I am suspicious of the intentions of people who want to be directors, including myself.

I believe that we must reframe our conception of directorial leadership—not as power or pulpit—but as a deep responsibility and unique vantage point amongst a group of equal collaborators. 

as I lead, I ask: how can I be led?

I am committed to a lifelong exploration of how we may dispel all traces of white supremacy, patriarchy, transphobia, domination, carceral thinking, and capitalistic greed from the theatrical space.

as I reject outright white supremacy, I also peel back its layers + work to scoop out its seeds, more covert tenets such as urgency, perfectionism, binary thinking, centering capital, scarcity/deficit mindset, toxic individualism, believing in “one right way”, and environmental destruction.¹

I am a queer person interested in seeing queer + trans people working on every creative project under the sun, most especially those that don’t homogenize, package, and sell queer identity.

I believe revolution is a creative act.

I fiercely defend our need for live performance and communal gathering. I dare us to reinvest in patience by being physically present with one another and gifting our undivided attention.

I want to soften the boundary between theatre + public life and expand the agency of the observer.

I am interested in site and trace the origins of my creativity to places that made me feel like I was somewhere else entirely: kitschy children’s under-the-sea themed dentist offices, technicolor car washes, the model rooms of IKEA where I pretended to live a different life.

in a world oversaturated with information, my calling is to be a cultural thinker and maker that contributes to nuanced, dissective processing in both the personal and public sphere. in a bloated capitalist society that reveres the lone trailblazer to its own demise, I want to abundantly honor my tethers to others. there is room at the table for all of us.

I don’t dream of creating unnecessary enterprises. I cultivate a sense of presence and right-sizedness in everything I do.

it is enough.

I uplift the power of domestic labor and steward rooms where others feel deeply considered and nourished. I love cooking for my creative teams—those crowded tables are my wildest dreams.

as a director, I identify as a ritual inventor and facilitator. I am obsessed with the ephemeral. I want to become a death and grief doula, for many of the same reasons I want to direct. it’s rare air when we breathe together. it’s essential that it passes.

I seize the opportunity for the rehearsal room to be a microcosm in which we practice radical civics and model the kind of world we’d like to live in. this means we must be fluent in examining power dynamics, conflict, and inequity in all manifestations. it also means that the way people feel matters.

as an abolitionist, I am interested in the practicalities of true + sustainable accountability. as we rightfully reject that which does not service liberation, I suspect we must also be disciplined in grace + forgiveness. I’m transparent in my need for redemption to be real + possible and I want to co-create the world in which it is.

I believe in my immense capability and I believe in my immense fallibility. “I choose to politely ask myself to step aside if I am in my own way. if I do not get out of my own way, I choose to call a friend who will have me removed.” - Buddy Wakefield

I strive to transmit divine, transformative love in everything I do. it is the reason. I could never be made to feel that love is trite, sentimental, or incompatible with upright professionalism. I believe every love poem ever written is a standalone work of great consequence. I can be convinced of almost anything’s genius. I believe there is an ever-present holy resonance, cacophonous when we listen.

I embody a praxis of softness, care, and yielding. I will rest. I think theatre should be mostly fun.

my favorite part of directing is getting to be a witness. I subscribe to Taylor Mac’s idea that self-consciousness kills creativity. I want to create conditions antithetical to shame and to cultivate a presence in which actors + audiences see their beauty reflected back at them.

as we disinvest from our faith in the mangled beast that is whiteness-wealth-privilege-colonialism-geographical hierarchy²-academic elitism, I believe we must also dispel the notion that the secrets to good acting were conclusively discovered by those who co-created the reality we now wish to dismantle. I think we should use their tools to the extent that they are helpful and continue to reach beyond. the theatrical obsession with “objective”, “tactic”, and the like quite often epitomizes the extractive quality drilled into us by that mangled beast^. I hope to help forge a new set of tools + write a fresh mythology, while also investigating what came before the academy: the ancient impulse of performance.

I believe remembrance is vital work. remind me of that if I forget.

I’m in a longstanding love affair with language. I believe that words can pierce the darkness.

I hope the stories I tell are ½ love letter, ½ autopsy.

there is no measure of perfection I am angling towards in my work, just wholeness. all we are asked to do is lay our entrails on the table and arrange them with purpose.

I think the details matter.

I believe in marrying the content and the form.

I believe that if it can be beautifully designed, it should be.

I believe in aesthetic decadence.

I believe America has failed epically in our worship of concrete. I believe infusing beauty, whimsy, color, vegetation, and artistry into our functional design of the world is critically necessary.

I want to color every shade.

I want to see the whole picture.

I want to open the door and let god rush in.

I want to take you to the edge of your seat and the edge of yourself.

I want to live a million lives.

I will live a million lives.

¹ this listed was generated by Rhiana Yezzie + Emily Preis during a session on Indigenous Dramaturgy. all credit + immense gratitude to them for these words.

² the concept of “geographical hierarchy”, which refers to the way we’ve assigned value to the work + ideas of people in major cities like NYC + LA, while dismissing the importance of suburban and rural communities.