Those who know my work well know how I feel about actors. The short version: Actors are the core of my work. I live for actors. I love actors. Actors, as a group, are hard working, collaborative, innovative, patient, kind, empathetic, generous, creative, and practical. There is no one else I would rather work with. […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about the gap between what people expect of a director and what I am, when I show up in the room. I’m thinking about this especially because I recently was writing an application where I had to answer, “How do you execute your artistic vision?” and everything about that question […]
You know when you see something over and over again, and you just want to ask if other people see it too? That’s where I am today. During These Challenging Times, one of the things I have appreciated the most, in terms of content provided by theaters, is the honest, direct, behind-the-magic conversations that they’ve […]
Today is the one-year anniversary of one of my favorite days of my whole life. We did Antony and Cleopatra at the Rose. It was the culmination of a journey I had been on since I directed my first production of that play, sixteen years earlier. Although it was a good production, it didn’t match […]
In which I gather round the Zoom for a watch party.
So, I wasn’t supposed to even be at KCACTF this year. But I got a call from a friend who needed a favor, and I went to help out for a few days. I’m so glad that I did. I love the festival—all the students fluttering with nervous excitement in line for Irene Ryans at […]
After years of trying to make it work, I finally went to the Shakespeare Theater Association conference. It was fantastic. I am so glad I finally went! Shakespeare Dallas hosted the conference. I hadn’t been to Dallas before—and had only been to Texas one other time. We mostly were inside the conference hotel, but we […]
I’m learning about Branding. It is one of those things for which I have no natural gifts, but it’s important and necessary in this industry. One element of branding is to come up with some quick phrase that tells people a whole lot about who you are and what you are trying to accomplish in […]
I keep thinking about an episode of the Backstory podcast, where they talked about Walt Whitman. One of the historians they interviewed, Robert Shultz, described how Whitman destroyed his health during the war by working long hours in the hospital, caring for wounded soldiers. He read them letters from their families, he dressed their wounds, […]
I’m working on On the Verge (a play, ironically, about time) at York College, and the first thing I told my student stage manager was, “Give me a warning five minutes before we’re due for a break, and no matter what I am doing, call the break.” He glanced pointedly at my watch, but he […]