My friend, colleague and fellow artist, Jerry Rojo passed away on February 27, 2018. He was a soulful man with an enormous heart who floated through the corridors of the UCONN drama department spreading love and dispensing wisdom. Sometimes he would drop by my rehearsals, watch closely and then quickly solve a problem, without judgement.
This is the story of how an idea became a play. A simple What If? question ten years ago became The Parkville Project, a new play about identity, hope and immigration. Created from community interviews and new historical research, The Parkville Project weaves physical theatre, music, and puppetry into a story about a love that
Eurydice runs from March 23 – April 2 2017 at Connecticut Repertory Theater. Here are my Director’s Notes for the program. Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice is written in movements – a poetic symphony of love, loss, memory and rhythm. It is elemental, grounded in earth with two movements set in the Underworld, home of the Stones.
The development of a theatrical piece is an act of faith that never ceases to amaze me. Artists come together with hope, excitement, some trepidation, a few words and a lot of wondering. With Together, the question was not: What we will bring to life? But more: How can we help the playwright with her
Look around you right now. Try to make eye contact. You can’t because everyone is staring, zombified, into a tiny black screen, their smartphones. This is what MIT professor Sherry Turkle calls being “alone together.” Nowadays, we seek connections through our devices. We are uncomfortable with solitude. We are in danger of losing the very
Harping back to the founding fathers to legitimize a conservative worldview is a tried and tested political tactic in the United States. Inevitably it requires some retrofitting to make 18th century ideals make sense in our 21st century context, but this approach gains traction because a familiar story is comforting. Suddenly the public has yet
I recently had the good fortune to spend an afternoon at the Getty Center in Los Angeles and stumbled upon a book called Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren.* I was drawn to it by the simplicity of the cover: a single, faded, slightly desiccated leaf. Upon reading, the principles
I cannot help but bring the political into my work. Whether I am writing or directing, I am interested in how the issue of power filters into a story. When directing Pride and Prejudice I was compelled to delve into Mary Wollstonecraft and really investigate the social and economic pressures that shape Darcy and Elizabeth.
