I am an actor, director and choreographic theatre-maker.  I've been teaching movement, physical theater techniques and acting for the past twenty years in New York City, Los Angeles and Wisconsin.  My classes and workshops use movement and physicality in ways that allow the participant to free their creative impulses, become more articulate and expressive in their bodies, and engage their imagination through a sense of play with more abandon.  My training with renowned Meisner acting teachers William Esper and Maggie Flanigan along with physical theatre training with Lenard Petit, Anne Bogart, Loyd Williamson and Andy Arden Reese have given me a layered and rich toolbox from which to draw from as a teacher. I currently teach in the Theatre & Drama Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

While in New York, I partnered with the talented and fearless director, Andy Arden Reese and together we created and co-founded Theatre LILA.  Through much experimentation we developed a LILA ensemble style of rehearsal process to create and develop new works.  In 2014 I transplanted Theatre LILA to Madison WI and began producing Theatre LILA at the Overture Center for the Arts.

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As a theatre maker my work focuses on telling stories on stage that are multi-disciplinary inventions that inspire, surprise or engage audiences in unconventional ways. LILA builds new works in collaboration with musicians, writers, designers, poets, artists and performers of all kinds. As a director I seek to answer the question "What story does our community need to experience right now?" when diving into a project. As Artistic Director of Theatre LILA I have directed: No Child...by Nilaja Sun, TRASH: a Theatre LILA Invention, The Mojo and The Sayso by Aishah Rahman in collaboration with Bronzeville Arts Ensemble, Big Fish in collaboration with Four Seasons Theatre, The BED: a Theatre LILA Invention with Co-Director, James Devita, Firecracker and The Waltz of Elementary Particles in NYC as well as adaptations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

Directing works include: Children’s Theatre of Madison Anne of Green Gables and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Four Seasons Theatre Company Assassins, UW-Madison Peter and the Starcatcher and UW-Stevens Point Spring Awakening. Choreography and movement work includes American Players Theatre Oedipus, Cyrano de Bergerac, Mary's Wedding, Edward Albee's Seascape, Merry Wives of Windsor, Born Yesterday, An Ideal Husband, Macbeth, She Stoops to Conquer, Twelfth Night, A Doll’s House and Book of Will. CTM, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Milwaukee’s Next Act A Small Fire, UW-Stevens Point Big Love by Charles Mee.

 

At the core of my being is a desire to create space, workshops or stories to bring people together to feel authentically connected.  When we are connected we take care of each other. Whether it’s a group of teens, a cohort of business professionals, an ensemble of actors or random community members, when we see each other, connect hands, share stories, play and get creative, we allow for peace and freedom and validation of who we are individually and collectively.  I am in the theatre to create more circles where people can fly free and find connection with their own artistic spirit and connection with those in the space with them. 

 

I hold an MFA in Acting, Rutgers University & BFA in Acting, UW-Stevens Point.

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