Ask A Director

Curated by Hannah Wolf

[theatredirectors]

268 Directors and the end of the blog

This post marks the end of the Ask a Director experiment. I’m so grateful to all who have contributed, supported and engaged with it over the past six and a half years. 

This blog was started at a time when I felt incredibly alone in the directing field. I had always been taught that a director operates solo, that it was a lonely career and above all, it was based on scarcity. This was a style of working and living that didn't fit for me. I wanted to talk to other directors about their practice and thoughts about the field, both national and international. This blog was started as a way to connect, to uplift other directors and to create a conversation about the changing field and practices. 

It's surpassed all of these goals and brought me more joy than I can name. 

I'm now at a moment where my practice and advocacy are taking different and exciting paths and it's time for me to put this site to bed. I remain committed to uplifting other directors, to talking about the practice, to flattening hierarchies, to opening doors for new ways of working, and leading rehearsal rooms, companies, and classrooms away from silos and vacuums. Featuring these 268 different directors was just the beginning. 

I encourage you all to hire them (and others), advocate for them (and others) and choose to work in a system that values connection and generosity. 

Abhishek Majumdar

Adam Fitzgerald

Alice Stanley

Aliza Shane

Amanda McRaven

Amy Corcoran

Amy Jephta

Anisa George

Ana Margineau

Andrew Scoville

Anna Stromberg

Anne Cecelia Haney

Ariel Francoeur

Arpita Mukherjee

Ashley Hollingshead

Ashley Marinaccio

Andrew Neisler

Beng Oh

Ben Randle

Ben Stockman

Benjamin Kamine

Beth Lopes

Bo Powell

Bogdan Georgescu

Bonnie Gabel

Brandon Ivie

Brandon Woolf

Brian Hashimoto

Cait Robinson

Caitlin Ryan O’Connell

Caitlin Sullivan

Catie Davis

Cara Phipps

Carol Ann Tan

Carsen Joenk

Chari Arespacochaga

Cheryl Faraone

Chloe Treat

Christin Eve Cato

Christine Zagrobelny

Christopher Diercksen

Colette Robert

Colleen Hughes

Cyndy Marion

Dado Gyure

Dan Rothenberg

Daniel Irizarry

Danielle Ozymandias

Danny Sharon

Dara Malina

David Charles

Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li

Derek Spencer 

Donald Brenner

Doug Oliphant

Eamon Boylan

Elena Araoz

Emily Lyons

Emma Miller

Eric Kildow

Eric Wallach

Eric Powell Holm

Estefania Fadul

Evelina Stampa

Evren Odcikin

Evi Stamatiou

Francesca Montanile Lyons

Gabriel Vega Weissman

Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte 

Graham Schmidt

Gregg Wiggans

Hannah Ryan

Hannah Wolf

Heather Bagnall

Horia Suru

Ilana Becker

Ilana Ransom Toeplitz

Illana Stein

Ioanna Katsarou

Ioli Andreadi

Irina Abraham Chigiryov

Iris Sowlat

Isaac Klein

J Paul Nicholas

Jack Tamburri

Jaclyn Biskup

Jacob Basri

Jake Beckhard

Jaki Bradley

Jamie Watkins

Javier Molina

Jay Stern

Jay Stull

Jenna Rossman

Jenna Worsham

Jennifer Chambers

Jenny Bennett

Jenny Reed

Jeremy Bloom

Jeremy Pickard

Jerrell Henderson

Jess Hutchinson

Jess Shoemaker

Jesse Jou

Jessi D Hill

Jessica Burr

Jessica Holt

Jillian Carucci

Joanne Zipay

Jo Cattell

John Michael Diresta

John Kurzynowski

Joe Hedel

Jonathan Munoz-Proulx

Jose Zayas

Josh Kelley

Josh Sobel

Joshua Kahan Brody

Joshua William Gelb

Julia Sears

Justin Schlabach

Kareem Fahmy

Karen Christina Jones

Kate Bergstrom

Kate Hopkins

Kate Jopson

Kate Moore Heaney

Katherine M. Carter

Katherine Wilkinson

Kathy Gail MacGowan

Katie Chidester

Kendall Cornell 

Kendra Augustin

Kholoud Sawaf

Kimberly Faith Hickmann

Kim Weild

KJ Sanchez

Knud Adams

Kristin Marting

Kristin McCarthy Parker

Kristin Skye Hoffman

Kristy Chambrelli

Kristy Dodson

KT Shorb

Kyle Metzger

Kylie M. Brown

Larissa Fasthorse

Larissa Lury

Laura Brandel

Laura Steinroeder

Lauren Hlubny

Lauren Keating

Lavina Jadhwani

Jenn Haltman

Leta Tremblay

Lila Rachel Becker

Lillian Meredith

Lily Riopelle

Lindsey Hope Pearlman

Lisa Rothe

Lisa Sanaye Dring

Liz Thaler

Lori Wolter Hudson

Lucie Tiberghien

Luke Comer

Luke Tudball

Lyndsay Burch

Lynn Lammers

Mallory Catlett

Manon Manavit

Margarett Perry

Maridee Slater

Marina Bergenstock

Marti Lyons

Martin Jago

Matt Cosper

Matt Ritchey

Max Hunter

Megan Sandberg-Zakian

Megan Weaver

Meghan Finn

Melissa Crespo

Melody Erfani

Michael Alvarez

Michael T. Williams

Michaela Escarcega

Michelle Tattenbaum

Mimi Barcomi

Miranda Haymon

Molly Beach Murphy

Molly Clifford

Molly Noble

Morgan Gould

Morgan Green

Murielle Borst-Tarrant

Nana Dakin

Natalie Novacek

Neal Kowalsky

Nell Bang-Jensen

Nick Benacerraf

Noa Egozi

Norah Elges

Normandy Sherwood

Olivia Lilley

Orly Noa Rabinyan

Oscar Mendoza

Pablo Paz

Padraic Lillis 

Patrick Walsh

Pete Danelski

Pirronne Yousefzadeh

Portia Krieger

Rachel Karp

Rachel Wohlander

Randolph Curtis Rand

Raz Golden

Rebecca Cunningham

Rebecca Martinez

Rebecca Wear

Renee Phillippi

Renee Yeong

Rich Brown

Rick St. Peter

Robert Schneider

Ryan Anthony Nicotra

Sammi Cannold

Sammy Zeisel

Sanaz Ghajar

Sara Holdren

Sara Lyons

Sara Rademacher

Sarah Elizabeth Wansley

Sarah Hughes

Sarah M. Chichester

Sarah Rose Leonard

Sash Bischoff

Scarlett Kim

Seonjae Kim

Seth Pyatt

Sharifa Elkady

Shaun Patrick Tubbs

Sherri Eden Barber

Simon Hanukai

Sophia Watt

Suchan Vodoor

Stephen Cedars

Steven Kopp

Steven Wilson

Talya Klein

Tana Siros

Tara Ahmadinejad

Tara Cioletti

Tara Elliott

Tatiana Pandiani

Taylor Reynolds

TerryandtheCuz

Tommy Schoffler

Tracy Bersley

Trevor Biship

Tyler Mercer

Wednesday Sue Derrico

Will Dagger

Will Davis

Will Detlefsen

Will Steinberger

Yojiro Ichikawa

Yoni Oppenheim

Zi Alikhan

Zoya Kachardurian

[theatredirectors]

Derek Spencer

Hometown?

Southwest suburbs of Chicago.

Where are you now? 

Los Angeles. 

What's your current project?

Everyone Agrees it's About to Explode -- a devised, immersive, site-specific piece about a group of leftist revolutionaries. The audience is cast as new recruits in the collective, and witness the dissolution of the group firsthand. The show is devised along with a model that I've been developing with my company, Ceaseless Fun, for the last 4 years or so. 

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I auditioned to act in a Shakespeare play on a whim in my 3rd year of college, having no prior theater experience. I had fun but otherwise didn't think much of it. Then, the following year, I was asked to audition for a devised production of HamletMachine. It was on that production that I fell in love with the collaborative devising process. I didn't love acting, but I never felt so artistically capable as I did when I was working in a collaborative rehearsal room. I directed a small devised workshop production right before graduating, and knew that I had to keep directing, no matter what.

What is your directing dream project? 

I feel lucky to be in a position in which I am able to pursue whatever passion projects I have with my company. I often feel like my next project is always my dream project. I think the only limiting factor for us is money, so my dream project is probably something huge and spectacle-y. I've thought about a big, sandbox immersive production that adapts the Bosch painting The Garden of Earthly Delights, but makes it 1970's LA. So it's just this surreal, decadent, horrifying experience of celebrity and class-division. Maybe there are two floors, heaven, and hell, and mostly the audience is in hell, but they all get 15 minutes of fame to spend indulging the hedonism of heaven. The floors could be porous so you're always aware of what's happening on the other side. I want red carpets as bridges over pits of eternal torment, 1970’s cars as Burning Man-style monster vehicles, prosthetic-heavy demon-celebs, just truly insane shit. Maybe a pool with a swim-up bar like on cruise ships? I'd likely pull a lot of the text from the King James Bible. This probably makes me sound really tacky but I don't care, someone give me ten million dollars to make this happen.

What kind of theatre excites you? 

I like:

plays where philosophy is made emotional 

plays that play with space, acknowledge their surroundings and make suspension of disbelief unnecessary

plays that fit the container to the contents

plays that shock me out of passivity

plays that present something so abject or upsetting that I can't get it out of my head for days

plays where everyone thinks they know what the creators intended but all the interpretations are different

plays that show me myself, or help me understand how to be human, or make me feel more like a human

What do you want to change about theatre today?

I think theatre will only thrive as an art form if theatermakers aren't afraid to explore the medium and how it can be made relevant to young, contemporary audiences. 

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA? 

I think I'd love the actual experience of being in grad school, but the cost worries me. Even "fully funded" programs still don't fully cover living expenses. It feels hard to know whether grad school will pay off professionally or if I'll graduate with similar career prospects and more debt. I've debate applying every year, but haven't yet pulled the trigger. 

Who are your theatrical heroes? 

Anne Bogart, Richard Schechner, Shunt, Third Rail Projects, Punchdrunk, Dimitris Papaioannou, Carolee Schneemann, Karen Finley, Artaud, Heiner Muller, Pete Brooks, anyone making free theater. 

Any advice for directors just starting out? 

See a lot, read a lot. Remember that you'll always be A Dumb Idiot Baby but also A Towering Egomaniac and that somehow you have to figure out when it's appropriate to be which. You don't have to accept every offer you get, sometimes offers are bad. Anyone can make theater you just need a room and 1 or more audience members and sometimes all that extra stuff gets in the way. Work with people that you would trust to raise your hypothetical children if you hypothetically die. Being an artist is an unreasonable and irresponsible decision to make under neo-liberalism unless you have a trust fund (then it's irresponsible for other reasons) and you'll have to grapple with that at some point so you might as well do it right now.

Plugs!

ceaselessfun.com

The run Everyone Agrees It's About to Explode has been cancelled due to the pandemic. We hope to remount as soon when everything is over! 

Follow Ceaseless Fun on IG for updates.

derekaspencer.com

IG: @ceaseless_fun or @abstract_sentimentalism 

Editor Note- updated in November 2020

[theatredirectors]

Michaela Escarcega

Hometown?

Madera Ranchos, California. It only has two stoplights, but cows were my neighbors, mountains were an hour away, and there are 4 alpacas, 3 dogs and a cat that lives with my parents.

Where are you now? 

Washington Heights, NYC. 

What's your current project?

Directing the world premiere of Birthday in the Bronx, by Paul Hufker, as part of The Tank NYC's 2019/2020 Season.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I transferred high schools to be a competitive swimmer, had a lot of extra credits to fill, and filled them with drama, film editing, and dance. By senior year the two awards I received were in Economics and Performing Arts. The former still shocks me, and the latter is one my coach saw coming from a mile away.

What is your directing dream project? 

My real answer here is a dream process. One that is non-western and decolonized alongside stories that are untapped and indigenous. 

What kind of theatre excites you? 

The theater that dares to accept and expand its medium. If it can be filmed and be the same, why is it on stage? I like work that is provocative, challenging, human, magical, and funny. 

What do you want to change about theatre today? 

New works! Living Artists! We are creating a canon of theater filled with adaptations and stories told about and by the same people. 

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA? 

I do not have one and I'm not convinced that an MFA is the "proper" way. Maybe someday, should one of my niche concepts need the space and resources to grow, although I might be more inclined to study other fields entirely to expand my artistic POV. I do love education, but I wish it were less colonized than it is. 

Who are your theatrical heroes? 

Madeline Sayet, Mary Zimmerman, Kenny Ramos, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Meghan Finn, Larry Biederman, Jacqueline Wright, The New York Neo Futurists - All form breakers, mold makers and artists that have both made me laugh and challenged me.

Any advice for directors just starting out? 

Listen first. Decolonize yourself. Practice generosity and empathy. Unlearn your inherent biases in storytelling. There is no one way. There is no one process. There is no one success more meaningful than all the rest. Find a way and make your own. Work hard but resist adopting a culture of crisis. Who you are now and what you are doing can and will evolve- embrace it.

Plugs!

Birthday in the Bronx by Paul Hufker at The Tank NYC, Feb 20 - March 8. 

Keep up with me at www.michaelaescarcega.com

[theatredirectors]

Meghan Finn

Hometown?  

Ann Arbor, MI. 

Where are you now?  

Brooklyn, NY.

What's your current project? 

Directing the world premiere of I Am Nobody by Greg Kotis at The Tank. 

Why and how did you get into theatre?  

I think it had something to do with being raised Catholic (costumes, ritual, stage) and watching Funny Girl over 100 times as a tween. Then I somehow convinced my parents to let me major in it at USC.  

What is your directing dream project?   

I Am Nobody is a dream project because I get to work with terrific collaborators on a new, wild show at The Tank -- which allows us all complete creative freedom.   

What kind of theatre excites you? 

Theatre that is surprising, I like to watch people succeed onstage whatever the parameters of the world they are in.  I also have a sweet tooth for the sensational.   

What do you want to change about theatre today?  

There are fewer smaller theaters doing new plays.  At The Tank we are doing 13 coproductions of world-premiere plays this year -- I want to get plays out of drawers and see them made by removing the obstacle of money where we can.   

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?    

I got my MFA from Brooklyn College and it opened up an entire world for me.  I met Mac Wellman there who is now a frequent collaborator.  And a world of other playwrights, and Sarah Benson from Soho Rep.  I also learned how to stand up for my own aesthetics.  I wouldn't have my own theater now had I not gone. That said, I didn't leave NYC to do it.  It was important to me to stay here and be a part of the work happening here rather than leaving.  In directing I would say there are a lot of reasons folks get MFAs and you should if you want. 

Who are your theatrical heroes?  

Mac Wellman, Susan Bernfield, Linda Chapman, Ariane Mnouchkine, Tony Kushner, Liz LeCompte, Richard Foreman, Greg Kotis and Ayun Halliday, all the kids still moving to New York who make their way to The Tank...is this list boring yet?  

Any advice for directors just starting out?  

Say yes.  You don't need to have all the answers all the time.  Everyone is afraid of looking like an asshole.  You need to make a space where everyone can fuck up and fall on their faces (including you) or you won't get anywhere. Make your own rules in the spirit of love and collaboration.  Don't wait for a pat on the back that is never coming.  Get in there and get wild.  

Plugs!

I’m the Artistic Director of The Tank.  

I Am Nobody runs at The Tank March 5 - 29. 

Other upcoming projects:  

Nine Dreams: Blake and The Apocalypse by writer Nick Flynn for CounterCurrent Houston

WHEN WE WENT ELECTRONIC by Caitlyn Saylor Stephens at ART HOUSE Jersey City March 19 - April 5. 

Photo by Skye Morse-Hodgson

[theatredirectors]

Miranda Haymon

Hometown?

Boston, MA!

Where are you now? 

I live in Crown Heights in Brooklyn.

What's your current project?

Right now I am in rehearsals for REALLY REALLY GORGEOUS at The Tank, written by Nick Mecikalski—enter America’s disgusting and sensational future—everything is underwater, but the TVs still work. Two unremarkable women slosh through life together in a terrible, horrible shack in the middle of nowhere, sharing dreams of stardom and power that will never, ever, ever come true. Except when they do.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I had always loved English class and languages, so when I tore my ACL and ended my basketball career in high school, it felt like a natural place to draw my attention towards.

What is your directing dream project? 

I really want to direct Spring Awakening, the play.

What kind of theatre excites you?

Theater that dismantles the antiquated ideology of the white, cis, straight, male, able-bodied, middle-class individual as the stand-in for ‘universal’. Theater that is a resistance; it disrupts the status quo of who and what is allowed in the theatre, and incites audiences and my community to action.

What do you want to change about theatre today?

I feel really strongly about making theatre a more sustainable career choice: economically, socially and physically.

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA? 

If you want part of your directing education to come via an MFA, go for it. But that's not the way to become a director. There are infinite paths and none of them are wrong.

Who are your theatrical heroes? 

In alphabetical order: Madeleine George, Rachel Hauck, Anne Kauffman, Leigh Silverman, Molly Smith, Whitney White, Tazewell Thompson.

Any advice for directors just starting out?

Keep discovering and re-discovering your voice. Take moments to breathe in and out. Find your home, find your fam.

Plugs!

Really Really Gorgeous at The Tank, January 23 to February 9. 

Exception to the Rule at Roundabout Underground, April 30 to June 28.

Photo by Naomi Saito

[theatredirectors]

Yoni Oppenheim

Hometown? 

New York, NY (and I spent summers in Tel Aviv, Israel as a child).

Where are you now? 

New York, NY.

What's your current project?

Set in a society torn apart by internal strife, ecological disaster, and interference from foreign powers, my current project examine the cost of humiliation and explore what it means to be a member of a community, to be a leader, to have moral courage, and to resist. I am currently directing two plays written by the acclaimed Israeli playwright Dani Horowitz, Last Tree in Jerusalem and A Page of Talmud, for my company 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company. The plays will be performed together on one bill from December 4th – 15th, 2019 at TheaterLab.

I translated Last Tree in Jerusalem. This is the world premiere of my translation and the first time these plays - written 20 years apart - have been presented together. I had the opportunity to meet and interview Dani Horowitz in Israel as he was writing Last Tree in Jerusalem in response to the disengagement from Gaza. I fell in love with the script and felt that I had to translate it and share it with a wider audience.

I am also a 2019 Target Margin Theater Institute Fellow. I am one of five fellows who come from an array of artistic disciplines (dance, visual arts, and playwriting). 

Why and how did you get into theatre?

The short answer: Harold Prince

The long answer:  I discovered the theater in eighth grade when my piano teacher gave me songs from Phantom of the Opera to play. I had never seen a musical – Broadway or elsewhere. The closest I got to Phantom was the evocative ads I saw on the side of the M86 bus I took to school. At some point, it dawned on me that these songs were from plays that were staged in theaters and that I could actually go and see them.  They were too expensive to attend, but I could envision my own productions in my head.

I borrowed the cast recording for Phantom from the library and saw that a man named Harold Prince had directed it. I didn’t know what a director did or who Harold Prince was so I spent hours at the performing arts library reading about his work. I was inspired by his creative vision and collaborative spirit. Eventually, I saw The Phantom of the Opera and have had a desire to see and make theater ever since.

What is your directing dream project? 

My dream project would be to devise a show with a diverse multi-generational cast comprised of people of different physical abilities. I would also love to do theater in prisons. I would like to reengage with theater work I used to do with non-actors ranging from senior citizens and at-risk teens.

What kind of theatre excites you? 

Theater that embraces the unique properties and limitations of the theatrical form and doesn’t try to mimic what film and television do better. Work that engages in ritual. Work that pushes and questions what can constitute a theatrical event. When I was doing my master’s degree in Oslo, I befriended the members of an artistic collective called Verdensteatret whose work pushed the bounds of live performance towards installation and multi-media art. Witnessing their work and process first-hand was eye-opening and inspiring. They modeled a way of being an artist in the world. Here in NYC, I love the Public Works initiative at The Public Theater.

What do you want to change about theatre today?

I am a Sabbath-observant Orthodox Jew, meaning that from Friday sundown to Saturday night I don’t work. I co-founded 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company in order to provide myself and other Sabbath-observant artists opportunities to work and grow in our craft. I wish mainstream theaters could be more flexible and accommodating in their schedules, particularly in New York which has a very high concentration of religiously observant Jews.

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA? 

I did not get an MFA, so I can’t speak to the experience. I got my BFA from NYU-Tisch which is one of the few drama programs with an undergraduate directing concentration through Playwrights Horizons Theater School. I wasn’t interested in rushing into an MFA after such an intense experience, nor did I have the finances to do so.  However, I feel like over the years I’ve cobbled together my own MFA of real life. Before founding 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company, I directed stuff freelance and learned a ton by assistant directing new works. I reached out to theaters and opera companies for observerships and had the opportunity to see how directors like Peter Sellars, Ivo van Hove and Mark Lamos work. I am also a dramaturg and spent several years as Doug Wright’s research associate as he wrote his Ibsen-themed play Posterity. I then served as the production dramaturg for the world premiere at Atlantic Theater Company. It was a rare opportunity to see a play develop from idea to production and be part of that process.

Who are your theatrical heroes? 

Rina Yerushalmi, Harold Prince, Julie Taymor, Thomas Ostermeier, Henrik Ibsen, Anne Bogart, Peter Brook, Catherine Filloux, and Leone de' Sommi Portaleone.

Any advice for directors just starting out? 

There is only one of you in the world. Your specific perspective and aesthetic is necessary for our cultural ecosystem to be diverse and healthy. Discover your voice, keep growing and learning, and own it. Do the work no one else can.

Part of growing is seeing as much aesthetically and culturally diverse work as you can - not only theater, but of all artistic disciplines.

Your life in the arts is a marathon, not a sprint.

Plugs! 

24/6: A Jewish Theater Company Presents Last Tree in Jerusalem / A Page of Talmud by Dani Horowitz December 4-15th, 2019 at TheaterLab  357 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY

Tickets: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1020520

More info: https://twentyfoursix.weebly.com/

Target Margin Theater Institute Open Studio: December 18th, 2019 4pm-8pm

at Target Margin Theater 232 52nd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11220

https://www.targetmargin.org/our-season/institute/

NYPL for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center has a great free exhibit all about Harold Prince until March 31, 2020 which I really enjoyed.  Don’t miss it! https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/company-harold-prince-broadway-producer-director-collaborator

_

[theatredirectors]

Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte

Hometown?

I grew up between Italy and the US. 

Where are you now? 

NYC.

What's your current project?

A series of LGBTQ devised performance art & video projects. 

Why and how did you get into theatre?

One of my first theatre experiences was working with Ellen Stewart (La MaMa Founding Artistic Director) just after graduating from performance studies. This was in 2000.

What is your directing dream project? 

Site-specific(s) events and happenings (several galleries and public space come to mind). 

What kind of theatre excites you? 

Performance art, site-specific, performance installation, radical storytelling, interactive & intimate projects that feel immediate, personal, up close.

What do you want to change about theatre today?

Thought-provoking and interactive.

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA? 

Pursue any MFA in the Arts if:

you want to teach - mostly; and only pursue this path if it’s financially sustainable, & it doesn’t impact your life and creative practice. If you get a scholarship that will allow you to graduate debt-free and allow you to pursue your directing dream project(s) – then go for it.

Who are your theatrical heroes? 

Samuel Beckett and Eugenio Barba.

Any advice for directors just starting out? 

Assist on projects; travel and meet likely-minded artists. Don’t forget to develop your own creative and producing practice with likely-minded artists and collaborators. Find the courage to put yourself out there.

Plugs!

I am artistic director with Pioneers Go East Collective. We create and produce interactive high-energy performance art and video to share stories of vulnerability, courage and pride.

My creative practice (performance/ writing/ video-making) has developed collaboratively over the past decade. When I founded Pioneers Go East Collective 8 years ago, I wanted to broaden my perspective on stories and experiences focused on social issues, to start a conversation with other likely-minded artists. I started devising performance with the collective, including Daniel Diaz, and Philip Treviño who are Pioneers’ lead artists and collaborators.

Today we serve a growing number of LGBTQ and Feminist artists who are dedicated to thought-provoking radical art for social change. If you want to meet with us and talk about your projects – you can reach us at [email protected]

[theatredirectors]

Megan Sandberg-Zakian

Hometown?

Seattle, WA. 

Where are you now?

Boston, MA.  What's your current project? I'm currently writing a book (gulp...) called There Must Be Happy Endings: On a Theatre of Optimism and Honesty which will be coming out in 2020 from The 3rd Thing Press. It's ten essays about the ethics of making hopeful art in an unjust and chaotic world, drawing on both my personal and professional experience -- I've been calling it "a coming of artistic age story." Why and how did you get into theatre? My dad is a playwright and theater teacher, and an amazing director, so I grew up sitting in his classes and rehearsal rooms, which I loved from an early age. It was both exciting and natural for me. And I always felt, "I should be here! this is where I belong!" This is where my molecular biologist mother likes to point out that I also grew up hanging out in her lab, but I didn't become a molecular biologist... What is your directing dream project? Hopefully this doesn't sound offputtingly earnest, but I feel like I've gotten to do so many projects that are even beyond my wildest dreams! Most recently, getting to helm the world premiere of Madhuri Shekar's House of Joy at Cal Shakes this summer was a dream come true for me. The play is set in a harem in Mughal India, and centers on the moral dilemma of a female bodyguard, so there were all these super cool fight sequences (choreographed by the delightful Dave Maier), gorgeous costumes (designed by the peerless Oana Boetz), an ensemble of total badass actors and crew, it was just so much fun - and so meaningful to do a play about women of color that centers power and joy, rather than trauma. And Cal Shakes is the most inclusive, generous, and intentional place I've ever worked; it was inspiring to be around the leadership and staff. Finally, working in Cal Shakes' stunning outdoor space, The Bruns, made me feel so close to the origins of theater-making -- being really present with the natural world, feeling its rhythms and movement, and understanding the connection to something much much bigger than ourselves. What kind of theatre excites you? Theatre that is sincere without being patronizing, that treats me like I'm smart while also extending a genuine invitation to me, that is deeply attentive to the material it's working with (text, actor bodies, audiences), and that feels irrevocably live. I also go to the theater to seek out pure beauty and joy, a teary sense of connection and togetherness, what Jill Dolan calls a "utopian performative" -- performances that allow us to practice and experience, in the temporary community of a theater audience, the kind of human social interactions and compassionate citizenry we would like to see in our real communities. What do you want to change about theatre today?

I'd love to see us move towards a 5-day rehearsal week and reducing the number of 10/12's, or eliminating them altogether. The way we have things structured now is built on pushing people past their physical limits, and it's not healthy. I think it takes the biggest toll on designers and tech staff. We need to take better care of our people. Also... I'd love it if more theaters made it a priority to interrogate their environmental footprint and make some changes. More and more I feel that the resources used to put up a show at a major regional theater are hard for me to defend, even to myself. What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?

When I was deciding about grad school, I decided to go to the place where I felt I could actually LEARN the most, and learn what I felt like I really needed to learn to be the kind of artist I wanted to be. So rather than a directing MFA, I chose to get an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Goddard College in Vermont. It was an amazing, transformative, sometimes frustrating experience. I'm always open to talking to those who are considering going an alternative route like Goddard. It was a really good decision for me. Who are your theatrical heroes?

My dad, R.N. Sandberg, who shaped all my values around directing and has shaped countless other young theater-makers through his mentorship of students at Cornish College of the Arts and Princeton University. Stacy Wolf and Jill Dolan, for modeling how rigorous thinking and writing about theater can be paired with passionate enthusiasm for theater. I'm incredibly inspired by my colleagues in the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia) theater community -- amazing activists, playwrights, theater leaders, and especially the three other Middle Eastern directors I work with in the consulting group, Maia Directors: Pirronne Yousefzadeh, Evren Odcikin and Kareem Fahmy. Directors whose work I admire, who are also helming organizations that lead with love and respect for artists: Eric Ting, Michelle Hensley, Melia Bensussen, Sean Daniels, Marissa Wolf, Nataki Garrett, and there are more every day!

Any advice for directors just starting out?

Hold on to what you love about making theater. There are hard parts that we have to get through, and there are huge problems that we must call out, and there are horrifying abuses that we must not tolerate. But amongst all this, it is doubly important to keep finding opportunities to be delighted. Fierce love and rigorous analysis are compatible! Plugs! Buy my book! And check out Maia Directors. We offer casting, production and creative consulting to artists and projects engaging with stories from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.

[theatredirectors]

Kendall Cornell

Hometown?   

I was born and grew up in West Nyack, New York.

Where are you now?   

I live in New York City.

What's your current project?   

My current project is the clown-theatre show The Bad’uns:  Clown Acts of Contagion with my all-women clown troupe Clowns Ex Machina.   We are playing at LaMaMa November 7-17th.

Why and how did you get into theatre? 

My start in theatre was as a child – when my sisters and brother and cousins would get together and put on shows for the grown-ups at family gatherings.  Later I had some wonderful and inspirational teachers – and really tuned into the emotional storytelling aspect of theatre and acting.   I came upon clowning much later – and that was love at first sight.   I just knew this was for me.   I had always been a performer, but with clowning I started creating my own material and, from there, directing myself and other clowns.

What is your directing dream project?  

My current project is a bit of a dream come true – because we are working with such an exciting process and with a great sense of community.   We have two newborn babies who are coming to rehearsal with their mothers to the rehearsal and are at the theatre with us.  And creating a working environment where this can happen -- and parents and babies can all participate in the process -- is really a great dream of community.   I am very proud that we made it happen!

What kind of theatre excites you? 

I love seeing virtuosic acting/performing.   I really want my soul to be touched when I go to the theatre – even if it’s only for a moment.   I sometimes see some theatre and in one moment say “now that was worth the ticket price.”   I want to be deeply moved.

What do you want to change about theatre today? 

I see lots of theatre that I find extremely exciting – much of which is coming from Europe or Great Britain.   I am not keen on the theatre productions in NYC that stick to a naturalism that has started to feel limited and conventional.   I just don’t feel it is reaching the dimensions that we need theatre to reach at this moment. 

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?  

I fell into directing because it was needed.    So I am relying on my years of experience, my collaborators, my intelligence – and my willingness to ask questions and be humble about what I don’t know.   I know folks who have gotten MFA’s and the process itself was really valuable to them.   For me directing is a second focus (or the thing that makes my performance make sense), so I do it from a utilitarian point of view.   I wish I had more grounding in the technical aspects of theatre-making, but I have a lot of on-the-job training.   I also have found that my teaching has prepared me quite a lot of the dynamics of being the focal point for work in the room.

Who are your theatrical heroes?

There are certain performances that I have seen that I cherish – amazing, mind-blowing performances -- and the folks who are brave enough to deliver those performances are real heroes to me.   And there are directors working on new, absurdist plays that I am sure are creating astonishing rehearsal processes to manage the wacky work – and I am interested in how I see that process on stage and how refreshing it is.   

Any advice for directors just starting out? 

I’d say that directors starting out need to understand the dynamics of the rehearsal room, the process they want to facilitate, and the pitfalls of being the leader.

Plugs!

Clowns Ex Machina’s The Bad’uns:  Clown Acts of Contagion at LaMaMa in NYC November 7-17th.   Website (for more info or to sign up for our mailing list).  www.ClownsExMachina.com

Photo by Peter Hurley 

[theatredirectors]

Padraic Lillis

Hometown? 

Fairport, NY. 

Where are you now?

Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, NY. 

What's your current project? 

I’m in rehearsals for The Wild Parrots of Campbell by Alex Riad produced by The Now Collective that will open at The Cherry Lane in December. 

Why and how did you get into theatre? 

I got into the theater because I saw my brother rehearsing Pirates of Penzance in high school. They were Pirates...and there were girls. The students seemed to be having a great time, they were being treated like adults, given a lot of freedom to create. I definitely walked into the theater because of the girls. I stayed because theater was where I could share my experience of the world fully and it gave me a voice.  My first play in high school was Death of a Salesman and it was through the serious investigation of the text, exploring things I deeply cared about: the characters needs, the brothers relationship, the myth of the American Dream, the magic of the flute, and the haunting past, all of it resonated with me - and connected me to the power of the theater for communicating the personal. 

What is your directing dream project? 

After seeing Peter Brook's WHY? at Theatre for a New Audience, my dream project is to have the courage to present the work stripped down to its essence and to trust that there will be an audience for it. Many of us in the theater have experienced incredibly moving moments in readings and workshop productions - and I have a deep desire to do that. To present only what is essential. I don't have a specific script in mind, but I do have an idea gnawing at me about inviting a diverse ensemble to create a script/piece about what it means to be an American - It is something I'm interested in because I think we've lost the narrative as a country and I want to hear how that idea resonates with individuals.

What kind of theatre excites you?  

I love the magic of simplicity. Like, Heidi Schreck's What The Constitution Means To Me. Honesty. I get excited when artists, actors, writers, designers, directors, all - have the courage to fully share themselves through the work...to share the more vulnerable and unknown parts of ourselves...because that's why we go. To feel less alone. And the most successful way to connect with someone is to courageously and honestly share yourself. 

What do you want to change about theatre today? 

Our industry creates pathways to opportunities for those with privilege, education, and other forms of access. We need to recognize gaps that exist for early-career artists with less of those attributes built into their pedigree and work to create links and networks for them to build a foundation on which to take the next step in their career. I started The Farm Theater, whose mission is to cultivate early-career artists, to address this. We need to work to build a theater community that is inclusive and inviting for everyone to have an opportunity to share their talents. We also need to recognize similar gaps when it comes to our audience. We need to find pathways for building awareness of new and independently produced work that is inclusive and inviting to audiences that want to participate in and support the work.

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA? 

You have to know why you want to go. What is your goal? Make sure the program you're looking at offers opportunities to meet that goal. Nothing is guaranteed. So, I would be very specific about the reason why you are investing your time and money into a specific program. Being in any environment where you can immerse yourself in your art is valuable. I definitely recommend assisting or working with mentors in order to grow as an artist. I don't think the degree is required to be a better artist - it does, however, seem to be becoming more of a prerequisite for making a living. 

Who are your theatrical heroes? 

Peter Brook - It's a simple answer because he shaped so many directors today with the recognition that the work needs to be immediate. However, he's a hero because he is constantly searching for truth and honesty thru his work. He is evolving and inclusive in his collaborators. Another hero is my old roommate, Broadway Stage Manager Rick Steiger.  He has done over 20 Broadway shows but it's not 'Broadway' that motivates him, it's the purpose behind the work. He embodies the philosophy that everyone in the room and engaged in the process is an artist. He does this in how he supports the room and process - and is an active participant in the 'why' of the work. 

Any advice for directors just starting out? 

Ask directors whose work you admire if you can assist them or figure out a way to get in the room to watch them work. A lot of directors are open to it. They assisted someone and they'll welcome the opportunity if they can. 

Respect the input and artistry of all collaborators involved. 

Don't be afraid to say, "I don't know". Always find a personal and artistic reason to work on a project.

Invite people to work with you on projects. As much as you want to direct - other artists want to work as well. You are not alone.

Plugs!

The Wild Parrots of Campbell by Alex Riad directed by Padraic Lillis produced by The Now Collective at The Cherry Lane - runs Dec 4th - 21st. 

The Farm Theater's Bullpen Sessions podcast hosted by Padraic Lillis - it is on iTunes and all major podcast distributors. Episode two of season two drops November 21st.

Check out Stephen Adly Guirgis' Halfway Bitches Go Straight To Heaven at the Atlantic Theatre November 14 - December 22nd. 

Follow The Farm Theater on Facebook and all social media. www.thefarmtheater.org

[theatredirectors]

Cyndy Marion

Hometown? 

NYC. I grew up in Manhattan, 19th and 3rd. 

Where are you now?

Manhattan, 16th and 3rd. I moved downtown 3 blocks! I went to college in North Carolina, grad school in Brooklyn and did a few brief stints in Italy and New Mexico, but ended up back in my hometown. Manhattan is in my blood!

What's your current project?

My 2nd play as a writer, Broken Story, running at The Gene Frankel Theatre Nov. 8-16th. It's about a young NYC journalist obsessed with the idea of solving the story behind a brutal LA murder. As a director, I write plays that I would want to direct. Plays that I feel are challenging and exciting for both actors and directors to work on. I'm usually inspired by real-life stories that have a sense of mystery or intrigue. My first play, You Are Perfect was inspired by the story of Manson follower Susan Atkins. Broken Story was inspired by the brutal murder of an LA novelist. 

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I fell in love with directing in college. I was working on Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind for directing class and was hooked. From there I assistant directed a MainStage college production and went on to direct my own one-act, a production of Agatha Christie's The Rats. I was a history major with a focus on Italian Renaissance studies. I was supposed to go on and pursue a Rhodes Scholarship, but the idea of continuing scholarly work in isolation and the need to learn at least 2 or 3 more languages deterred me. I chose to pursue directing instead. I wanted to pursue a field where I could combine research with community and collaboration. 

What is your directing dream project?

My current project, directing my play Broken Story is a dream project. I only want to work on dream projects. That's why I have my own theater company, White Horse Theater Company because I always want to be working on dream projects that I am passionate about with artists I admire, respect and want in the room with me.  Of course, I dream that one day we will have more resources; larger budgets, access to bigger theaters with better equipment, the ability to take on larger-scale projects with more collaborators. I'd love to do a musical. A deep, psychological musical, music and dance have a way of tapping into emotion on such a profound level. What kind of theatre excites you?

Theater that breaks boundaries, and explores new forms. Theater that is theatrical and inventive and does not just rely on the spoken word to tell the story. Theater that is best served by the live medium and cannot be better realized on film.  Theater that surprises me and moves me. I think all plays should have an element of suspense--it moves the story forward and keeps the audience engaged. I love plays that have an "ah-ha" moment. 

What do you want to change about theatre today?

I'd love to see a NYC theater that is not so focused on Broadway. Broadway is a commercial enterprise and the work has got to "sell." There are so many financial risks and pressures on making that kind of work. I'd like to see more appreciation, support, and awareness for the indie art being made off the Great White Way.  Not everyone makes art to make money. Theater does not have to be a commodity. It can be an expression, a conversation, a protest. There is so much more to it than that and I'd love to see a shift in our perspective and a deeper appreciation and respect for art as art. 

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?

I think it all depends on why you are getting one. If you are getting an MFA solely because you think it will open doors to a directing career, then I think that's the wrong reason. I got my MFA at Brooklyn College because I wanted time and space to really hone my craft. I used those three years to find out who I was as a director and what kind of material I wanted to work on. I had access to mentors and facilities and most importantly developed a network of peers and professionals that I called upon when launching my own career. And by going to a city school, with lower tuition costs and a merit scholarship, I left grad school debt-free. 

Who are your theatrical heroes?

Sam Shepard, Tennessee Williams and Ivo Van Hove. Sam Shepard is, in my option, the greatest American playwright. His plays are poetic, visual, visceral, and rhythmic. They are highly theatrical and physical and are filled with mystery and emotion. They are personal and yet also speak to us as a culture. I think Shepard has been my greatest influence as both a director and a playwright.  I love the later work of Tennessee Williams--these plays break the barrier of realistic theater and explore new forms, such as truncated language, dance, and metaphor. Ivo Van Hove blows my mind with his work. His bold interpretations of classic texts are both visually stunning and gut-wrenching. He employs multiple mediums to tell these stories in a fresh, relevant and affecting way.  I'll never forget seeing his production of The Crucible. During the scene between Elizabeth and John Proctor, his use of the musical underscore combined with the actor's delivery of the line moved me to an explosion of tears. 

Any advice for directors just starting out?

Make the work! Find plays that excite you and get people together you admire and find ways to do the work. Choose plays and projects you feel you have a "secret"  understanding of what you want/need to share with the world. Hone your voice and vision and be true to it. Don't be afraid to ask for money. I think artists today have to be entrepreneurs--meaning we have to find a means to an end--a way to support ourselves and the work. Don't feel bad about needing a "day job"  to support yourself. It this job allows you to do the work you want to be doing than it serves its purpose! You are a director!  Go for your dreams, but make the work you enjoy in the meantime. Don't wait around for someone else to give you the opportunity. 

Plugs!

Tickets to Broken Story: https://whtc.ticketleap.com/brokenstory/

My off-off Broadway theater company, White Horse Theater Company founded in 2003. whitehorsetheater.com

The Indie Theater Fund--supporting and promoting Indie Theater Artists http://www.indietheaterfund.org

The Players Club--A social club for Artists and Patrons of the Arts http://theplayersnyc.org

Gene Frankel Theatre https://www.genefrankeltheatre.com

[theatredirectors]

Kylie M. Brown

Hometown?

I was born in California, but spent the majority of my pre-teen years in Providence, RI and moved to Brooklyn when I was 16. 

Where are you now? 

Still in Brooklyn. Well.... Right now I’m in a Chopt because tech has me subsisting on French fries. But I live in Brooklyn. 

What's your current project?

A new play by my dear friend and collaborator, Lily Houghton, called Of the woman came the beginning of sin and through her we all die. It’s a piece we’ve been developing together over the past year and a half that is now going up at Normal Ave (which is the floor above Ensemble Studio Theater, where Lily and I had the first reading of the show). It's a weirdo play about four womxn who work in the basement of a Free People, but who also have a witch cult.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I grew up around and in it. My step-dad was the artistic director of Trinity Rep, so I grew up in this cool company of artists that did everything from Shakespeare to Angels in America to Noises Off. For a very long time I thought I was an actor because I think that’s the easiest theatrical role to slide into - Side tangent: It’s insane that there are so many acting classes for children, but no design or directing classes!

What is your directing dream project? 

*pulls out a journal of lost projects* I want to do a stripped-down Mother Courage that involves members of the community. A jukebox musical of P!nk’s “Missundaztood” album (I know I know. But bear with me: it not only has some great jams, but there’s also great explorations of mother/daughter relationships!). Also she’s into circus stuff. So AERIALS. 

And last, and most likely to happen: the theater company I work with (Normal Ave) is planning on producing a series called "Movie Musicals" where we screen movies, ask four awesome songwriters to write what - if the movie were to be turned into a musical - would be a musical moment. I am insistent - nay I demand that we start with “Black Snake Moan.” I’m getting resistance from the company, but I hope that by putting it in writing I can start an online protest. GATHER ALL FANS OF RICCI, TIMBERLAKE, AND SAMUEL L. JACKSON! 

What kind of theatre excites you? 

I like work that embraces the theatricality of the world we live in. Realism is great, but I love it when a production can see the things that are boiling underneath all our normalized human behavior and can use theater magic to heighten or play with that. 

What do you want to change about theatre today? 

Where do I start?I think more support for young directors. If you’re an assistant or associate, that’s a great way to learn but often not financially feasible or sustainable, which limits the field to directors of privilege. There’s a good amount of programming to support playwrights that I wish extended to directors. The programs for young directors are so few and very hard to get into, which breeds competition among directors rather than collaboration and support. 

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA? 

You do you boo. I believe grad school is great if you do your research. I also think experience is great. I think for all young directors just out of school or just deciding to make the switch, it is always helpful to spend a year fully immersing yourself in working as a director: assisting, meeting playwrights, doing workshops, getting friends together to talk about plays you’re excited about, seeing shows, etc. Then see where you’re at and how you want to grow and if that growth will be supported by an institution. 

Because the facilities at colleges are better than the ones you’ll have access to as a young director, it’s a nice opportunity to get those production photos with sexy tech. But at the end of the day, it’s about what excites you most as a director. I love that I’m free to go and meet playwrights and learn on the fly. But that’s me and my inability to write essays. 

Who are your theatrical heroes? 

My mentors are definitely Lear DeBessonet and Leigh Silverman in terms of work style and ethic. 

Some humans I know that create work I think is heroic and that you should check out: Lily Houghton, Megan Chan Meinero, Harron Atkins, Paige Zubel, Mona Pirnot, Maya Macdonald, Sofya Levitsky Weitz, Nadja Leonhard-Hooper, and Shara Feit. 

Any advice for directors just starting out? 

It never hurts to ask or try. Whether it’s a program I don’t know if I should apply for, an actor that I want to cast but they have a fancy resume, a play I want to do but don’t know the playwright..... ASK! I have yet to meet someone who does not like hearing “I really like your work as an artist and would like to work with you”. You may not get what you were asking for, but you may be surprised at what you do get. 

Plugs! Come see Of the woman.... at normalave.org/ofthewoman Kyliembrown.com 

But also Instagram: @kylie_brown

Photo by Dion Lamar Mills

[theatredirectors]

Aliza Shane

Hometown?

I am from North Riverdale/Yonkers, New York, at the border of the Bronx and Westchester. 

Where are you now? 

Now living on the Upper East Side of NYC.

What's your current project?

Nothing Human by Duncan Pflaster (part of The NY International Fringe Festival at The Chain Theater).

In 2011, the day after Bin Laden is killed, a computer engineer named Alberto reveals to an actress/waitress who he meets in a bar that he's been in hiding in Boca Raton since getting a call the night before 9/11 telling him not to go into work at the towers the next day; the two begin an affair complicated by the presence of ALBA, the artificial intelligence which Alberto took from his company and which may soon be becoming sentient. Meanwhile, back in New York, Alejandro, a playwright, is working on his first screenplay, a science fiction piece about The Singularity, and having trouble dealing with executive meddling.

This show has an incredible cast and so many different media elements. I can’t wait for the world to see it.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I wanted to be an actor since I was BORN! Studied theatre my whole life and when studying to be an actor in college, I discovered my true passion- directing.  

What is your directing dream project? 

I love new theatre; I love artists collaboration and I love movement. My dream project would combine all those elements seamlessly. Hoping to make this dream happen one day soon with my long-time producing partner at my theatre company, 3Voices Theatre.

What kind of theatre excites you? 

I love to do new and original theatre. The classics are great, but nothing is more special than discovering new

What do you want to change about theatre today? 

I wish theatre spaces were cheaper and more available! We need to create more unconventional and more available spaces to make theatre happen easily.

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA? 

This is a tough one because I don’t have an MFA. I considered it for a long time but most programs I was interested in required real-world directing experience first, and once I got my career going, stopping everything to go to school seemed nearly impossible. I respect everyone I know with a directing MFA however, and they seem to really help and lead to success.

Who are your theatrical heroes? 

I love people working now, like producer Jennifer Tepper and musical theatre writer Joe Iconis and his band of actors and singers who work with him regularly. Like them, I keep actors I love close to me and try to work with them over and over. They keep working and putting out new and exciting work and I only wish I could be as prolific and current.

Any advice for directors just starting out? 

Surround yourself with smart people and listen to them. Just because you run the room doesn’t mean your ideas should always win. Try to have an answer to any question from your actors- but also be honest; don’t be afraid to answer, “I don’t know” or to admit you’re wrong. You don’t have to be perfect; you just have to be clear.

Plugs!

NOTHING HUMAN Written by Duncan Pflaster Directed by Aliza Shane

Featuring:

Roberto Alexander, Alexandra Cremer *, Shakeerah Fredericks, Anthony Michael Irizarry, Dante Jayce, Sarah Kaufman, Adam Patterson*, Amir Royale* & Samantha Simone *

10/15, 10/16, 10/17. 10/18, 10/19, 10/24, 10/25, 10/26 at 7pm at the Chain Theatre, 312 W.36th Street, 4th Floor NY NY 10018

---------------------------------------------------------------------- I’m also working on a new immersive adventure on Governors Island- Miss Jane Periwinkle and the Mysterious Medium written by Mim Granahan directed by Aliza Shane co-produced by Dysfunctional Theatre Company Oct 5-6, 12-13 Multiple performances each day between 1-5pm The Dysfunctional Collective 410A Colonel's Row Governors Island The nosy mystery writer has met up with her friends from finishing school to hold a seance. During the seance, medium Madame Carnelian's spirit guide reveals that one of the women has murdered her husband! All of Jane's friends have lost a husband -- Rosalind has lost several -- but which one is a murderer? With 5 suspects and 5 possible victims, this may be Jane's most challenging case yet! Join Jane at the seance, follow the investigation, and see if you can solve the case before Jane!

Starring: Alexandra Cremer, Mim Granahan, Rachel Grundy, Laura Iris Hill, Kelsie Jepsen, Bruce Jones, & Heather Lee Rogers **FREE PERFORMANCES** running time approx 35 minutes ... stay for more than one performance and see what you missed in the other room

ALSO-

Find me on Facebook or Twitter at Aliza Shane,

Websites: Alizashane.com. 3Vtheatre.com

[theatredirectors]

Renee Yeong

Hometown? 

Singapore.

Where are you now?

Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York but am about to move back home for an extended period of time.

What's your current project? 

Aside from moving my entire life back home, I’m prepping to begin rehearsals for a show I’ve been developing for the past year and a half called I LOVE WHITE MEN, which is a semi-autobiographical piece about the relationship between Asian women and white men.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I started the same way most people got into it, which was through acting in school — but discovered directing only after a bad bout of stage fright. The very first time I directed was for a small self-written student show. Nobody in the school really cared about the arts, much less theatre, so we were left very much to our own devices. This turned out to be a real blessing because nobody was limiting our rehearsal hours, telling us how or what we should do to make the play happen or that there was a wrong or right way of doing things. The rehearsal process ended up being a deep dive into character, context, setting, morality, led purely by our own excitement and interest in the text and the world we were living in. If directing meant I could spend my time in such deep, meaningful ways, I didn’t want to do anything else!

What is your directing dream project? 

I feel like I’m doing it right now - making work I feel is important with my closest collaborators and friends. I LOVE WHITE MEN examines Asian culture, specifically Singaporean culture, in incredible depth and its relationship to America/ White Culture, with a core creative team of 2 of my closest Singaporean friends. We’re able to ask each other more provocative and culturally specific questions without fear of offending anyone or hurt feelings. That’s a dream process and a dream project. 

What kind of theatre excites you? 

Realism! New work! I personally think we as an industry need to stop investing so much of our resources - financial, physical - into reimagining the same old classics with the same old characters. We need to divert those resources to support the playwrights of today, writing stories about who we are. The canon is biased and unrepresentative of the fullness of humanity and we need to take steps in adding to it. Also re: realism, I came into theatre through realism, seeing myself and my struggles portrayed realistically on the stage. I’ve seen too many esoteric theatre pieces that seem to be intentionally confusing and abstract. It makes me feel as if I’m not smart enough to get it or be in on the joke and I’m frustrated with form for form’s sake. I think realism holds great power that we should not dismiss and instead take advantage of! It is not the white man’s form!

What do you want to change about theatre today? 

Very specifically, I want to work with more Asian creatives. Specifically, Asian playwrights. There are so many of us working in the industry but working alone. I graduated from college and could count on one hand the number of Asian playwrights on my level that I could work with. I’m seeing more and more black playwrights making it a priority that they work with a black director or hire more black creatives to work on their shows and I want it to be a priority with Asian creatives as well. We could be accomplishing so much more if we worked with each other and not separately.

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA? 

I don’t have an MFA so I only know what people who do have MFAs have told me which is that you should only go if you’re looking to expand or build your community of artists. But I’m split! 

Who are your theatrical heroes? 

I assisted Rachel Chavkin this year and her rigor in the rehearsal room is definitely something I want to emulate in my work. Lileana Blain-Cruz also consistently makes work that moves me viscerally in both design and staging and I would kill to get a chance to be in one of her rooms!

Any advice for directors just starting out? 

I am a director just starting out and the only thing I can say that has helped me the most is to keep a mentality of abundance — that there are enough opportunities for all of us. The view that only a few of us can succeed is born out of capitalistic racist patriarchal systems trying to pit us against each other. Competition ruins us more than we think it does. Building and supporting community is the antidote to oppressive systems. 

Plugs!

I’m developing and directing I LOVE WHITE MEN at Caveat NYC that will run for a weekend, January 24-26! We recently performed our second sold-out public performance at Ars Nova’s ANT Fest this year. 

For other updates, check out my website reneeyeong.com

[theatredirectors]

Lauren Hlubny

Hometown?

I’m originally from a small town in South Jersey called Shamong.

Where are you now?

I live in Brooklyn, NY

What's your current project?

I’m currently working on Thoughts & Prayers — a dance-theatre-concerto—which for us means a dance-heavy, music-driven theatre piece. It presents my thoughts on the American way of dealing with calamity - be it an act of man or a natural disaster.  This work is about many things, but the most compelling for me is the focus on how to fight complacency and engage in the world in a way that makes a difference. Thoughts & Prayers is about the different ways we can react to catastrophe. Through music, dialogue, and dance, we explore human reactions, such as numbness, mourning, guilt, laughter, and more which keep us stuck in cycles of disaster, until there reaches a point where something changes, someone listens. We take the audience on a journey from letting things happen and feeling trapped and hopeless, to taking whatever agency they can. This piece is tragic, funny even at moments, but overall it is about hope. Tragedy may happen, but we have the power to do something about it. It is our goal that the audience leaves with the tools necessary to take that next step towards action. Please join us September 19-29 (tech is in less than two weeks!) at TADA! Theatre in Manhattan.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

My first exposure to theatre was sneaking into my living room way past my bedtime and catching the ending of the movie version of Evita featuring Madonna. From then on, I was hooked on movie musicals, borrowing them in bulk from the local library and devouring them learning everything I could. When I got to high school, and they didn’t have a theatre teacher, I went around getting students to sign a petition so that the school would hire one (and they did!). I was really lucky to go to Florida State University for theatre and cultural anthropology, and it was there that I studied under some of the premier specialists of Jerzy Grotowski and Vsevolod Meyerhold in the United States, both trailblazers in experimental physical theatre, and that’s what kept me in this field years later. It’s really incredible that almost the entirety of the creative team for Thoughts & Prayers studied at some point in time at FSU, whether it be for their undergrad or doctorate, and every collaborator on the team has had the capacity to tour the world, speaking at conferences, performing music, presenting work, and engaging with the best of the best around about town here in NYC too, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alvin Ailey, NY Deaf Theatre, Joe’s Pub, and countless other top-notch places.

What is your directing dream project?

My directing dream project is one which is capable of paying everyone involved the amount they deserve while not compromising our desire to innovate in the space between circus, theatre, dance, and music or our values of focusing on work which is conscious of the political climate in which it is created. When I started to devote myself to being a director, I started a list of projects, and they range in scope, some are huge circus-style pieces (yes, complete with stilts) which I want to stage in public arenas in Paris and make them free to anyone who would like to come, while some are smaller--like staging a classical story on a sailboat sailed by dancers. I’ve always been fond of taking well-known stories and completely upending them,  finding a way to make the work accessible without sacrificing the desire for positive change. I don’t have my sights set on staging any canon works, I’m more invigorated by the idea of continuing to make something completely new--and to challenge myself in ways that make my craft harder and harder. The audience arrangement is one example of how I’ve been able to do this and staging Thoughts & Prayers in tennis court style seating was incredibly challenging. How can I keep developing my research and the research of theatre practitioners before me while pushing myself to take risks that are  almost insurmountable?

What kind of theatre excites you?

The kind of theatre that excites me is aware of the theatre researchers that came before and also conscious of the world in which it is made—the type of theatre that provides a call to action without sacrificing the desire to present the highest caliber of skill in its performers. I’m excited by theatre which pushes people just outside of their comfort zones, performers included. Examples of shows that take risks like this include Fairview, Indecent, and Mlima’s Tale, shows that take risks with their visuals and their audiences, and do not shy away from the decision to make something new and meaningful in the current climate. I am moved by theatre which considers the range of accessibility that their audience has to the content. I am thrilled by theatre which entices its audience away from complacency and vaults them into a conversation, keeping them buzzing weeks, months, even years after with the memories and the call to action embedded in the piece. Embedded in this work, we are challenging the audience to observe one another, and be on both sides of the discussion.

What do you want to change about theatre today?

A big difficulty for theatre-makers today is finding outside-the-box ways to survive. Taking big risks to make work you believe in is difficult when you have to put food on the table, but risks are what make history—and make truly compelling work. It is the responsibility of theatre to make change happen in the world and not to recycle stories that glorify problems (like mistreatment of women), to provide a safe space (especially for makers from less represented communities) to question society and inspire change. In order to make this sort of theatre commercially accessible, producers and benefactors need to put money into it and people need to stop stigmatizing humans who wish to become artists. In my own practice, I only work on shows that deliver a message of equality and positive social change to their audiences. I endeavor to be inclusive in my casting. I do not condone aimless violence on stage—as violence is violence no matter the setting. I am committed to ensuring that my performers and collaborators feel safe to be vulnerable in our rehearsal and performance spaces. I find ways to compensate my teams any way I can, whether it be by honing skills they are interested in acquiring or tirelessly raising money so that everyone on the team gets paid. I don’t compromise when it comes to my values. I like to recall a meeting I had with an acclaimed neurosurgeon in Lublin, Poland, where he told me he actually admired what I do more than I could even know. When I asked him why, he said, “What I do saves lives, what you do gives people a reason to live.”

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?

It’s a prudent move if you wish to teach at the university level.

Who are your theatrical heroes?

Pina Bausch. Crystal Pite. Yes, they’re both in the dance community, but for me, they are trailblazers in the performing arts, past and present, and it’s difficult to find historical role models in the dance-theatre field who are not men identifying. These two women have an incredible capability to create movement vocabularies which not only captivate me but take me places narratively that I cannot get out of my memory. The specificity in their work is not only physical but the emotional throughline, the hopelessness and the joy, the dark and the bright all wrapped into one moment--they make me want to keep working harder to find that place in my narratives. I find myself holding my breath when I see their works, and when the curtain falls I’m saddened that the experience has ended.

Any advice for directors just starting out?

Practice. Hone your craft. Take weird gigs. Respect your performers. You never know where an opportunity will come from. Before I was a director, I was a performer and a stage electrician. My devotion towards learning those two crafts, and the ins and outs of how they could inter-play on stage gave me the skills to create the images on stage I see only in my dreams, and in a safe, respectful, and resourceful way. Taking on strange challenges, like directing a circus-theatre show in a backyard in Maine for a community, that included gathering arborists to make sure the tree is safe enough for a trapeze to be strung up (and there are pictures of me stringing up a thirty-foot sheet to a tree limb so I could backlight a trapeze artist). My biggest advice would be to work with collaborators that you believe in—surround yourself with people who are willing to put the work in, and are not willing to compromise their values, and you will always feel fulfilled.

Plugs?

Join us for Thoughts & Prayers and for various post-show panel discussions led by social justice and arts organizations, September 19-29. Since the show is in tennis court-style seating (audience on both sides of the stage), plan to come at least twice to catch all of the action! 

https://thoughtsandprayerstheshow.brownpapertickets.com/.

[theatredirectors]

Dan Rothenberg

Hometown?

New York.

Where are you now?

Philadelphia.

What's your current project?

Superterranean – a work of visual theater by Mimi Lien and Pig Iron.  It’s about soft bodies amidst vast works of infrastructure.  The awe and the dread one feels standing on top of a dam that is larger than a skyscraper.  The feeling of pride at what humans can build coupled with the feeling of futility as we try to contend with death with our pathetic little building projects.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I had the good fortune to fall in with some ‘new vaudevillians’ in the 1990s – part of a resurgence of interest in the art of clowning – when I was still in high school.  Got to see Bill Irwin and David Shiner in those days, and to think of performance as ‘something you can make up.’  Also, my high school drama teacher, Bill Sweeney, was an anchor in a stormy adolescence, and he had spent his early years loving the work of Joe Chaikin and the Open Theater.  So, I inherited that obsession.

What is your directing dream project?

Oh man.  I run my own theater company and make work from scratch, so I get to make a lot of dream projects already.  Just not with the money and time I would like to have.   For my work, I dream mostly of longer runs and much longer tech and preview periods.  I learn so much from an audience, I feel like I’m ready to begin once the first run is ending.

What kind of theatre excites you?

Total theater.  Theater where it all works together – the performance style, the design.

I used to be drawn to works of great clarity – works that gave me a new vocabulary and tools to live my life.  But these days I’m more drawn to works that try to get at things that can’t be said in words, things that we feel are deeply true but exist in the in-between, in the almost-perceptible-but-just-out-of-reach realm.

What do you want to change about theatre today?

Well, I think we are finally saying good riddance to the mainstream American theater style of ‘shouting and indicating while calling it realism.’  Super excited to see so many downtown people making interesting stuff on Broadway.  Feels like the demographics and the “market” are up for grabs in a way that they haven’t been in decades – and I mean that word “market” as much as the marketplace for ideas, and soul-nourishment, as I do for well-made entertainment.

Mostly I still want to change the way ownership of a production works – the playwright as king, don’t ever change my words, the freelance hopscotch of so many of the nation’s top theater artists.  I think there can be great playwright-driven theater, but I’d like to see a home, and a market, for other kinds of theatrical experience outside of New York and the tiny “experimental” touring circuit.  I feel like our theater culture in the US has been locked into certain economic expectations and contracts that don’t allow for other kinds of authorship and don’t foster long term collaborations between actors, directors, and designers.

Coming at it from a completely different angle, I would say that two things would radically change the landscape for theater artists in America, more than funding for the arts ever would: universal health care, and large investments in public transit.  I don’t think we realize how much these two things separate us from European societies, and how many choices we make as theater artists with cars and (lack of) health care shaping our lives.

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?

I didn’t get one, so I don’t have much of an opinion.  An MFA is a chance to meet collaborators in a pressure cooker, and that can be hard to put together on your own.

Who are your theatrical heroes?

Joseph Chaikin.  His line in “The Presence of the Actor” remains a touchstone: “The study of acting, like any work which aims to go to the root, requires a new discipline.”  Ariane Mnouchkine.  And these days, Toshiki Okada.  That guy is a Chekhov-level genius, and he just keeps testing himself.

Any advice for directors just starting out?

Just clichés not worth repeating.  Directing is something you really learn to do by doing it.  So just start.

Plugs!

Pig Iron & Mimi Lien, Superterranean, September 5-15 at the Philadelphia Fringe…We’re working hard to get at those things we feel are deeply true but so hard to find concrete language for.

For more info visit

https://www.pigiron.org

Photo by Jordan Rothenberg

[theatredirectors]

Rebecca Wear

Hometown?

Altadena, CA.

Where are you now?

I predominantly split my time between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. I’m also heading to Taiwan for a few months this fall to study Chinese, see work, and eat dumplings so I’d love any and all recommendations!

What's your current project?

I’m directing Lloyd Suh’s The Chinese Lady at Greenway Court Theatre in Los Angeles, which opens September 7th. It’s a luminous, meditative look at the first Chinese woman (on record) to set foot on U.S. soil, Afong Moy, as well as her translator, Atung, chopsticks, and the history of race/Other-ing in the U.S.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I wasn’t allowed to watch TV as a child so I did a lot of reading and backyard potion-making/spy pretending. High school theatre was a way to do the same things but with friends, college theatre classes were “just for fun,” and then once I arrived in New York after school, I realized that nothing is better than making new plays with friends.

What is your directing dream project?

A retelling of the Chinese legend of the White Snake with Yo-Yo Ma/The Silk Road Ensemble; a hallucinogenic, a queer Sufjan Stevens musical looking at Paul Bunyan and America’s history of ecocide; a performance parade in LA’s Chinatown that has site-specific work on sweatshops, the Chinese massacre of 1871, and gentrification…

What kind of theatre excites you?

Work that grapples with moments I’m afraid to discuss, work that un-ironically incorporates tambourines, ribbon dancing, and the like, and work that uses form, in addition to narrative, to prove its point or to make me complicit.  

What do you want to change about theatre today?

Most things that connect theatre and money… how much (how little) the U.S. funds theatres, how much (how little) theatre artists are underpaid, and how uncomfortable we are openly discussing money.

Also, how precious we can be with our work! Sometimes, you gotta get up and grab another beer/go to the bathroom/clap along, you know? Of course, I want audiences to take in the gorgeous mise en scene blah blah blah, but if I can get up to go pee in the middle of a church service, why can’t I in the theatre?

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?

If it’s right for you, fantastic!

I decided to go to a MA/PhD program because I wanted time to think really deeply, expose myself to international creators and thinkers, and set myself up for future teaching possibilities (ah, how little I understood of academia!).

Email me at [email protected] if you’re choosing between the two and want to discuss more.

Who are your theatrical heroes?

Ralph Lemon, Mimi Lien, María Irene Fornés, Adrienne Kennedy, Ariane Mnouchkine, Bruce Gladwin, Pina Bausch, Anna May Wong, Crystal Pite, Kara Walker, Split Britches, Hallie Flanagan, Young Jean Lee, Wu Tsang, Katherine Dunham, Sarah Benson, Emma Rice, Ping Chong, etc.

Plus an endless list of glorious, brave playwrights like Jackie Sibblies Drury, Chris Chen, Casey Llewellyn, Lisa Sanaye Dring, Claire Kiechel, etc.; thinkers like Jill Dolan, Combahee River Collective, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Miranda Joseph, Elin Diamond, Silvia Federici, etc.; and fantastic producer/administrative artists like Patricia Garza of Center Theatre Group, Alison Carey at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Melanie Joseph of the Foundry, Miranda Wright of Los Angeles Performance Practice, etc.

Any advice for directors just starting out?

Here’s some advice I was given that was very helpful for me…

1. See as much theatre as you can, for as little as you can – I got a part-time literary internship, which was unbelievably helpful in developing my taste

2. Don’t be a dick – you never know who is going to be your next boss

3. It’s perfectly reasonable to include financial concerns in decision-making – anybody who judges your decision to get a degree in another field to support your freelance career or to teach high school theatre is likely to have some kind of outside monetary support

4. Though scarcity thinking is shaped and haunted by systemic systems of oppression, it’s also ours to shift

5. Remember that it’s always easier to criticize than it is to create

Also, I was recently asked the question, “How do you deal with the loneliness of being a director?” and I gave some long-winded response about how our job as directors is actually to manage the insane imagination of our minds, which I actually believe (i.e. find what works for you in terms of mental health!) BUT anyways, afterwards, of course, I realized what I should have said in brief… beauty can be its own antidote to loneliness.  

Plugs!

Come see The Chinese Lady. Tickets available here: https://greenwayartsalliance.secure.force.com/ticket

Please send me your play! Let’s hang out!