16
Mar

Where Our Work Is

I keep thinking about this article from the SDC Journal, by the brilliant Sara Holdren. It’s the genre of article we’ve all read a thousand times and are kind of sick of: “How does the theater look after pandemic?” kind of thing. But it’s smart, funny, compelling. It’s what all those other articles are trying […]

Creativity Midwife

In the pandemic period of No Theater (as opposed to Noh Theater, which is also kind of slow and weird, but different), I found a lot of interesting ways to use my skills as a director. I directed people through the process of getting their COVID shots, which was pretty great. I did a fair […]

3
Jul

PAUSE for Actor Mental Health

In my training as a director, I read lots of books, I saw lots of shows, I sat in on rehearsals (still love doing that—let me know if you’re rehearsing something and wouldn’t mind an observer!), I learned about text analysis, I had endless theoretical conversations with teachers and mentors. By the time I was […]

13
Apr

Field of Dreams

I don’t write about my family/house/personal life that much over here on the Professional Site (although if you want some homeschooling, renovation, and/or cat-related content, you’re welcome to check out my personal blog). But, as has been the reality in our current work-from-home life, that line of demarcation is blurring. Recently, we had the porch […]

3
Apr

#amdirecting (kinda)

What does a theater director do when the stage lights are dark? That’s been a tough question all year. But this past week, I finally had an opportunity to use my skills. I volunteered at a mass vaccination site, run by the Virginia Health Department. I’m not a nurse, so I couldn’t give shots, but […]