Directing the Embodied Experience- Art imitates Life, or Life imitates Art?
Between the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell others, and the stories others tell us, we all have our own stories and we all choose the ones we believe. As artists, I believe each collaboration is an opportunity to create a story that someone else will choose to believe. Each collaboration is an opportunity to use theater as a medium that creates experiences for audiences to witness the stories of people that remind their bodies of something, or someone, they can’t quite put a finger to. Each breath sends a goosebump down your spine as your body reacts to the taunt energy in the room.
As a director I believe in looking reality in the face, and using theater to engage our empathy and question the stories we tell ourselves about our realities. People we don’t know, in places we may not know, in situations we couldn’t imagine, doing things we can understand because we’ve experienced something similar. As a performer, I’ve learned what it means to play a role in a process. As a producer, I’ve learned what it takes to make the process happen.
As a director my method is to create an environment where all collaborators are able to voice their perspective and experience of the story. I believe if everyone has a voice in the story we are telling, then the story will be real to everyone involved in the collaboration, and a story is only real when everyone has a voice in telling it.
After years of solely focusing on my craft as an actor, in the fall of 2016 I studied abroad at the Moscow Art Theater and was fortunate enough to be forever changed by the aesthetics and culture of Russian theater, and specifically by director Yuri Butusov. Between my time abroad, years of working in local and regional theater, and studying at Northwestern University, the last 10 years of my creative journey has given me access to a plethora of life teachers and formal teachers. These experiences have curated a collaborative style that highlights my ability to be flexible, process focused, and communicative.
Directing is like being the captain of a spaceship on a voyage into an uncharted galaxy. I have a North Star and a map (The Play), I have my Shipmates and all their individual talents, the hope of enough financial support or duct tape to get the ship there, and the determination that everyone that chooses to be on the journey will get there in one piece.
The path we chart as we tell our stories will be a journey specific to itself and the collaborators working on the project. The constant will be my dream of storytelling that demands physicality, tension, collaboration, and that will not allow you to disengage.
