AESTHETIC
For nearly fifteen years, theatrical storytelling has been my life's passion (accompanied recently by a parallel career in filmmaking). I hold an MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College, in addition to an MA in Theater Education from Emerson College.
My approach is highly process-based, with an emphasis on education & dramaturgy, and with an overriding concern for the craft of traditional narrative storytelling. My work is typically characterized by my interest in challenging the assumed limitations of form, most often by hybridizing seemingly disparate elements (highbrow/lowbrow, classical/contemporary, live performance/mediated performance, naturalistic/stylized, sacred/profane, etc), and by a strong focus on identifying, challenging, teaching, and ultimately serving the needs of my various audience-actor communities.
In terms of content, for me it's all about getting away from pure contemporary realism, which means I'm drawn to anything one might describe with that useful catch-all term, "heightened": magical realism, sci-fi/fantasy, musical theater, Shakespeare, classical, historical drama, religious/spiritual/mythic/epic, and plays about talking pigeons.
some of my basic working assumptions are that__
__ storytelling is important. more than an odd cultural tic, time-killer or diversion; story,
is, rather, the basic building block of all creation (including me and you) and that storytelling is the most vital means by which we are able to make sense
of our world; it is an alchemy in which the raw ingredients of reality as we think we know it are transmuted and distilled into something meaningful.
it allows us to both discern the patterns inherent in the universe and to create our own; it allows us, more than anything else we do (like science, or
basket-weaving) to take our rightful place as partners in the ongoing creation of the world. narrative is just that primal, as essential to our existence as love
and water.
__ by extention, storytellers, regardless of idiom or the details of their audience,
are as crucial to any society as its political, spiritual or intellectual leaders, all of whom are, in fact, storytellers of a sort, though generally better
paid.
__ I am a storyteller (the less-well-paid kind).
some other relevant beliefs I have about this craft would be, for example__
__ that every story has been told and is already known to everyone. when storytelling strays too far from the basic precepts of traditional narrative structure, the more alien it becomes to the patterns wired into our brains and into the fabric of the universe, and the less likely it is
to get the job done. try as you may, true non-linearity in actually impossible in storytelling, and were it possible, it would not be desirable. seriously. break every rule but those related to narrative structure, or your stories will be boring (which may be what you want).
__ that this being said, and in fact especially because of all that, good storytelling needs to walk a fine line, managing somehow to stay one step ahead of its audience at all times while still delivering the goods (see, for example, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND). if the audience is a step ahead of the story (see, for example, AVATAR), you've gone wrong somewhere; try again. if the ultimate challenge for an actor is to make a rehearsed performance feel fresh, the ultimate challenge for a storyteller is to do the same for familiar stories. and, just for the sake of repeating myself, they are all familiar.
__ that while there is a place for every kind of story under the sun, even the most didactic and heavy-handed, it's best to allow the audience to connect the dots on their own. the best stories help the viewer/ listener to unlock the wisdom they already have. they'll retain it better that way, and resent you less for it. jesus and buddha spoke in parables for a reason. they could have just, you know, said what they meant, but that's boring.