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

I am a proud National Theater Institute and Hedgerow Theater Alumnus who is eager and excited to be back at Monmouth for a second year in a row. This summer I worked in the box office, and this fall I will be playing Willoughby and John Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility. In January, I will be starting rehearsals for Akeelah and the Bee at Children’s Theater of Charlotte in my hometown of Charlotte, NC.

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

Being able to return and see people from previous years just as excited about the work we are creating this year, as they were about work created in the past. 50 years of theater is a testimony to a community that takes pride in its arts, and that excites me more than anything.

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 think that Classic Theatre is timeless. The stories and the struggles are human stories and struggles. I think our duty as artists is to consistently push old works into the new age by adding our energy, spirit, and creativity that has been fostered by modern civilization. Shaking up the classics is not my goal. My goal is to ground the timelessness of the classics in our personal modern realities so that those watching have to continuously question if art imitates life, or if life imitates art.

Who inspires you and why?

My mom, because as I grow older, I recognize how bottomless her love for me (and my siblings) is.

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

Constantine Stanislavski, Barack Obama, and Denzel Washington. Honestly in a room with those three, I’ll talk about anything they want to talk about.

What recent accomplishment are you most proud of?

I finished my Fellowship at the Hedgerow Theater in Philadelphia!

What’s your super power?

Small Talk