What piqued your interest in telling a story, and when did you know this was the career path for you?

I discovered storytelling in second grade when I took a creative drama class. My parents had patiently given me space to try a variety of extra-curricular activities when I was young, none of which I was interested in. Then in drama class, something clicked and I felt at home. The following year I was cast in my first show and found my groove. For many years I saw my experiences in the theatre as something personal that brought me joy. Later on, when I began my college search, I settled on majoring in theatre and pursuing a career in the arts.

How do you balance your various projects since you are a director, writer, and educator?

I have found balance in different ways in different seasons of my life. There have been times when I was a full-time educator and others when I was solely producing work. Because my education practice is grounded in arts education and my rehearsal rooms are a place for life-long learning, I never saw a rigid boundary between the roles. There are so many parallels between the rehearsal room and the classroom and I’m interested in where those lines blur. Even in my current professional life as an instructional coach I find and examine the opportunities for teachers to incorporate creative play and artistic expression into high-school classrooms. Professionally it has been a balancing act of time and resources, and over time I have learned about my capacity and needs for recharging; prioritizing first myself and second projects that bring me joy and seek change.

Could you tell us about the process of creation? How long does it take to move from an idea to a realization?

In most of my artistic work, I create very quickly. I am drawn to improvisation, surrealist devising, short plays, flash fiction/nonfiction, and other forms that can be generated and viewed quickly. My process is historically very collaborative and benefits from the sum of the collective wisdom in the room. I often allow truths, source materials, and stimuli to sit next to each other throughout the creative process and I create the spaces for ideas and texts to begin a dialogue together. While my process is often short, the full concept or shape doesn’t come into view until the 11th hour.

What are you trying to communicate with your art?

I want my work to be transformative, transportational, and authentic. I believe that story is one of the most powerful tools in society and that art with flair and intention can transform people. I believe that creating is one of the most radical acts one can participate in because it offsets the death, loss, and destruction that manifests daily. I believe watching a performer breathe life into a puppet is sacred. I believe shadows and projections transporting an audience are restorative. I believe empathizing with an actor pretending to be a character helps onlookers metabolize conflict and trauma. I believe theatre which invites the audience to see the “man behind the curtain” shows respect and invites deeper experience and interpretation. With my work, I want to create spaces where all of this is possible.

To what extent does the pandemic influence your depiction of art? Does it generate new inspiration?

In some ways, it has halted my work. Because my primary discipline is performing arts, I have not produced a traditional piece of theatre since 2019. In the meantime, I have experimented with other forms, writing a book of nonfiction essays, creating a podcast, taking a dance class, and dabbling in drawing and painting. One look at my c.v. will tell you that I have always found this discipline toggling to be inspirational and curious, and have incorporated that kind of exploration into my practice. But it’s been a particularly interesting journey these last few years because this discipline shifting has been involuntary. I am curious to see how my work is transformed by this and also how we return to the theatre moving forward.

How do you feel about being involved in an online residency program? How important is it to stay connected with the international art community?

I am inspired and thrilled to be participating in an online residency program. It’s a type of program that offers me great flexibility both in health and safety during COVID and in time management. Connecting with artists all over the globe feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience providing me with a diverse collection of perspectives, values, and wisdom. In addition, I appreciate connecting with artists from a variety of disciplines and forms; these intersections beget fascinating and perspective-shifting conversations.

What are your thoughts about the theme ‘artist on standby’? Tell us a bit more about your project…

My resume could include ‘artist on standby’ as a title. In many ways, the residency attracted me because the title mirrored my own emotional landscape. I have found myself questioning what it means to be an artist and how do I want to engage in art moving forward after a few years of tough lessons and learnings. For my project and I am adapting some of my pandemic writing into a visual essay created specifically for the digital platform. The visual essay will include shadow work, practical puppetry, live footage, and aspects of documentary theatre.

What do you want to achieve before things return to normal if it is to happen? Any future plans/projects?

I want to draft clear boundaries for myself around how I make work and what work I say “yes” to. I want to make work within soft and safe
vessels that put the artists’ safety first. I want to rethink the performing arts process and consider how it can be more flexible, predictable, and trauma-informed.  I believe beautiful art can be made in a safe, friendly, and patient manner. I make work with trauma-informed and restorative practice. I reject white supremacist norms of urgency, power-hoarding, and perfectionism. I create work in spaces that respect artists’ work life, home life, and mental health.
I collaborate with artists in a horizontal structure that not only invites feedback but is powered by it. I want to spend some time thoughtfully planning how a progressive trauma-informed artistic practice can become a healthy norm within the industry. My future projects include finishing my non-fiction manuscript, taking some performance-based classes, and writing a play about aliens, bible camp, and the tension between queerness and religious trauma.