Current position:
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/ASSISTANT PROFESSOR - UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (2018-current)

My belief in using art to enhance social and civic responsibility, and expand our students' and audiences' capacity for empathy, is the central driver in everything I do as a Professor and theatre-maker. I aim to offer students and communities a way to reflect upon social, political, and economic injustices, and by doing so, contribute to a future that is more inclusive, more empathetic, and more just. 

It is difficult to think of a time more complex and terrifying than now. And although I am still processing our new reality, it has given me all the more confidence in my mission's value. The pandemic, racial injustice, and a cantankerous divide among American citizens have combined to fundamentally transform who I am as an educator and artist. This climate has given me a renewed purpose in my mission of amplifying new voices that address social issues and expand our capacity for empathy. 

One of my most transformative moments at KU came when teaching the Fundamentals of Directing, wherein students created a tribute to folks we have lost to COVID. The student directors collaborated with my Musical Theatre students, researching obituaries, podcasts, and articles about the fallen. Our goal was to use these stories to celebrate life, to see past the statistics, and put ourselves in the shoes of individuals who lost their lives and the families who mourned them. The students worked in groups, paired with commissioned composers to work on original songs. 

In addition to Directing and Musical Theatre, I teach all three levels of acting. Directed Study courses I have undertaken with student covered topics such as artistic leadership, producing, and stage management. In keeping with my mission, all of these courses are enriched with the idea that one of the greatest assets of the theatre is to have many people, with many areas of expertise, working towards a common goal, which for me, in brief, is to bring communities together to engage social dialogue with the hope of inching us closer toward daring and equitable American Theatre