Work

Artistic Leadership

2019-2023 COCA-Center of Creative Arts, Artistic Director of Theatre

COCA-Center of Creative Arts is St. Louis’ arts hub and the fourth largest multi-disciplinary community arts center in the country. My role at COCA encompassed artistic, educational and operational duties in order to support cross-disciplinary programming in both the Staenberg Performance Lab and the newly opened Catherine B. Berges Theatre (grand opening summer of 2020) after the successful completion of the $49 million Create Our Future campaign. My artistic portfolio includes curating seasons that spanned nationally recognized presented work; internally produced work from mainstage musicals to new play workshops; and partnerships with local professional companies to include The Black Rep, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Opera Theatre St. Louis. Artistic programming support and press highlights include Doris Duke Foundation/Theatre Communications Group Audience Revolution Grantee; Missouri Humanities Council; Hearst Foundation; Reimagine TYA/USA; NY Times; American Theatre; St. Louis Post Dispatch.

2014-2019 St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Director of Community Engagement/Education and Associate Artistic Director

At the Festival, I generated work in civic spaces such as parks, schools, streets and on the steps of landmark institutions. I served as the lead producer for the Festival’s 2018 park production of Romeo and Juliet directed by Elena Araoz which saw attendance of over 40,000 people— including a record attendance night of 6000 patrons. For all five seasons, I produced the community-engagement program, Shakespeare in the Streets which includes programming recognized by the. National Endowment for the Arts, the Missouri Arts Council, and FOCUS St. Louis, as well as St. Louis Theatre Circle nominations and awards including best new play and scenic design. I rounded out my time with the Festival with the launch of a new works program, highlighting plays by playwrights in dialogue with Shakespeare. The headlining play Into the Breeches! by George Brant, garnered four St. Louis Theatre Circle Awards, including Best Actress, Best Director, Best Ensemble and Best Production. Into the Breeches! included the most female cast/creatives to win awards in the almost 20-year history of the Festival stage.

Prior to joining the St. Louis community, I spent over a decade in New York City working as an arts administrator and educator with Lincoln Center Theater, Second Stage Theatre and MCC Theater and as a member of the acting company, the Chekhov Theatre Ensemble. Awards and fellowships include the Stages of Learning Master Teaching Artist Award, Young Audiences of New York’s Teaching Artist of the Year. Most recently, I served as Co-Chair of the Host Committee for the 2018 TCG Conference in St. Louis.

Director-Educator-Actor

My teaching and directing portfolio is comprised of work that reflects a wide range of artistic engagement, including large-scale student Shakespeare performances in New York City’s Central Park, devised pieces with Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater’s Youth Company, sensory-friendly performances for the St. Louis Rep’s Imaginary Theatre Company and new play development with St. Louis’ grammy award-winning symphony orchestra, SLSO. At COCA, I developed the pre-professional training program for emerging theatre artists both youth and adult professionals. The studio model includes curriculum design & implementation, as well as professional development and management for over 50 theatre adjunct faculty and resident artists a season. Directing and teaching highlights include Academy of Classical Acting at Shakespeare Theater Company; New Jewish Theatre; SIUE; Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts; George Washington University; Saint Louis University; Lincoln Center Theater; RepSTL; Shakespeare Festival St. Louis; COCA-Center of Creative Arts; The Spence School; MCC Theatre; Second Stage Theatre. As an actor, I spent five seasons as a member of the NYC-based Chekhov Theatre Ensemble performing in downtown venues such as Theatre for the New City, TACT, TADA! and Queens Theatre in the Park, represented by Ingrid French Management in New York, NY and currently West Model and Talent Management in St. Louis, MO. Proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA-e.

Training

I am a graduate of the National Arts Strategies/UPenn Executive Program in Arts and Cultural Strategy and I have earned a MFA from the Academy for Classical Acting (independent focus on directing) at Geroge Washington University and Shakespeare Theatre Company and a BFA in Musical Theatre from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University. I am a certified yoga instructor, RYT; a recipient of the ACA Graduate Stipend and the Actor’s Fund Scholarship for the Marymount Manhattan College Training Certificate Program in Arts Education as well as a proud St. Louis Regional Arts Commission’s Community Arts Training (CAT) Fellow. I am committed to on-going anti-racist training and practice with stakeholders at all levels, including support and leadership from facilitators such as the Anti-Defamation League, Crossroads Anti-Racism Organizing & Training, and Nicole Brewer’s Conscientious Theatre Training (CTT). All which have influenced my personal anti-racist theatre ethos and practice. I am a firm believer in artists continuing their training throughout their career as eternal learners, dreamers and bridge-builders.