Work Sample #1: Assorted Photos • Featuring We Go East by Jaucqir (2024), Are You My Last Stop? by T.J.L (2023) and one drop cool by Skyler Volpe (2023)
Description: I’ve paired photosets from these three shows together—one a comedy about desire, another a romance, and one a dramedy about friendship—to illustrate the parallels in my approach to intimacy. In my work, intimacy in all relationships includes verbal and physical play that exists in both distance and proximity, and rooted in joy as often as it can be.
Work Sample #2: one drop cool by Skyler Volpe (2023)
53:18 – 55:18 (2min)
Description: While this piece features heated and sincere debate about race and identity, the play did not want to be a drama. In this moment, the one fully Black person is caught in the middle of a face-off and physically leaves the heated moment to “cool down” in the fridge. Conceived by the actor, discovered through play in the room, this is meant to actualize the absurdity of the conversation in the physical.
Work Sample #3: blk thoughts (:you can redo?:) by T.J.L (2021)
4:20 – 7:20 (3min)
Description: This selection, undoubtedly the most challenging moment in the process, is the most intimate and vulnerable scene in the piece. What is conjured in ourselves to witness this internal conflict out loud, plainly, in simplest terms: “stop” and “don’t stop”? My direction, in equal partnership with the actor, was focused on how to safely stage this all-too-common, nuanced variance without misstepping into blurring the lines of consent.
*note: the blurred frame is a result of a temporary recording focus issue; not a directorial choice.