Looking Back/Looking Forward
As has already been said by likely everyone you know, it’s been quite a year. I have been extraordinarily fortunate in many ways, especially because I’ve gotten to work with wonderful people on wonderful things. Some highlights:
My collaborator Joseph Amodei and I presented Packing and Cracking in-person in January with some of our favorite people (Caitlin Ayer, Rory Kulz, Aubyn Heglie; and thanks to Caden Manson and The Wild Project for hosting); then we moved it online to present it in April through the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, in September through the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and in October through UNC-Chapel Hill’s Process Series (and were joined by the wonderful Jacob Russell and Josh Kerry to help make that happen). Extra special thanks to the Center for Artistic Activism for supporting us through its Unstoppable Voters Project, and helping us to get featured on CBS. We’ll continue to work with C4AA to present a very different version of Packing and Cracking next year—the year that maps will be redrawn all across the country.
I started reworking How to Put On a Sock. The Drama League has been so exceptionally supportive of me over the past few years, and they awarded me their 2020 Beatrice Terry Residency to make that project even better than it was when I presented it at Carnegie Mellon in 2017. I’ll keep working on that well into 2021, and I’m very excited to do so.
I finally got to work with Clubbed Thumb through its Directing Fellowship program. AD Maria and Associate AD Michael are a dream, and it was amazing to learn from mentors Anne Kauffman, Daniel Aukin, and Laurie Woolery. First up for me in 2021 is presenting an in-person (!) experience for one audience member at a time at the Connelly (!), right after the presidential inauguration. I’m working with collaborators old and new to make this happen, and it feels incredible to be able to bring something into physical life right now. More on that soon.
I also got a few jobs that have brought me more joy and growth than I could have imagined: becoming the Special Projects Coordinator for C4AA and the Lead Project Manager for one of their current campaigns, Free the Vaccine. That work will continue into the new year, too. And I got to work again with long-time art crushes Aaron Landsman and Mallory Catlett, to help them put together their book on their project City Council Meeting, which is one of the first things I started working on when I graduated from college many years ago. Working on that book was also learning from reading that book, and I can’t wait for more people to be able to read it when it finally comes out.
I hope you’re all able to end the year with some kind of peace, and that I get to see you for the above and more soon. <3