Truly great theatre is about making art that is formidable, art that challenges the way we reflect on the world and invigorates us to envision a world we dream about. The beauty, fluidity, and power found in theatre is instinctively correlated to the chaos found in the human experience, except we organize it into meaningful and passionate stories. Furthermore, these stories reaffirm what our past experiences are, as well as nurture our feelings of isolation in the world. The powerful desire and need to tell stories with others is inherently found amongst us all, and theatre provides us with a complex and powerful invitation to grow and utilize our judgment and empathy. Moreover, it allows us to reach further into a world that is so much larger than ourselves, and still find such personal meaning within it. Storytelling is essential, powerful, and fundamental in order to drive human compassion, education, and connection deeper than a superficial level.

 

I have three questions that drive me anytime I begin a new theatre project: “Why is this story crucial to tell? How does this story impact us and the community around us? Finally, how can we do this story justice?” These simple questions propel me deeper into understanding the significance of the piece and lead to my aspirations for our innermost thoughts and interpersonal conversations to be shared. The conversations that develop over the differences, ambiguity, and conflict that each person experiences exemplify the beauty of necessary theatre. The questions that develop within necessary theatre amongst individuals provide conversation structure and highlight the importance of reflection and the acceptability of unanswered questions. The commitment to collaboration and active attention is what fuels my approach to directing and artistic education. It is vital for me to hear the experiences and injustices that my cast and creative colleagues have faced first. These conversations create more dynamic and meaningful art that pushes past the limits of what theatre can visibly and audibly be and develops stories that need to be told today.

 

As a multiethnic director I understand theatre to be a sharp reflection of society, which raises my concern about the underrepresentation of minorities in this art. Therefore, representation in the rehearsal room to create an intimately engaging process for all my collaborators is vital for my process. In order to improve the ways in which we may communicate both within the world of the play and in our daily lives outside of the theater, I utilize the rehearsal space as a laboratory to experiment with intricate text work, distinctive movement vocabularies, and inventive revelations of space. Additionally, I find an attraction to a company dedicated to progress and curiosity rather than immediate perfection. Creating a room that encompass these individuals drives my motivation every day to do my part in society to make the world a better place through theatre by exemplifying the importance of inclusivity and the beauty within uniqueness.

 

I value individuality and self-expression above all else, and to see an art form that suffocates individuals from being themselves to fit into a societal construct implemented by a select few infuriates me. I have learned this frustration and fury are nothing without action, it is simple to express a feeling through words to the world, but it is essential to facilitate meaningful and impactful actions to make a difference.

 

Consequently, I have found my purpose in this realization which is to work on art that highlights the beauty of the human condition of everyone but specifically minorities, especially since their emotions and stories fail to be told accurately and impactfully. I found myself integrating into projects that are making this change and highlighting untold necessary stories of today. My purpose assists in defining my vision for directing which is to tell and retell stories in a relatable way. This relatability I define as the importance for someone to view a piece of theatre and find a way to see themselves in the story. To be able to relate to their experiences, to their emotions, to their beauty, as well as leave feeling empowered and connected to the art.

 

Furthermore, I express my purpose as being a catalyst, a person that brings attention to issues that need to be addressed in the theatre community but also being a human genuinely concerned with the decaying care for each other. The purpose of why I do theatre is to bring people together, people of all different backgrounds and experiences to have a shared experience that will create connection and conversation. These conversations are at the core of what I find to be the most important part of the work I do. I express wholeheartedly that if someone can leave a piece I directed and talk about it to grow their knowledge, even if it makes them uncomfortable, my work was successful. This feeling of discomfort propels my approach to directing, which is to present a form of theatre that may make some feel like their chair is on fire, and for the underrepresented people to find relatability. It is this overwhelming feeling to create a space that provides safety for all but mainly for the importance to raise awareness to the majority and make them question their perspectives on how the minorities in this country experience life.