Interests

I am interested in community theatre and the ways that community theatre relates to the overall fabric of theatre in the United States. On the one hand, it is not professionally produced theatre. There is rigor and attention to detail that comes with a professional attitude and the ability to devote full-time hours to producing a play. On the other hand, it is a mistake to overlook what is produced through the passion of the amateur and it is often community theatres that swell the ranks of the professional theatre makers.

I am interested in the intersection between performance and Table-Top Role-Playing games. Both involve acting, to an extent, but how much overlap is there, and what can be learned from Table-Top Role-Playing that can be applied to performance? This led me to think about the relationship between playing a character in a tabletop game and Brecht’s theory of verfremdungseffekt.

Applied theatre is another focus. Ever since my first acting class, I found the process of acting to be somewhat therapeutic. It forces me to learn about myself, my emotional reality, and how I relate to the world. That experience cannot be unique to me. How can theatre apply to life off-stage? I am fascinated by the works of Augusto Boal, the devising process, and the ways they can help us tell our stories and find new ways to relate to our stories.