I grew up on stage, singing in choirs, dancing ballet and tap, and acting in anything I could. While I dreamed of acting professionally, I also dreamed of how each show’s world worked, fascinated by each facet of how the art was made. While in college at Webster University, I joined the student led playwrights’ festival as an actor and a director, before stepping up to help run it. At the request of the other board members and our community, I took lead as the artistic director and expanded the organization to include 3-5 cabarets, concerts and other productions each year. I directed several plays and 2 musical revues, while also leading a team of students in managing a budget, navigating the university bureaucracy, and communicating with the staff of the reparatory theaters that resided on the campus.

 

I moved to New York to continue my education at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. When I completed the program, I took the advice of several of my professors and mentors, and I reevaluated what was important to me. I found that I did not need to be on stage to be fulfilled; I just needed to be involved within the industry itself. I was given an opportunity to Stage Manage and Assistant Direct a show for the Fringe Festival and found I not only had the temperament for that kind of work, but also the eye and mind to be very successful at it. I continued to Stage Manage and  Assistant Direct productions in the city. Since I was primarily working on productions with limited budgets, I had to learn how to be the entire crew by myself. I acquired valuable experience as a Light Designer and Master Electrician, as well as learned basics as a Carpenter, Properties Manager, Sound Technician, etc.

 

I began to Direct a few shows with my fellow Alumni as actors practicing and showcasing our skills. We chose shows we thought would fit the group we had gathered. After several shows I joined ANON Productions, a company focused on reimagining Shakespeare shows. My first show with ANON I assisted and stage managed. It was Hamlet with the characters of Hamlet, Horatio, Ophelia, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern gender flipped. Hamlet was a woman raised as a man for succession purposes and Ophelia a very effeminate man in a militaristic society. I directed Macbeth where Lady M was more the focal character bringing Hecate and the three witches forward in their efforts to make her one of them. My third show with them was a workshop of a new play.With SNOW I had the opportunity to work closely with the writer to bring her creation to life. My last production with ANON was Much Ado About Nothing, set in a burlesque club where Beatrice was the star performer, Leonato the owner shielding his daughter from the darker side of the club, and the men soldiers on leave.

 

While working with the companies that did one show each year, I found a home with Musicals Tonight!, an off-Broadway company that produced five “neglected” Golden Ages musicals a year. I became the Production Manager and Company Manager within a year of working there. The Producer/Artistic Director regularly consulted me for my expertise in Dramaturgy and on how to solve issues these shows presented, such as adding cut songs back into scripts and ghost-writing replacements for the lost scenes that surrounded them, trimming racist or otherwise inappropriate dialogue without altering the writer’s intentions, and scaling production needs to fit within our budgets. I was an integral part of decision-making from choosing shows, to casting, from negotiating with the unions and rights holders, to hiring staff and beyond. I directed my first large scale musical for them which ended up being their final show as the Producer retired and closed the company.

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In between all these shows I found other work around New York, the country, and even took a contract on an international tour. These contracts were mostly either management or light design focused. After Musicals Tonight closed I moved to LA for a year to finish my degree and took the opportunity to Self-Produce and Direct a show I had been in love with for a while. The shutdown brought me out to Phoenix, AZ where I currently reside. I still regularly travel for work and look forward to working with you in the near future.