We look to the past to shape our future. Who are you? Where are you going from here?

I am a Portland-based actor, director, and occasional producer of theatre as well, primarily Shakespeare. This is my tenth season at TAM, and those past seasons have certainly shaped who I am as a director and an actor. I feel quite grateful to have worked with such talented and diverse artists from all across the country, and their creativity has always sparked and expanded my own. Where I’m going is hopefully a place of balance. As a recently widowed father of two grown children I’m deeply committed to the continuity and stability of my home life. At the same time, I want to continue to be brave and take risks in my creative life. Make sure the nest is always secure, then fly.

What most excites you about being a part of TAM’s (R)evolutionary Redux Season?

The sheer resilience and audacity of it all. The fact that in spite of all the improvisation and changes necessary to produce theatre while still emerging from a pandemic, we are going to give it our best shot. The pandemic underscored the importance and necessity of theatre by forcing us all to experience the lack of it. It’s time to take all the hard lessons learned over the past year and let them inform our work. To once again be brave, dare to create, and hold the mirror up to nature.

We’re all about making old things new and new things classic. Why are you drawn to Classic Theatre? How do you shake it up?

I fell in love with Shakespeare at the age of 13 and his plays have been central to my entire career and adult life. I’m drawn to the enduring relevance and adaptability of the work, and the beauty of characters communicating primarily in verse. I think one of the ways you shake it up is by continuing to push the boundaries of representation on stage in terms of race, gender, and age. To use classical texts of the past to show a more perfect union to come.

From what sources do you draw your inspiration?

When directing Shakespeare, lately I’ve found myself very inspired by the restored Globe Theater in London. The space is a very exact replica of the theater Shakespeare worked in for most of his career and it informs the work in very exciting ways. It encourages bold physicality, strong choices, a sense of size and scale in performance, and a clear acknowledgment of and bond with the audience.

You can have dinner with any three influential people. Who are your dream guests, why them, and what is the topic of conversation?

Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama, and my oldest brother Michael, who is a priest. I choose them because they always believe in the better angels of human nature in spite of adversity and loss. The subject would be how the idea of mercy might inform the politics of the future.

What recent revolutionary acts are you most proud of?

This is definitely revolutionary with a lower case “r”, but over the past year I built a memorial garden for my wife. I had never been a gardener before. It profoundly changed my relationship with my home, with how I look at growth and renewal, and how I deal with loss, memory, and the concept of legacy.

What’s your super power?

Empathy.