Oedipus Project
I was asked by the theater department of the University of Redlands to serve as a visiting artist and co-direct the play Oedipus during the May-term. I prepared costumes and puppets large and small, and fanciful props to help carry the tragic story. It was an amazing experience and was blown away with our final product in 3 1/2 weeks. We had a trombone quartet, a writer who helped rewrite the old Oedipus story to fit our modern interpretation, a choreographer, costume and props made, co-direction with Chris Beach, and a state of the arts black box theater to play in.
Big Brother Hamlet
I was invited to work with Chris Beach on a production of Hamlet at the University of Redland in 2016. The goal was to take it to the Fringe Festival in Edinburg, Scotland. My initial contribution for the piece called "Big Brother Hamlet" was to create a way of portraying the ghost of Hamlet through video and projection. It worked beautifully.
The University's May term is a month at the end of the semester where they get to play with ideas and discover things together without the pressure of other classes. With the ultimate goal of taking the theater piece abroad made us think outside the box, because ultimately everything had to fit in suitcases. We got it to the Fringe in 2017. Everyone was ecstatic and the packed audiences loved it. Success!!!
King Lear
We Are The Kingdom of Lear
I was asked by Chris Beach from the University of Redlands theater department to help design a new production of King Lear. The ultimate goal is to take the production to the Fringe Festival in Edinburg, Scotland. This production of “We are the Kingdom of Lear” incorporates elements I love to play with, masks, shadow, abstract movement, song, slapstick comedy, and puppetry. The storyline points to the precarious moment where Lear is going mad due to his long lineage of destructive behavior towards the kingdom and the land. The battered landscape finally gets to speak directly to Lear in his vulnerable state.
