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About

This site, like its creator, is a work in progress. Thank you for spending a little time getting to know me.

Education

2008-2012

Ph.D., Theatre and Performance Studies

The University of Maryland (College Park MD)

2006-2008

M.A., Theatre and Criticism

The University of Maryland (College Park MD)

1999-2003

B.A., Drama

Summa Cum Laude
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Greensboro NC)

Firsts and Favorites

  • First backstage work: helping my mother paint a prop sarcophagus for The Man Who Came to Dinner, age 3

  • First on-stage role: Mustardseed, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, age 8

  • First musical role: a village daughter in Fiddler on the Roof, age 12

  • First time stage managing: The Merry Wives of Windsor, age 16 

  • First full-length solo directing project: Uncommon Women and Others, age 21

  • Favorite show to direct: the one I’m working on right now!

  • Favorite acting role: Celia in As You Like It (rehearsal photo at left!)

  • Favorite non-theatre performance: singing the Mozart Requiem

  • Favorite playwrights: Lynn Nottage, Tom Stoppard, Chisa Hutchinson, Lauren Gunderson, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare, Sophocles 

  • Favorite shows I have yet to direct: The Cottage; Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812; The Lion in Winter; Lysistrata

Academic Stuff

  • Former adjunct professor at Loyola University of Maryland (Baltimore MD), Shepherd University (Shepherdstown WV), The University of Maryland (College Park MD), and Trinity College (Washington DC).

  • Created and delivered courses in theatre history, musical theatre, intro to theatre, acting, dramaturgy, script analysis, and critical reading.

  • Co-curated (with Michael Lonegro) the exhibit "Ira Aldridge: Theatrical Trailblazer" in collaboration with Morgan State University and The James E. Lewis Museum, and the 2018 production of Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. (photo at left!)

  • Academic papers presented at the Mid-America Theatre Conference, Southeastern Theatre Conference History Symposium, Attending to Early Modern Women Conference, and Tell Your Story: An August Wilson Conference.

  • Co-founded the Appalachian Shakespeare Project at Concord University (Athens WV), a partnership between the university and the local community.

  • Served in the University of Maryland University Senate and in the Graduate Student Government as the vice president for student affairs.

Demographic and Identity

  • I am a cisgender heterosexual white woman and I use she/her pronouns.

  • I grew up in a small town in southern West Virginia, deep in rural Appalachia.

  • I enjoyed lots of opportunities to "do theatre" with a local college and community theatre. I studied voice, flute, and piano. I also learned ballet, modern, tap, square and contra dance, and swing dance.

  • I moved to North Carolina to go to college, and then to Atlanta in my 20s.

  • I am currently in the Baltimore-Washington DC region with my husband Colin, a software engineer working in the nonprofit sector.

  • We're doing our best to raise two daughters (pictured at left) to be anti-racist, socially active citizens of the world. We would like to leave our corner of the world a better, healthier place for us having been in it.

  • Things I enjoy doing on my own or with friends: Hiking, kayaking, visiting art museums, gardening, going to live hockey, baseball, and football games. Sharing stories and connecting with people over good coffee. Touring and tasting what local craft breweries have to offer. My husband and I used to be very active in homebrewing ales ourselves, before house repair projects devoured all our spare time!

  • I take my work and my commitments to my fellow artists and audiences seriously. I don't take myself too seriously. I love to laugh.

"It should be fun, but if it isn't fun, at least it will be interesting!" and other things I've said in rehearsal and the classroom.

  • "Since your characters reference the cretaceous period, tell us, what is your favorite dinosaur?"

  • "... And then, Charles II was crowned King of England on his 30th birthday, which, believe me, is not a bad way to close out your 20s."

  • "I’ve got your big word for the day. You’ll probably never need to know it but here it is: exergasia. Somebody please ask me what it means!"

  • "I learned competitive foil and epee fencing AND how to use swords in stage combat. I can do this for real and for fake. So when the zombie apocalypse comes, you want me for your team…"

  • "I promise this is very vanilla Acting 101 stuff. I’m not asking you to roll on the floor and pretend to be a marmoset today. Maybe tomorrow."

  • "This opening night party is great! Wouldn't it be fun to raid the kids' activity room and see what's in the dress-up bin?" (photo at left)

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