My guest teaching year is closing out again! So, here is one of my favorite photos from this past school year. Full house in the round on opening night of Hamlet in the Caldwell Theater. Co-directed by excellent Jon & myself. Photo by @theatrepetre
“The Destruction” on closing night of Carrie, which I greatly enjoyed directing this past Fall 2025. The incredible commitment from this student team on stage and behind the scenes still gives me chills !!
These driven students pulled off the storytelling and design of this tense and compelling multi-disciplinary theatrical sequence with impactful mentorship from professional artists Malik Charles Wade I, Kate Barnett, Michelle Samuels, Sarah McKereghan, Charolette Wheeler, Hannah Dakin and @ctetamdrama co-directors Peter Parish and Ben Cleaveland.
Had the opportunity to be on the @ctetamdrama chaperone team last month that took 31 high school students on a theater trip to NYC. Epic trip programming by @bencleaveland : four museums, five shows, four days. Connected with so many alumni and friends - generations of CTE, from the 1970s to the 2020s. Working theater makers, conservatory students and our sophomores all spent the week together walking up and down Manhattan talking all things theatre.
I’ll be back (sans 31 students) in NYC for a few days this month! One night free. What should I see?
Got to work on a little movement for Great Expectations @ctetamdrama , directed by @bencleaveland , opening tonight 7pm on the reawakened Ruby Scott Stage (the birth place of the department). Extra special invitation to visit on this project because my first ever play at CTE when I was a student was Ben’s Great Expectations. Returning to this story again, hearing old lines spoken and lessons offered over a decade later made for some familiar and meaningful rehearsal moments. A grand, circular motion. Happy opening Great Expectations, thanks for having me!
Final photo is a young Ash playing a young Havisham, likely fourteen or fifteen years old.
Video featuring wonderful Stu, my partner for all things including waltzing while choreographing at home. We call those “swan hands” !
My haunt!
A few days until my fourth guest teaching year at @ctetamdrama is closed out. 🎭 Ever grateful to this community of students, colleagues, mentors and families for another year of joy and alchemy.
Ensemble-minded work, the sacred fun of organized chaos and the collective strength of these hearts and spirits of all ages accomplishes so much of what I’d hoped art could create when I first started. What a beacon. As usual, not so much about the thing itself as what it furthers.
3 courses: Two Devising Physical Theater sections resulting in four original works. One intro to Meisner scene study featuring ten favorite contemporary plays.
2 productions: Directed 1980s bloody musical Carrie in the Fall and 1890s Chekhov in the Spring. Working two extremes of my directing spectrum back to back was a gift!!
1 upcoming nyc trip with 30+ theater students! See you in April, nyc
Tonight is the closing performance of Chekhov’s The Seagull, 7:00pm @ctetamdrama 🪶 Come support student-run theater! Excellent student work onstage and behind the scenes.
Come support student-run theater! Chekhov’s The Seagull opens tomorrow at @ctetamdrama
Playing March 13th-16th, 7:00pm
Tickets available at the door, free for students
Thank you to all students and mentors involved in building this beautiful show! 🪶
