Speak Truth to Power

Photos by Christine Sells and Calvin Waldau

06/2024

Pride Play

As a part of American Stage's Fresh Ink series, I directed a stage reading of Pride Play by Jayne Deely. The one-day performance took play in the gallery space at Creative Pinellas followed by a talkback.

Picture it: Downtown St. Pete. Drag Queens. An interactive story. Throughout the play, local drag queens usher the audience through a queer relationship... with some improv thrown in the mix. By staging the reading in a more intimate and non-traditional space, plus the additions of improv and lip-sync performances, I strived to break the barriers of what a stage reading can be and incorporate an inescapable sense of queer joy throughout the experience.

10/2022

Hamlet

Starting in August 2022, I worked with Professor Paul Bawek as his assistant director and dramaturg on an adapted version of Hamlet. We set the production in the original time period while also having Nordic influences. We strived to capture the corruption that takes place in the state of Denmark and how Hamlet tries to maintain his integrity.

For this production, I was given the job of coaching Hannah Nguyen (pictured as Ophelia in the beige dress below) and blocking all of the Ophelia scenes. I also blocked the Players' play within a play (pictured top 3rd picture and bottom 2nd picture) and ran the intimacy calls before rehearsals.

Photos by Justin Bivens

Dramaturgical Note-

You might be wondering why time and time again many theaters choose to put on Shakespeare, including our own. I believe that his work has a universal quality that keeps drawing us in and leading us to find new discoveries in the text. This timeless quality can even be seen in the broad history of Hamlet. The plot is based on several sources, but most prominently the legend of Amleth from Saxo Grammaticus’ 12th century text, Gesta Danorum (“Story of the Danes”). Going back to the time of Roman theatre, many of the conventions that are used in Hamlet are taken from the playwright Seneca, specifically regarding the revenge tragedy genre. The idea of revenge was complicated during Shakespeare’s time because it was outlawed by the state due to the idea that God was the only one who could enact vengeance while at the same time the prosecution of crimes wasn’t effective. Shakespeare allowed the audience to wrestle with topics that they might not be able to talk about outside of the theatre space, which is what made the genre so popular. Hamlet also delves into the theme of grief and ties it to the volatility of the revenge tragedy. Not only does the titular character lose his father, but he also loses the relationships of those around him, such as his mother, Ophelia, and his friends. “The ghost draws upon the emotional taproot of the revenge play genre and dilates the natural sorrow and anger of Hamlet’s multiple griefs until they all include human frailty in their protest and sympathy and touch upon the deepest synapses of grief in our own lives, not only for those who have died, but for those, like ourselves, who are still alive.” (Arthur Kirsch “Hamlet’s Grief”)

If you are interested in seeing more dramaturgical work, please feel free to contact me!

02/2024

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I worked as the assistant director for Pensacola Little Theatre's production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, directed by Joe Nierle. I also served as the lightboard operator. For this show, I notated blocking, gave line notes, assisted with the organization of props, and ran the fight calls before performances.

If you would like to read more about the production, feel free to check out Andrew R. Metzger's review here.

Photos by Barry Boyd