This year was non-stop, and I’m incredibly grateful, if not a little tired. I feel so fortunate to have so many opportunities to work on shows that I believe in and with people who inspire me.
In February, I continued a long-standing partnership with playwright Sarah Elisabeth Brown and directed the Michigan premiere of “Lovebird Jamboree: Love Stories from the LGBTQ Community” at Planet Ant Theatre.
Based on a series of interviews from people in the LGBTQI community, eight very different characters present their defining love stories. Self-help junkies, sex workers, academics, softball jocks, and wannabe Jell-O salad aficionados – all get their say in this heartfelt, funny set of monologues.
May brought my first main stage directing opportunity at Theatre NOVA: the Michigan Premiere of “Death of a Driver” by Will Snider.
An American engineer moves to Kenya to build a road and befriends her charismatic African driver. When a dispute over a local election lands him in jail, she questions the integrity of their alliance and wonders how well she knows the man she thought was her friend. Death of a Driver is a bracing examination of “doing good” abroad, the limits of understanding another person, and what happens when personal and political obligations collide.
In July, after about a year of development, I had the opportunity to implement the New Play Development Residency at Theatre NOVA in Ann Arbor. I wrote the grant to secure funding for this initiative, and I brought together and managed a team of nine dedicated individuals who helped bring the inaugural iteration of this program to life. It was a rewarding process to see this idea come to fruition and to create a supportive environment for playwrights to develop their work. The inaugural residency supported playwright D. L. Patrick in developing “Eclipsed: The Sun, the Moon, and Gladys Atkinson Sweet”.
This August, I had the opportunity to produce the 2024 Michigan Playwrights Festival, where I managed over 40 individual artists across six staged readings over five days. I coordinated script selection (we had a record-breaking 36 submissions this year), rehearsals, contracts, staffing and performances. Each reading was followed by facilitated discussions involving a moderator, the playwright, actors, director, and audience. These discussions provided a platform for constructive feedback, helping the playwrights refine their work.
Is now a good time to mention that I spent March-July unable to walk due to a broken foot, and spent the month of August learning to walk again? Yeah. To quote Taylor Swift, "I can do it with a broken [foot]."
I’m proud to say that with the help of my colleagues at Theatre Nova, we secured our largest grant ever from the Michigan Arts & Culture Council, totaling $37,600 across operational support, facility improvement, professional development, and arts in education. With a few exceptions, this puts us in the top percentile of awardees in the state. While the application was submitted in June, it wasn’t announced until September, right at the beginning of our 10 year anniversary season.
We launched our 10th anniversary season with an all-World Premiere lineup to uphold our mission of bringing new plays and new voices to the Ann Arbor community. Plus, we hosted an unforgettable gala to celebrate.
I had the privilege of opening Theatre NOVA’s 10 year anniversary season by directing the World Premiere of “In Search of the Mothman” by Amber Palmer, which opened in October.
In Search of The Mothman follows two young sisters trapped in a life transition after an unexpected tragedy strikes their hometown. Emily is just trying to make it through her senior year and get into music school, while Jordan moves across the country to Point Pleasant, West Virginia under the joke of "searching for The Mothman". Through honesty and humor, the sisters try to work through their trauma and grapple with what lives they want to lead in the aftermath. A play about coming together and pulling away in tragedy, the confines of community expectations and whether we can truly know the people we love.
In November, I was honored to direct a workshop of “Tragedy Sound” by Karen Saari for the Flint Repertory Theatre Lab. Flint Rep Lab is dedicated to commissioning, developing, and premiering new work for the theatre, providing playwrights, composers, directors, and ensembles studio space and other resources to workshop new plays and musicals throughout the season.
Three young women accept a dare and embark on a canoe trek on frigid waters. Dangerous conditions prevail and force them to reveal and face the choices they've made and the trappings of life in their confining hometown.
I’m currently in rehearsals for “Bernhardt/Hamlet” at Open Book Theatre Company- though that doesn’t open until January 2025, so you’ll have to wait for the 2025 YIR!
I’m so thankful to everyone who has shared their time and talents with me this year. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to make art that I believe in and collaborate with such extraordinary people.
Here’s to 2025.
2024 Year in Review:
Shows Done:
Lovebird Jamboree, Director, Planet Ant Theatre
Death of a Driver, Director, Theatre Nova
Eclipsed: The Sun, the Moon, and Gladys Atkinson Sweet, Producer/Creator New Play Development Workshop, Theatre Nova
Michigan Playwrights Festival, Producer, Theatre Nova
In Search of the Mothman, Director, Theatre Nova
Tragedy Sound Workshop/Reading, Flint Repertory Theatre
Plays Watched:
Fortune, Theatre Nova
Untitled, University of Michigan New Works Festival (written by Gavin Creel)
Faure’s Requiem, Flint Rep Lab
The Chinese Lady, Tipping Point Theatre
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Flint Repertory Theatre
Breaking the Wave, Detroit Opera
the ripple, the wave that carried me home, Theatre Nova
The Squirrels, Tipping Point Theatre
Moulin Rouge!, Broadway in Detroit
Godspell (in a Pool!), Flint Repertory Theatre
Maybe Happy Ending, Broadway
Cabaret, Broadway
Romeo + Juliet, Broadway
A Very Shakespeare Christmas, PTD Productions
Plays Read:
I only read about 30 plays this year (a very low year for me) and may were submissions to festivals that I’m uncertain I should share, so here are a few of my favorites from the year:
Appropriate, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
fleabag, Phoebe Waller Bridge
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire, Samantha Hurley
My favorite books from 2024 include "Kingdom of Ash" by Sarah J. Maas, and "What My Bones Know" by Stephanie Foo.
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