Director

Reversible Lane

Co-Director with Tim Stoltenberg

Tim and I are veterans of the Second City. We adapted the process that they use to create their sketch revues to develop our own, brand new revue in 2023. This Atlanta-centric sketch show was so popular that Dad’s Garage is doing another sketch process in 2024.

Directing a sketch show in this style is very similar to directing a devised piece of theatre. The cast pitches ideas for sketches that are then improvised through or scripted fully and revised and rehearsed until they are ready for performance in the final running order.

The Dangers of Tobacco

In my MFA program I directed Anton Chekhov’s The Dangers of Tobacco (translated by Paul Schmidt). During the course of this program I learned about Stanislavsky’s Active Analysis rehearsal technique. Active Analysis bridges the gap between scripted and improvised work by using traditional table and book work in improvised ‘etudes’ of scenes from the play. This process makes actions, given circumstances, objectives and obstacles immediate for the actor. Here are a few highlights from the finished performance.

**Winner: Alpha Psi Omega Faculty Award - Best Director (Graduate Student)

Cast: Colin Lonergan

Stage Manager/Light Board Op/Scenic Coordinator: Amanda Rearick

Techincal Direction/Lighting Design: Jaemin Park

Sound Op: Reilly Massey

Trigger Happy: Season 5 Student Group

Trigger Happy is a choreographed long form improv show that has been running at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago since 2015. In 2019 and 2020 the original cast members of Trigger Happy began directing “student groups” of Trigger Happy. These groups developed their own distinct choreography in the style of the original Trigger Happy show. This is a rehearsal video of Season 5’s opener.

Cast in speaking order: Tweek Bass, Deanna Beaton, Jessye Grace Mueller, Sean Koch, Kelsey Schmidt, Ale Ramirez, Linnea Frye, Evan Mulrooney

Assistant Director/Videographer: Eric Simon

The Perfect Coven

Bridesmaids meets The Craft inside a Lifetime Original Movie. I came up with the concept for this play after Linnea Frye, Megan Leahy, Amber Nash and I developed a long form improv show where we improvised a Lifetime Original Movie. The four of us wrote the script for The Perfect Coven together based on that format. I directed this show for Dad’s Garage Theatre Company in 2013.

Clint Sowell, Rene Dellefont, and Harriss Callahan in *Invasion: Christmas Carol*, photo by Jonathan Phillips

Invasion: Christmas Carol 2012

Dad’s Garage Theatre Company in Atlanta ,GA has been performing this holiday show since 2008. The cast rehearses a slightly funnier version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but for each performance they are joined by a completely random character who can mess with the story. After being a cast member in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 I was asked to direct in 2012. It is half-scripted, half-improvised and all Dad’s Garage.

Alice in Wonderland

I began directing scripted work in college with a production of Alice in Wonderland. My focus in that production was on building ensemble through Story Theatre style physicality. Produced as part of the student directed one-act festival, this was the first time I oversaw a full production from concept to performance.