01 research
AREAS OF STUDY
THEATRE LABOR
60%
MUSICAL THEATRE
55%
MATERIAL CULTURE
QUEER HISTORY
THEATRE ARCHITECTURE
POLITICAL COMMS
JEWISH HISTORY
FEMINISM
CRITICAL RACE
TOURISM
DIGITAL STUDIES
30%
35%
Dissertation: "Transforming the Beast: The Theatre Laboratories of the 'Disney Renaissance' 1984-1994"
20%
30%
Peer-Reviewed Publications
40%
35%
Conference Presentations
35%
40%
30%
Articles/Research in Progress
CM
As a theatre and performance scholar with extensive professional theatre industry experience and years of mentoring young artists for a career in the industry, I have a profound scholarly interest in the material conditions of theatrical productions, the processes of creative labor, and a special focus on theatre professionals who take their specialized knowledge into non-theatrical contexts. Other research areas include queer history and theory, theatre architecture, tourism, political communications, Jewish history, and the digital humanities.
02 PORTFOLIO
Click HERE for Professional and University Portfolio
DIRECTING
LIGHTING
SCENIC
DIGITAL HUMANITIES
03 Experience
2007
Seeing Double,
Mime Workshop with Ronnie Davis, founding member of
San Fransisco Mime Troupe
2007
Gilgamesh,
KCACTF Irene Ryan Nomination for
performance as Ishtar
2009
The Diary of Anne Frank,
Actor: Mrs. Van Daan
2010-2014
Early Theatre Professional
Actor. Director. Lighting Designer. Stage Manager. Production Manager. Props Master. Stagecraft Instructor. High School Substitute Teacher
The lessons I learned in my early career have shaped my professional and scholarly practice in useful ways. Jobs were scarce so I learned how to create my own opportunities. I returned to my high school alma matter, where I taught stagecraft, served as resident lighting designer, and eventually assistant technical director and production manager. I developed my skills as a lighting designer professionally in the Philly Fringe Festival each year, in the Off-Off Broadway Strawberry One Act Play Festival, and at other high schools and community theatres. I even got to do a lighting design for Buddy the "Cake Boss". In these years, I learned how to be an artist and a professional.
2013
Everyman,
Actor: Five Wits
2015
Philadelphia Theatre Research Symposium
2015
Thesis in Directing:
Last Days of Judas
Iscariot
2015
Graduation, MA in Theatre
2015-2017
Road to Off-Broadway
Adjunct Professor, Technical Director, Production Manager, Director, Designer, Producer
After graduating from Villanova, I was empowered to self-produce theatrical productions with my peers. We produced and I directed a few productions locally, while I taught production and design at Delaware County Community College and Penn State Abington - where I also served as technical director and production manager, respectively. I maintained my scholarly work, presenting at conferences, and continuing research on musical theatre and popular culture. I served as the company manager for the Philadelphia Women's Theatre Festival. In 2016 I served as the general manager for I Will Speak for Myself, a one-woman show that reveals the lives of African American women, pre-emancipation, for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Off-Broadway at 59E59 St. Theatre. The next year I had the privilege of directing the award-winning Off-Broadway premiere of Dorian Gray the Musical, which had a sold-out run and won Best of Fest in its category in the New York Musical Festival. The very next day I moved to Maryland for another big adventure.
2020-2022
Pandemic
Storyteller
Stories and pictures to be posted soon.
2006-2010
BA, Ursinus College
Undergraduate Student. Actor. Sound Designer. Camp Counselor. Thesis in Theatre for Young Audiences and Playwrighting
In 2006 I did what most parents, high school counselors would advise against: I want to college for theatre. In my time at Ursinus, I learned how to blend practical skills of theatre with rigorous historical research. I applied this knowledge onstage and off in formative ways. In addition to playwrighting and acting, I also learned that I have a talent for sound design and directing, where I could combine my love of onstage and backstage practice. Spending much of my time in these college years working as a camp counselor and directing drama camps at the YMCA, I developed an interest in theatre for young audiences, and wrote an educational play as my undergraduate thesis project, which blended projections and live actors. In 2010, I graduated with my degree in theatre, into the challenges of the "Great Recession."
2011
Les Miserables,
Assistant Director,
Lighting Design
2012
Fiddler on the Roof,
Lighting Design
2013
Beauty and the Beast,
Assistant Director,
Lighting Design,
Asst. Tech Dir.
2013-2015
MA, Villanova University
Masters Student, Scenic Assistant, Thesis in Directing
At Villanova I learned how to become a scholar/artist - using the theatre as a laboratory and using research in history and theory to inform artistic choices. I discovered a special talent for musical theatre scholarship, queer theory, and feminist scholarship. Here, I participated in my first academic conferences and first envisioned a career in higher education. I earned a graduate assistantship in the scene shop and gained new understandings of the production process from all departments. I received valuable mentorship in areas of production management and learned how to self-produce theatre and invest in my peers. I learned the principles of theatre for social change and volunteered at a juvenile inmate facility, teaching theatre. I completed a thesis in directing. Villanova helped me discover my voice and gave me the tools to shape my future.
2017-2022
PhD. University of Maryland, College Park
Scholar, Technical Director, Sound Designer, Lighting Designer, Director
Stories and pictures to be posted soon.
2022-Beyond
We're Doing This Again
Scholar, Technical Director, Sound Designer, Lighting Designer, Director
Stories and pictures to come soon.
2010
B.A. in Theatre from Ursinus College
2015
Gypsy,
Director
2016
Venus in Fur
Director
2016
I Will Speak for Myself,
General Manager, Lighting Designer
2017
Dorian Gray the Musical,
Director
CONTACT
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Tel: 1-800-000-0000