DIRECTING: PUSHING BOUNDARIES.

As a director, I focus on the text first. In the rehearsal room, I challenge youth to ask questions, take risks, and trust their instincts. Finding the underlying truth and the humor in honesty.

Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare

Milwaukee Youth Theater
Assistant Director: Ryan Krueger
Cast Age Range: 10-18 years

To me, each character in Twelfth Night is trying to find their home. What does it mean to be home? To be with family? These were the questions that centered around our rehearsal process; how does it feel to be displaced and how do we try to make amends with our reality? All of the characters struggle with not belonging or confining to the standards set for them. The concept of displacement is reflected in both the costumes and set design as well; elements may seem slightly off kilter, just like life.

The Bear, Anton Chekhov
Ronald Reagan IB High School
WHSFA State One Act Festival

State Qualifiers. Awards won: Best acting (2), ensemble, technical crew, directing, and critics choice.

As a team of all young women, technical and performers, as a team we qualified for the WHSFA State One Act Festival in Stevens Point, WI. The women, gender bending for Smirnoff, and reinterpreting for Luka, graced the stage with their intensified expressions of the characters in this world. All of the women received honors for their excellence.

The Hundred Dresses, Mary Hall Surface
Milwaukee Youth Theater
Director: Ashlea Woodley
Cast Age Range: 9-16 years

Milwaukee Youth Theater's black box production of The Hundred Dresses required innovative staging in the limited space and double casting. There were gender-bended roles (female to male), Polish dialect and language, as well as musical incorporations from the actors seen on stage (recorder and flute). Actors used movement pieces to transition between scenes and assist with location changes.