interviewed by Gabriella De Brequet

When did you start working in theatre and what compelled you to the art form? 

I’ve been doing theater since I was 10. I started acting “professionally” in community theatre in San Francisco in the mid-90s, and continued acting on and off since then. I worked for IATSE in college, and I’ve been directing pretty consistently since I got my masters’ degree 12 years ago, and have been a producer of alternative theater for the last 3 years. 

When I started acting as a kid, it was the sense of community I felt that kept me coming back. I was never a star, but I didn’t care. My older brothers were really into sports and the theatre kids were my team. As I got more into the experience of creating, performing, and later producing, theatre I realized that you can extrapolate that sense of community beyond your cast and crew – you’re really creating that feeling between performers and audience, and among the audience themselves, through this shared creative, thoughtful, emotional experience. Which is why I love what I do with Fringe and Live Theatre Workshop’s Etcetera program so much. I create a space where the connections can happen. 

How has teaching informed the work you do outside of the classroom? 

I love being able to share my professional experience with my students, both as an actor, and director. I love that I can tell them about how adults are keeping theatre in their lives, even if they didn’t study theatre in college, or if they have a “day job” that has little to do with the arts. But it’s also about how my experience outside the classroom informs my teaching. I apply what I learn from every show to how I teach and direct students. But there is the occasional moment, when I’m directing, when I’ll really get back to basics with the actors- what’s your objective, what are the intentions in this scene? And sometimes I’ll even do exercises with my actors that I would do in the classroom. 

What theatre trends have you noticed your students gravitate to and are they different from the trends you gravitate to?

What I love about my students is that by the time they get to my advanced class, they’re really willing to take creative risks. They’re willing to go on the journey with me and they’re as concerned, if not more so, with what they get out of the experience of creating theatre than pleasing an audience of their peers. They’re willing to challenge their peers’ (and friends’ and family’s) notion of what theatre can be. So we can do a totally avant guard piece, and Hamlet, and a modern dry sarcastic comedy all in one school year and they’re all in. 

Because of that we’ve kind of been able to push the envelope of what high school theatre can do. We were the first high school in Arizona to do The Laramie Project back in 2006, and Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses in 2016. 

What would you like to see more of in the Tucson theatre community? 

I’d love to see more community in our community theatre. I feel like each company operates in this little bubble that competes for audience as well as actors. I know that’s changing a little bit, and I can’t wait to see where it goes… Multiple theatres holding combined season auditions? Why not! Sharing your season early to avoid overlap? Yes please! Discounts for “industry” folks? Heck yeah! 

Do you have any upcoming projects that you want our readers to know about?

Tucson Fringe is hosting a brand new event this weekend called B/lending Forms, where we paired artists of different media (poetry, sculpture, stand up, spoken word, dance,mural, etc) and supported them through the creation of a new piece that combines their talents. That’s at Steinfeld Warehouse on Saturday July 20th. And of course applications are open for the 2020 Fringe Festival until Aug 31st at midnight. (info on both events at tucsonfringe.org) 

And LTW’s Etcetera Series submissions close on August 1st. 

 

The spotlight series is an on-going series where we spotlight local female and non-binary artists in the Tucson Community.