side project

Up Next: HOME, A Festival of Storytelling

Life in the Theatre, Show Information

I’m delighted to be directing an evening of storytelling for the side project‘s third annual Festival of Storytelling. I’ve had the pleasure to work with four tellers: Don Hall, Dana Jerman, Jack Schultz, and Evelyn Keolian. These four great human beings are going to perform tomorrow, Sunday, at 7:30pm up at the side project. More details are on the Upcoming page.

It’s been a fun challenge to figure out how to approach storytelling as a distinct thing from a theatrical production. With a play, I can walk into a rehearsal room with my ideas, and then work with the actors, designers, and crew to bring those ideas to life. In contrast, with storytelling the stories are personal to the tellers, so it would feel weird if I tried to impose some big grand vision of my own. Instead, I’ve been trying to listen more, ask more questions, and help facilitate their ideas. It’s been a unique process for me and a great learning experience.

All three stories — Evelyn’s about moving to Chicago from L.A., Jack’s about his big brother, and Don & Dana’s about their journey to finding each other — are wonderful, touching, funny, interesting, personal tales. I’m so grateful to each of them for sharing their stories with me. Come check it out tomorrow night!

Keeping Busy

News & Other Fun Stuff, Plays I've Seen, Show Information

It was another busy month in February!

I had a great time working on Adam Webster’s short play NOTHING TO FEAR for RhinoFest, which included a chance to meet a bunch of great people and work with some new-to-me actors.

It was great fun to check out Promethean Theatre Ensemble’s short run of An Evening of Shakespeare: Lonely Hearts and Twisted Love at the Red Lion Lincoln Square. An Evening of Shakespeare (“EoS”) has become a wonderful annual tradition for Promethean over the years, and this year’s installment delivered great scene work in an intimate setting, with some well-known familiar scenes mixed in with others that aren’t performed as frequently.

Next up, I’m directing a night of the side project’s upcoming HOME: A Festival of Storytelling III, a three-week festival featuring the work of about 30 storytellers and 10 directors.  Details are on my Upcoming page. I’ll be working with three stories/storytellers for the March 29 performance, starting with a 5-minute story from Evelyn Keolian and a 10-minute story from Jack Schultz, both of whom are new to the storytelling scene. Then we’ll round out the evening with a 15-minute shared piece from veteran storyteller Don Hall (of The Moth and more) and poet Dana Jerman. It’s shaping up to be a very cool evening, and I’m excited to work with Evelyn, Jack, Don, and Dana.

Also in March (next week, in fact!), I’ll be teaching a pair of Shakespeare Audition Workshops for Midsommer Flight, one focused on Monologues and the other on Cold Reading. I’m so excited to get back to teaching. There’s still time to sign up if you’re interested – the workshops are a great value (they work out to only $12.50 an hour and include a ton of personalized instruction) and they should be a lot of fun.

Being this busy can feel a little overwhelming, but I’m having fun with all of these projects and I’m lucky to have them on my plate. Happy March!

Updates, Up Next, Up Up Up!

Life in the Theatre, Plays I've Seen, Show Information

January has been a busy month!  I now have more details about RHINOFEST, where I’ll be directing a short piece in February. You can check out the details on the Upcoming page of this site.

I have also lined up another small gig for March, directing an evening of storytelling at the side project‘s HOME: A FESTIVAL OF STORYTELLING III. Details will be posted soon on the Upcoming page, as well. The side project is a fantastic company, and I’m so excited to be working with them for the first time.

I’ve seen two shows so far this month: FATHER RUFFIAN at City Lit, which was a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s HENRY IV plays, and PUSH BUTTON MURDER at the side project, an intriguing look into the world of secret military drone operations. Two completely different shows, but both with some great interesting choices and really strong acting.

I’m also hard at work planning the Midsommer Flight 2015 season, which is shaping up to be pretty exciting. I’m dying to share the news as soon as I can…stay tuned.

Not a bad start to the year so far. Onward and upward!