A snare drum roll. A cymbal CRASH! The hypnotic refrain vamps…
A man’s voice: “In here, life is beautiful.”
I was 10 when I first heard a Broadway musical soundtrack: Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret.
Coming from an acting career – most recently on Broadway in Disney’s Frozen – as a director, I love getting to collaborate with every person involved on a production.
Recent Theatre Directing: Harrison David Rivers’ This Bitter Earth (InterAct Theatre Company – Philadelphia), Letters From May, a new musical by BMI writers Kara Cutruzzula and Kristoffer Bjarke, which premiered at the 2022 SoundBites Festival of new musicals in New York City, both the New York City and touring productions of Owen and Mzee(Michelle Elliot/Daniel Larsen) for Vital Theatre Company, and a reading of the new comedy White Ally by Philadelphia playwright Douglas Williams at Bristol Riverside Theatre (PA).
Film/On-camera Directing: Writer/director of the short film Un{H}armed, inspired by the tragic 2018 shooting death of Stephon Clark. Un{H}armed was an official selection of film festivals nationwide, including the Hudson Shorts Film Festival, New York Short Film Festival, Big Muddy Film Festival, Harlem International Film Festival, Atlanta Shortsfest, and RKDS Film Festival, to name a few. For two years I worked with MJB Films/Actor Screener Shoot in New York City as resident writer and director of actor screeners – scripts written and filmed specifically for individual actors’ reels. It was a joy writing, casting, and filming original scenes with small film crews and actors at all levels of their career.
Associate Directing: JOY the musical (workshop) directed by Sammi Cannold, Private Gomer Jones (NAMT) directed by Sammi Cannold, and Private Gomer Jones (Goodspeed) directed by Marshall Pailet.
Select Educational Directing/Choreography: Guys and Dolls, Starmites, Pirates of Penzance, Mame (Best Choreography Award).
Musical Theatre Writing: Most recently, I wrote music and lyrics for the musical Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson, which premiered at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. My music was featured at New York’s Public Theatre in the Emerging Writer’s Group reading of Bliss by Jerome A. Parker. Bliss starred Andre’ DeShields and Daphne Rubin-Vega. I’ve also written commissions for First Stage Milwaukee, TheatreWorks USA, and Children’s Theatre Charlotte.
Awards/Honors: As a writer, I was awarded the ASCAP Frederick Loewe Award for theatre music composition. The 2013 New York City production of Show Way at Vital Theatre Company was nominated for an Off-Broadway Alliance Award (Best Family Show), and as writer and director of the original one-act musical Connect,which premiered at North Carolina’s The Lost Colony, I was honored to be awarded the prestigious Evelyn Russell Layton Award, given to a cast member for promising career in the American theatre.
I’ve completed training toward Consent Forward Artist certification through Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (USA).
M.F.A. NYU Tisch School of the Arts.