Profile
I currently teach a range of theory-and-practice-based courses on the MA/MFA Actor Training and Coaching programme at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and the University of Notre Dame London Global Gateway. I have also taught at RADA, Rose Bruford College, Kingston University and St Mary’s Twickenham, amongst others. I hold a BSc from Babson College, an MFA in Directing from the Theatre School at DePaul University, and both an MA in Classical Theatre and a practice-based PhD from Kingston University. I also facilitate and deliver individual sessions and group workshops related to continuing professional development for the Short Courses programme at Central.
I am co-editor with Siiri Scott of Stanislavsky and Race: Questioning the “System” in the Twenty-first Century, the first book to explore the role that Konstantin Stanislavsky’s “system” and its legacies can play in building, troubling and illuminating today’s anti-racist theatre practices. In September 2019, I co-convened with Jessica Hartley “21st Century Acting: Race and Inclusive Practice – What Next?”, a joint international symposium with CSSD and Shakespeare’s Globe, to discuss challenges faced by the contemporary conservatoire as we move toward greater equality.
I was Producing Artistic Director of the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, the professional theatre in residence at the University of Notre Dame, from 2005-2012. In addition, I have written, produced or directed over 125 productions in London, Edinburgh, New York, Chicago and Boston.
I live in London with my husband and my dog, both of whom surprise me in joyful ways every day.
Areas of Expertise
- Reconsideration of canonical approaches to acting and actor training through lenses of ethics, inclusion and representation
- Directing and ways of working in the rehearsal room
- Viewpoints
- Stanislavsky
- Classical text
- Presentation skills
Key Publications
2023. Stanislavsky and Race: Questioning the System in the 21st Century, co- edited with Siiri Scott. (Abingdon: Routledge).
External Practice
I am a professional director, producer and writer, with more than 125 international credits to date. The range of projects has been extensive and diverse, including classical and contemporary texts, devised works, new plays, improvisational comedy, solo performance, small-scale operas and large-scale musicals at a variety of conventional and unconventional venues. I have brought productions to the Edinburgh Fringe, Camden Fringe and International Youth Arts Festival, and collaborated with West End producer Tim Johanson on the world premiere musical Superhero at Southwark Playhouse in 2017.
I served as Producing Artistic Director of the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, the professional theatre in residence at the University of Notre Dame (US) from 2005-12, where I not only shepherded more than two dozen productions in multiple venues over 7 years, but also built a conservatoire-style acting programme in text, voice and movement to create a bridge to professional work for over 140 undergraduate theatre students from across the US. I have also produced, directed, devised and supervised approximately 20 performances in an academic setting at graduate and undergraduate levels, most recently with the MA Text and Performance course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) between 2018-2021.
I was a founding member of both Eclipse Theatre Company and About Face Theatre in Chicago.
As a playwright, my play To Live as Variously as Possible about the life and work of poet Frank O’Hara received the After Dark Award for Best New Work/Adaptation in 2000, while The Check won the Playwriting Competition at the 2004 Mid-America Theatre Conference in 2004. The Vanity Project, a collection of one-act plays, was produced in 2002.
Register of Interest
Nothing to declare.