bird
femme de la renaissance
director • producer • actor • upsetting my mother & other intrigues
This feels like a dating profile bio with far fewer dog photos, but oddly more prospects? I am proud Los Angeles native. I prefer to walk everywhere but I detest hiking..mostly because of snakes. I fu*king hate snakes. I have a twin sister who is amazing - she co-founded a dog rescue non-profit and has taught me knew levels of empathy and compassion. I have a few tattoos + piercings that represent my past, present and future- but can all be easily hidden by clothes or prose. I love every aspect of theater production. I created a theater production company called Noisy Nest in 2012. I teach a workshop for artists called "Artist Accountability", I have 2 dogs - one chihuahua named Chicken and one 2-legged chow/poodle named Tallulah. I'm allergic to garlic, narcissistic ignorance and, ironically, dogs.
Currently Reading: The Collected Stories of Lenora Carrington.
Currently listening to: The Hilarious World of Depression
Currently watching: Bojack Horseman
Currently working on: Getting my sh*t together.
This feels like a dating profile bio with far fewer dog photos, but oddly more prospects? I am proud Los Angeles native. I prefer to walk everywhere but I detest hiking..mostly because of snakes. I fu*king hate snakes. I have a twin sister who is amazing - she co-founded a dog rescue non-profit and has taught me knew levels of empathy and compassion. I have a few tattoos + piercings that represent my past, present and future- but can all be easily hidden by clothes or prose. I have a scar on my right ankle from an injury sustained while showing off poorly at a bouldering gym. I have a scar on my lower lip from getting in a fight with my vacuum cleaner. I love every aspect of theater production from design to direction to acting to sitting in among the masses taking it all in. I founded Noisy Nest in 2012 and a 501(c)Non Profit called The Nest. in 2023. my 2 dogs have 6 legs between then and they run my life. I'm allergic to garlic, narcissistic ignorance and, ironically, dogs.
Currently Reading: I Hate You, Don't Leave Me by Jerold Kreisman
Currently listening to: This American Life
Currently watching: Definitely not New Girl...again.
Currently working on: My damn self.
director
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.
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."
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.
producer
actor
How did you get into PRODUCing? Becoming a producer is the silver lining a being a control freak artist with a passion for theater. The only way to make what I wanted how I wanted, I had to do it myself. I produced my first show while in high school in 2005. Everything from funding, to casting to tech- I had to learn as I went. It was hard work. Producing is the kind of 'hard work' that doesn't ever get easier but its never boring.
wow- how original. why acting? " I love acting"- says every actor stepping off of a GreyHound bus at 18 to be discovered and make it big...this what I allow myself to imagine is the only way to arrive in LA. I'm from here and pride myself, to my own detriment, on being a very hard worker. I thrive off of the challenge of acting, the constant reach for growth and evolution as an artist. I love that with every character I step into, I become that much more human myself. Also, I was notoriously terrible at math, was a "weirdo" and had undiagnosed ADHD, so theater really just happened to me. You can read about my neurotic theatrical musings i an article by Shelby Howell <<here>>
qualifications:
2004 - 2006 Studied theater, direction, production, scenic design, lighting and FOH.
2006: Awarded "Actor of the Year" upon graduating high school. Let it. be known, I was the only senior actor. so... I was a shoe-in.
2006-2007: Studied theater at Cal State University, Northridge.
2007-2009: Was accepted to The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and studied theater, costume design and construction, stage management, sfx makeup design and application while studying acting in a conservatory setting.
2010- Graduated AADA as a company member.
2012- present Founded "Noisy Nest", an LA based theatrical production company
2018 - Studied Stage, Set, Light and Sound design at LACC.
& other intrigues
acting inquires:
RPM Talent Agency
2600 W. Olive Ave 5th Floor
Burbank, CA 91505
Tel: 818.333.5150