For me, the most fun part of all this has always been the parts where we all get to sit down together and just talk about the ideas we are playing with. I bring a dramaturgical lens to everything I do, which is to say the political, ethical, and existential consequences of choices are always on my mind. It sharpens my eye as a producer and curator, and allows me to find productive compromise with artists who have trouble shaping their vision into something that's cohesive with practical constraints.
I have experience with production dramaturgy, script development, literary management, and applied theater for youth and incarcerated young adults. Below are some of my favorite dramaturgical artifacts I have created over the years:
I have experience with production dramaturgy, script development, literary management, and applied theater for youth and incarcerated young adults. Below are some of my favorite dramaturgical artifacts I have created over the years:
"Before the First Rehearsal": Immersive resource guide for Boxcar Theatre's The Speakeasy
Because audiences of The Speakeasy were meant to feel as though they have traveled back in time to the 1920's, dramaturgical resources for the show had to unpack not only the "big ideas" and grand cultural narratives of the era, but also the minutia of daily life. In addition to creating a dictionary and thesaurus of key information for the creative team, I created a resource guide they could use to explore the life and times of average people living in San Francisco circa 1923 on their own. Included are books, films, and other ephemera "of the time" to help the cast see and hear what their characters would have, as well as books and films "about the times" with modern production values and high historical accuracy for cast members unlikely to spend hours reading SF Chronicle articles written 100 years ago, but might watch a recently filmed TV show starring Steve Buscemi. Continue Reading...
Interactive Map for Dirty Hands' production of Water by the Spoonful
The playwright of Water by the Spoonful , Quiara Alegría Hudes, is a Philadelphia native. She makes extremely specific references to locations in Philadelphia and elsewhere, most of which actually exist. So, I created a map to help Dirty Hands' actors and creative team navigate the city of Philadelphia and other locales around the globe Hudes refers to. The map deepened the ensemble's understanding of the characters' relationships to themes such as dislocation and belonging by providing a unique spacial understanding of the characters' pasts and desires for the future. Continue Reading...
"Participatory Science at FIGMENT": guest blog for
Guerilla Science
"The performance artist Allan Kaprow believed that art didn’t have to tell its audience what to think, but could allow them to think for themselves and come to their own conclusions through participation with the art work. At the GS Headquarters on Governors Island for the FIGMENT arts festival, we offered people an opportunity to get their hands dirty (often literally) with the raw materials of science and art." Continue Reading...
"Form No. 1.618: Departure Times and Pricing" for
The Intergalactic Travel Bureau
After a private and complementary consultation with one of our highly trained Intergalactic Travel Agents, potential customers of the Intergalactic Travel Bureau are given a transaction "receipt" . The information provided is meant to guide the customer in choosing an extraterrestrial destination that is the right fit for them both financially and temporally. The fine print at the bottom of the page is a key to the scientific, historical, and economic research I used to come to the conclusions I did regarding the cost of space-holidays. Continue Reading...
Excerpts from:
"Deleuze, Deleuze, Deleuze, Deleuze... Deleuze, Deleuze, Deleuze: Repetition and Affect in Audience and Performer"
"Through a Deleuzian understanding of repetition, we will demonstrate how repetition (as a performative process of becoming) creates affect in both the audience and the performer. This affect is independent of both performer and audience, allowing a dialogue to emerge both between the audience and the performer, and between the audience or the performer and the affect itself." Continue Reading...
"Urinals, Swordfights, and Dildos: Experimenting with Masculine Gender and Sexuality in an Adaptation of
Joe Calarco's Adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet"
"I did not want this production to be a platform to simply decry and warn against the evils of homophobia, nor did I want to tell a standard gay Bildungsroman in which the closeted main character finally finds the strength to leave the closet after a romantic encounter with another queer boy. Though there is merit in such narratives, I wanted to see what would happen when male homosexuality interacts with normative western narratives regarding masculinity in order to better understand homosexuality, masculinity, and my own identity. In other words, I wanted to experiment." Continue Reading...