Directing Resume
Assistant Director - A Thousand Splendid Suns, A.C.T and Theatre Calgary
A resplendent ‘Thousand Splendid Suns’
by By Lily Janiak – SF Chronicle – 2017
The characters of “A Thousand Splendid Suns” always keep one foot in the earthbound Kabul that most Americans know only vaguely and only from newspapers — ethnic and regional tensions; the fundamentalism of the Taliban; child brides, domestic violence, war, economic ruin and food scarcity.
Director - Venus in Fur, San Jose Stage Company
‘Venus in Fur’ ignites San Jose Stage
“Is it love you’re offering?”
We may never be sure. Nor may Thomas (Johnny Moreno), whose titular play Venus in Fur may well serve as one of the most sophisticated, enigmatic, and, downright interesting devices to hit the stage in recent memory. His foil, Vanda (Allison F. Rich), a struggling actress, arrives late to auditions for the lead role. Though Thomas rebuffs at first–his significant other awaits a dinner date–the two soon find themselves acting out his play, scene by scene. Storm clouds loom, thunder strikes. A pseudo-sexual journey begins, and the playwright finds himself drawn to Vanda, but is his play telling us a story about fictional characters, or revealing some sort of deep maze, carved from his own mind?
‘Venus in Fur’ a steamy, witty romp at San Jose Stage
Long before “Fifty Shades of Grey” made bondage mainstream, Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch had jaws dropping with his 1870 S&M tale “Venus in Fur.”
That work is the inspiration for David Ives’ racy mind game “Venus in Fur,” now making its South Bay debut at San Jose Stage. Lust, power and identity are merely playthings in this witty, 90-minute romp. Handsomely directed by Kimberly Mohne Hill, the kinky play-within-a-play runs through March 1.
The fur flies in the provocative play ‘Venus in Fur’
As winter continues along its chilly path–all right, we can’t complain much about mild Silicon Valley, but the days are still awfully short–what better time to produce a play called “Venus in Fur”?
That may be the thinking at the San Jose Stage Company, which opens 2015 with its rendition of the David Ives play centered around a 19th-century book about female dominance and sadomasochism. What a way to chase off the seasonal blues!
The road to hell is paved with high spirits in "The Seafarer"
By Karen D'Souza – Mercury News – 2009
The art of intoxication is both celebrated and vilified in Conor McPherson's heady new drama, a tale of two brothers drinking themselves to death one Guinness at a time.
One of the most potent Irish playwrights today, McPherson has become the bard of the
supernatural. In "The Weir," he spun a yarn of ghosts and grief. In "Shining City," he spliced the world of the living and the dead...
Whisky Ways
By Jessica Fromm – Metroactive – 2009
THE SEAFARER may be a modern-day Faustian
fable, but alcohol and its abuse is the real central character of this whiskey-soaked Irish tale. Written by Conor McPherson, one of the top contemporary playwrights in his native Ireland, the play explores both the kinship and the crushing misery of alcoholism through a fateful Yuletide visit from the devil himself. The second production of the San Jose Stage
Company's 2009–10 season, The Seafarer centers on two middle-aged, working-class alky brothers living together in a filthy flat...
Director - The Seafarer, San Jose Stage Company
Director - In the Next Room (or, the vibrator play), CityLights Theater
"In the Next Room..."
A delightful examination of female hysteria
By David John Chavez – Examiner.com – 2012
There is an advertisement dated back to 1910. It is an ad for vibrators. But based on the date, this ad is not found in some kind of dating periodical or in the sports pages. And it’s not even targeted at any type of sexual pleasure. This advertisement is looking for crazy women. And in the ad are these words – “"The secret of the ages has been discovered in Vibration. Great scientists tell us that we owe not only our health but even our life strength to this wonderful force. Vibration promotes life and vigour, strength and beauty...
Continued
Director - When the Rain Stops Falling, Dragon Theater, Redwood City
Here Comes The Rain Again
Life is a vicious cycle in Dragon's 'When the Rain Stops Falling'
Those who don't study history, as the adage goes, are doomed to repeat it. This is the case for the characters in Andrew Bovell's play, "When the Rain Stops Falling," who enact and re-enact their scenes of domestic drama across four generations and several continents. Sons inherit the emotional burdens of their fathers and grandfathers; mothers and daughters are permanently scarred by their pasts; and everyone's trapped in the tangled branches of their family trees. Life, it seems, is a loop; a broken record; or at least a song with repeating motifs...