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Biography
Foundation
I have dedicated almost 20 years of my life to professional theatre. Beginning with a teen professional theatre program and ranging to performing Off-Broadway, Off-West End and with a national tour, I’ve experienced many avenues of theatre. For much of my early career I focused on acting, and was incredibly fortunate to receive my BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan, one of the top-ranked programs in the country. Shortly thereafter I moved to New York, and began exploring avant-garde and exciting theatre practices. I began working for Sleep No More in an administrative capacity in order to learn more about how to operate large scale productions. During that time I discovered my passion for directing, and ignited my long-term goal of one day becoming an artistic director and operating a theatre company of my own.
Administration
After interviewing several high-profile directors in the Maryland area, I decided the best way to educate myself about the business side of theatre was to become directly involved. I committed myself to learning the various business practices of different types of theatres and gaining administrative experience. I worked for a variety of award-winning regional theatres, including the Everyman Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival, and the Shakespeare Theatre Company. I also expanded my knowledge of non-traditional theatre by working on site-specific projects such as Refinery29’s 29Rooms and Island Shakespeare Company’s workshop of King Lear. During this time I established important relationships with future collaborators, and committed myself to enriching and bolstering the theatre community.
Innovation
COVID-19 has drastically changed the theatre world. A global pause in live performances has allowed industry professionals space and time to reconsider their priorities when it comes to developing the theatre community. While challenging entrenched ideals is an immense undertaking, I see this as an exciting, necessary, and inevitable evolution in the cultural landscape of theatre. Working with experimental and avant-garde productions in the past has inspired me to push the boundaries of what theatre can be, and with each new production I push myself and my collaborators to create more accessible, inclusive, and proactive work. I am a founding member of Crush Room, an emerging theatre company based in London, and I’m an Artistic Associate with the award-winning immersive theatre company COLAB Theatre Productions. I also recently founded a new interactive immersive theatre company in the US, Ludens Theatre Company. My upcoming projects are focused on redesigning productions to serve as community-building tools, creating an open forum for discourse which celebrates and thrives on differences in perspective. With community at the core of my work, I aim to create immersive experiences which will ally audiences by sparking discussions and offering opportunities to collaborate proactively towards solutions for meaningful change.
Direction
Community is the cornerstone of theatre, and an important virtue that I prioritize in my work. As such, I began my directing career by teaching young artists. Working with the Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre, I educated students aged 5-11 on various aspects of theatre and assisted them in writing and performing their own plays. I have since directed award-winning productions in New York, London, and the DC area. The productions I’ve worked on have won several awards and nominations, including The Offies, Helen Hayes Awards, DCMetroTheatreArts Awards, SCAR Awards, Thrill Awards, A Lyn Gardener Top Pick, and most recently a BroadwayWorld Award for Best Immersive Production 2022 for Phantom Peak, for which I worked as a Performer and Associate Director.
I’ve also continued my commitment to community development as a core member of both the London and International immersive theatre communities. I regularly attend and participate in landmark conferences and industry leadership events, such as the Denver Immersive Gathering and the Immersive Experience Network. I’ve participated in a number of case studies in order to better understand best practices for creating immersive work and audience reactions to those practices. I’ve also continued my work in education, leading workshops and lecturing in higher education settings. I’ve guest lectured with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama’s MA/MFA Advanced Theatre Practice course, and designed and taught ICT Brighton’s first ever immersive theatre module for their BA Performance course, which resulted in over 360 classroom hours and a fully-realized interactive immersive production titled The Tight Squeeze.
