As prolific playwright and This Is Us writer/producer Bekah Brunstetter’s The Cake is being announced as part of the seasons of so many theatres across the country, I am starting preproduction for the west coast premiere of Bekah’s Miss Lilly Gets Boned, set for Rogue Machine. One of the main…

Ned won me over on day one when he stressed he wanted the iconic fight* to be “dirty”, not stage combat technically correct. Dirty with life and death stakes is what we got, and the illusion was just about perfect. Ned brought it all to the table: a storyteller’s…

When Antaeus offered me LLD earlier this year, it was not an immediate ‘yes’. Particularly concerning to me was how the sexual assault of Cecile is handled in the play. It was only after consulting with trusted dramaturge Christopher Breyer that I began to understand the feminist DNA of…

Directing the iconic Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing has been a whirlwind romp at SCR. We did the design presentations on Tuesday, May 2, and three weeks later to the day, I drove away from Costa Mesa, job complete. Thank you to John Glore for having me. Thank…

The email from John Glore and Kimberly Colburn to direct in their NewSCRipts reading series came on my birthday. Happy birthday to me! The gig introduced me to badass Brooklyn playwright Kate Cortesi, and reunited me with Uncle Vanya actor Jeff Nordling. We rehearsed over 3 days and then…

Playwright Jesse Eisenberg has been wonderfully involved in our west coast premiere production of his play. Here he talks about the play, our production, and theatre as the most engaging and interesting medium.

Honored to have been interviewed by Theater Times for their retrospective of the work (and life) of one of my favorite actors, Arye Gross. Having worked with Arye several times now, I have such respect for his process and his work. Read the article here. http://theatertimes.org/arye_gross Here’s a tiny…

The Revisionist casting process with casting director Beth Lipari, Wallis Annenberg Center producers, and playwright Jesse Eisenberg was a long haul to find just the right actors for three exceedingly challenging roles. I am so pleased to be working with Deanna Dunagan, Seamus Mulcahy, and Ilia Volok. I have…

What an honor to have Blackbird included in Charles McNulty’s list of brilliant theatre of the last decade. Proud to know many of the artists and producing entities sited by Mr. McNulty.  Congratulations to all. “Times critic looks forward to a bright future backlit by a decade of brilliant…

The Antaeus Company partner (double) casts every role. There are 9 roles in Annie Baker’s adaptation of Chekhov’s UNCLE VANYA, so I had 18 actors. I worked this way on MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION at Antaeus a couple seasons ago, and find this unconventional way of working challenging, but rewarding….

I wrote this for the Uncle Vanya program, which opens tonight! We read six different versions of Uncle Vanya around the Antaeus library table before deciding on Annie Baker’s vital rendition. The marriage of Chekhov and Baker shows us that we haven’t changed very much in over 100 years….

Sharing my speech for the Los Angeles Drama Critic’s Circle Awards ceremony where I was honored with the Milton Katselas Award for Career Achievement in Direction.     This is such a special year to be receiving this award, it’s far from business as usual in Los Angeles Theatre….

I wrote this and read it to cast and crew at the first rehearsal for Lauren Gunderson’s I AND YOU at the Fountain Theatre: We are intrinsically connected to each other, to the earth, to the stars. We are all made of stardust. For me the play is about…

Almost nothing better than getting to sink your teeth into a 10 minute play over 3 rehearsals with a talented playwright, Lisa Kenner Grissom, and two fine actors, Antaeus members Jules Wilcox and Joe Holt. I talk to my actors a lot about finding and exploring the must/mustn’t inherent…

I’m excited to return this coming fall to the unparalleled Antaeus Company where I will direct Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. In cahoots with the fabulous Arye Gross (who initiated the project, and will play Vanya), and dramaturge, Christopher Breyer, we’ve been getting actors around the table in the Antaeus library…

It’s New Year’s Day 2015, and I just wrote my first director blog entry – Choosing a Translation. It felt no less than exhilarating. As is often the case for me I have jump in and take a stab at the thing for the thing be become clear to…