Artistic Statement
I love playing pretend. I love imagining new worlds, new characters, new ideas, new philosophies. I love diving down rabbit holes on the internet about a specific time period or event or person and exploring the wonderland that I find myself in. That magic, that wonder, that bright light of imagination—that is why I make theater. When the breathing of performers and audiences sync in laughter or a collective gasp at a huge reveal or the final exhale after the big note at the end of the finale, our bodies and minds connect through our collective imagination. Those moments allow us to experience the world we deserve: love, connection, community, and care. I make theater to enable those moments and to grasp onto the ability we have to radically imagine new worlds and new ways of being together.
Every word and note I write, every question I ask, every idea I translate is set toward this goal and is made possible by my personal positionality: a white, queer, Jewish, autistic nerd from the suburbia of Baltimore County, Maryland. I exist outside of prescribed gender norms, with a neurotype focused on systemic examination, and a religious and cultural heritage of curiosity and community care. I bring these into my work and being a force for collective growth and liberation. I tell stories from this center and expand my branches and my roots to connect to the forest of creators and imagineers next to, behind, and ahead of me. I draw resilience from all who have come before and dared to tell their own stories and enliven the audiences around them. I draw hope from knowing that we have found ways to exist together before and will find harmony again. With resilience and hope, anything is possible. Will you join me?
But like…who are you?
Originally from the suburbs of Baltimore County, Maryland, transplant Philadelphian, and now residing in Iowa City, IA, I am an early career multi-hyphenate theater artist. I graduated from the University of the Arts (r.i.p.) with a BFA in Directing, Playwriting, and Production in 2021 and since then have been making theater as much as I can. My theatrical practice covers a lot of areas and you can find out about all of those on another page of this website. Outside of theater, I’m a linguistics nerd, nonprofit operations manager, and radical imagination specialist. If I could, I’d eat a sesame bagel egg sandwich every day (my Jewish inheritance along with the intergenerational trauma). I’m an outrageously queer person still trying to build the confidence to wear all the thrifted clothes in my closet. I’m an insatiable binger of television, but don’t ask me the full plot of anything—I just remember main character designs and story vibes. I’m learning to love reading again so toss me some book recs!