Theatre Background
I’m an actor turned producer-director who got hooked on theater in the nerdiest way possible—through Shakespeare camp when I was a preteen. Since then I’ve picked up some additional training, notably a summer conservatory at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, the five month long ACADEMY program at Black Box Acting here in Chicago, and a BA in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago.
Somewhere along the line I took the leap into directing. Initially terrified by the prospect of leading a rehearsal room, by the end of the process I had fallen in love. These days, I’m much more likely to be directing or producing than acting. I love building safe, productive, wacky, collaborative rehearsal rooms and production processes where casts and crews come together to create fabulous worlds. I’m passionate about text and about people, and relish the opportunity directing provides to bring together good folks to tell good stories.
In addition to my directing endeavors, I am also Managing Director of Chimera Ensemble, the theater company my fellow Ensemble members and I formed out of the Black Box ACADEMY program. Chimera Ensemble is band of Chicago theater artists committed to creating an innovative theatrical platform for generating work that is accessible to all people. We’re a cohort of performers dedicated to questioning our fears and judgement so that others can question theirs.
Theatre Credits
2019
2018
2017
How to Live on Earth by MJ Kaufman, photo by Mandave Saini
Two-Legged Ghosts by Ellen Wiese (Self-produced reading)
Director
The Vanishing Point by David Narter (Ritual Reading Series)
Director
How to Live on Earth by MJ Kaufman (Chimera Ensemble)
Director
All My Sons by Arthur Miller, photo by Michael Brosilow
The Ninth Annual Chicago One Minute Play Festival
Director
All My Sons by Arthur Miller, dir. by Charles Newell (Court Theatre)
Assistant Director
SPREAD: And Other Rebellious Acts, photo by Murphy Mayer
Humans, Earth, and Everything Else: Chimera Ensemble presents Climate Change Theatre Action (Chimera Ensemble)
Director
Watch Your Language, C**t by Grace McLeod (TAPS)
Director
The Hundred Dresses by Ralph Covert and G. Riley Mills, dir. by Sean Graney (Chicago Children's Theatre)
Assistant Director
The Totalitarians by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, dir. by Scott Westerman (Chimera Ensemble)
Assistant Director
SPREAD: And Other Rebellious Acts (Chimera Ensemble)
Performer
2016
The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis
The Seagull by Anton Chekhov (UT)
Director
Tower of Ivory / Tower of Horn, a devised thesis piece (TAPS)
Director
It's a Boy by Grace McLeod and Saguaro by Philip Dawkins (Chimera Ensemble, Hang On To Your Shorts)
Director
2015
Cowboy Mouth by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith, photo by Andrew Nelles
Cowboy Mouth by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith (UT)
Director
2014
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, photo by Vivian Wan
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, dir. by Zev Hurwich (UT)
Actor, "Bottom"
Native Son by Nambi E. Kelley, dir. by Seret Scott (Court Theatre)
Assistant DirectoR
2013
As You Like It by William Shakespeare (UT)
Director
First Love by Charles Mee, dir. by Eleanor Clifford (UT)
actor, "Edith"
As You Like It by William Shakespeare, photo by Vivian Wan
2012
The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare, photo by Julia Dratel
The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare, dir. by Colin Bresnahan (UT)
Actor, "Lucetta"/"Outlaw"
Production Photos
