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

I am comprised of three components: my theater, my music, and my beliefs. I am a BFA dramaturg at Carnegie Mellon University. But I’m not only a dramaturg—I’m a director, an actor, and maybe a designer too. I’m learning to expand the breadth of myself as an artist, with the hope of becoming a theater-maker who understands and connects with the work of all her collaborators. I want to be an artistic director one day; to affect the landscape of art we produce. My music and my beliefs? A little bit more difficult to articulate.

 What most excites you about being a part of TAM’s 50th Anniversary Season?

As I work on a pamphlet commemorating TAM’s 50th Anniversary Season, I’m struck with awe at the expansiveness of this company. Seeing people who return for years and years, the troubles the company faced and knowing they must have overcome them, and an apprentice who eventually became artistic director. It’s magnificent, and certainly its own brand of magic.

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’ve been performing Shakespeare since high school. And performing Shakespeare was how I discovered that I’m a dramaturg. During a production of Coriolanus, in which I played Virgilia, I got a note on how to physicalize the relationship between Virgilia and Volumnia. “Act as if you are same-poled magnets,” said my director, “and move in response to each other with that in mind.” Thinking of my character from that exterior perspective was my favorite part of that rehearsal process. Recently I’ve rediscovered my love for interior perspective, and as I’m sure you can guess, it was through Shakespeare, too. I believe we ground ourselves in the classics without getting stuck in them. Their stories and their language are no more than vessels for the largest questions of human existence, and those questions need no shaking up.

Who inspires you and why?

Most recently, Richard Sewell himself. Reading through all of the old programs for TAM, he’s become a sort of personal hero for me. The way he talks about the magic of theater, the pride with which he defends the theater he loves, and the eloquence with which he delivers all of that leads me to strongly admire him. I hope to accomplish as much as he has with my own life.

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

My three people would be Stephen Sondheim, Alan Menken, and Chance the Rapper. Ideally, they’re going to finally unlock the elusive secret that is musical composition.

What recent accomplishment are you most proud of?

I will be dramaturg for the world premiere of Caridad Svich’s Desdemona’s Child (blood cry) at Carnegie Mellon University next spring. I’m thrilled to work with our team on this beautiful and splintered modern classic. For this process, I’ve devised a new method of script analysis that combines both visual and auditory elements. Reach out to me if you’d like to know more!

What’s your super power?

I can read minds! Okay, maybe not actually. But I have a strong intuition and a talent for reading people. If I ask you just the right question to send your mind spiraling, well, now you know how I did it.