How did you get into directing? I was tricked into joining the theater department at my high school. My advisor quickly saw my passion, power and ability to lead which led me to my first directing gig in 2006- a production of Bus Stop by William Inge at a makeshift theater across the street from my high school. It was the happiest time in my young life and I never wanted it to stop.

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 who do you look up to? Ivo Van Hove. I don't think this needs an explanation but I'll give you one anyway. In 2016 I sat front row at the Walter Kerr theater with bated breath to witness the mastery of The Crucible starring Ben Whishaw, Sophie Okonedo and Saoirse Ronan, to name a few. It had been one of my favorite plays and now I can't read it without feeling the same chill move down my spine that I felt while wide eyed  in the theater as I watched a full grown wolf  stalk gracefully across the stage before hurling itself off as the actors took over. The NY Times Theater critic Ben Brantley put it best:  "Mr. van Hove divests a historical work of period associations, the better to see its inhabitants as timelessly tragic and as close to you and me as the people in the seats next to us — or, if we’re honest, as our fallible selves. And more than any of the many “Crucibles” I’ve seen, this one insists that we identify with not only the victims of persecution but also with those who would judge them."

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What sets you apart as a Theater Director?i I can't survive without it. I've tried. It's a lowly existence. I have poured my self into every element of theatrical production- casting, assisting, producing, an actor onstage, a worker backstage, FOH, costume assistant, costume designer, builder, set designer, prop master,  programmer, tech operator, swing, flyman and patron. Being a director is far more responsibility than barking at actors to sit, stand or roll over. The role of a director is that of an Orchestra Conductor- listening for inconsistencies, isolating and highlighting the emotionality emanating from each instrument or foot step on stage,  each bead of sweat hitting the floor, each silence and each uproar. Creating only in service to the story and setting an example of widened breath, understanding, duality and empathy for each and every aspect of the experience of theater. I live for the telephone-like communication from writer to director to actor to audience. It is an honor to be included in any part of that string - but director is where I wield my power.

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