Map of Virtue

director’s reflection

this process began the way I always approach my work: gathering actors around a long table, eating a meal I made for them and playing with the text. after a brief rehearsal period, the public performance took shape quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen before– somewhere between a staged reading, a full staging, and a concert. it was such a valuable experience to flex the muscle of imaginative flexibility, not merely accepting limitations (using scripts, tiny rehearsal period, etc.) but actively choosing them and allowing ourselves to expand to the very edges of what was possible. 

Map of Virtue is a strange, surreal play about two strangers who keep running into each other and it maps the intersections of their lives with symbolism, a mystical bird, musicality, an extreme detour into the absurd + disturbed, and poignant vignettes of their relationships. it explores both the power and limitations of perception, the way it shapes our reality, and the struggle to map the interconnected, beautiful, and often senseless trajectories of our lives. 

despite a nonexistent budget, this work felt deeply abundant. we were able to eliminate the need for reading stage directions by infusing the reading with dynamic blocking + physicality and creating a legible visual aesthetic with costumes and props. Chicago-based musician and artist Emilie Hanson elevated the text with live, original musical accompaniment. as the audience entered the space, they were offered a nibble of food extracted from the play and led to blankets + cushions. the actors' willingness to play with open questions and remain in the process of discovery, even with our community present, made the evening feel like a synthesis of so many of my ambitions and dreams.