The best plays are plays forged in the fire of passion. But not passion from a single individual, but rather the gathered passions of many individuals working together. In order to foster this passion, there must first be a foundation of trust. In my room, every voice matters and every person is valued. Collaboration is the key to unlocking theater’s magic. I do not speak commands with harsh words, but rather guide and provoke with questions and affirmations. I believe each person in the room has something beautiful to share, and it is my responsibility as a director to make sure they feel comfortable enough to share the magic that lies within them. This is what makes a play feel electric… this feeling that everyone on the stage has something invested, something at stake, and a shared desire to create something beautiful.

Before I get into the room, and while we forge the play as a team, I primarily act as a spelunker, a botanist, an archeologist, and a treasure hunter. I am one with the dirt (or, the play, for that matter). I dig and I dig and I dig until the dirt reveals to me what it would like to become in the hands of our creative team. I believe in ongoing exploration, play, and discovery. I am a text oriented and metaphorically inclined director, it’s not uncommon for me to find one repeated motif, or a handful of repeated motifs, and offer this initial discovery up as our central seed from which the entire production may grow and foster.

I invoke practices of clown, physical theater, multi-media, and choreography. I encourage discoveries through not just the mind but also the body; I often include ensembles built upon distinct gestural language in my work. Music and the unearthing of the rhythm of a piece is central to my perspective as well. Someone once called my directing style "directing ballet" and I think that's apt. I am passionate about creating stage images straight out of a painting: bold light, bold movement, clear, saturated, intense, and melodic.

It is my priority that the visual never gets in the way of the text's emotional core. My responsibility is to create a space in which the audience engages in an act of communion, to "look back, in, around, and forward". With my work, I aim to ask questions, not provide answers. In all the epic theatricality, there must be emotional clarity, a vulnerability and generosity of presence that ensures the play doesn't lose its heart and is a tangible, raw, relevant story.