Past Productions

This page highlights recent collaborations with companies throughout Greater Boston. Learn about shows developed at Puppet Showplace here. For a complete production history contact me.

MONKEY: A Kung Fu Puppet Parable

Described as a “Wizard of Oz tale for our times,” White Snake Projects’ world premiere opera adapted Journey to the West for contemporary American audiences. With characters created by Chicago Puppet Studio, our production brought the tale to life through puppetry, powerful ensemble acting, and animated projections. Photo by Kathy Wittman.

Stage Director, 2023

My Night in the Planetarium.jpg

My Night in the Planetarium

Based on the illustrated children’s book by author/activist Innosanto Nagara, My Night in the Planetarium transports audiences to 1970s Jakarta where 7-year-old Inno learns firsthand how a play has the power to spark a resistance movement. Co-created with Tanya Nixon-Silberg (Little Uprisings) and Sarah Nolen (Puppet Motion).

Co-director, puppetry coach, dramaturg, 2020

Wolf Play

Company One’s production of Hansol Jung’s play explored themes of childhood trauma, found family, transracial and transnational adoption, and the thin line between vulnerability and violence. Presented at the Boston Public Library as a National New Play Network rolling world premiere. Photo by Andrew James Wang.

Puppetry director, 2020

HoneyUnicorn.png

A Medieval Bestiary + The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore

Metropolitan Chorale commissioned an original theatrical staging of two intriguing works of choral music. R. Murray Schafer’s “Medieval Bestiary” sets text from the 12th century “Book of Beasts,” and Gian Carlo Menotti’s “madrigal fable” explores the relationship between an artist, his creations, and the public.

Director and co-producer, 2019

Tyrone Goes After Mom.jpg

Hand to God

SpeakEasy Stage produced the Boston premiere of Robert Askins’ wickedly irreverent play about a boy whose sock puppet character becomes possessed by the devil.
Photo by Glenn Perry.

Puppetry director, 2017.

El Gato con Botas

Xavier Montsalvatge’s one act Spanish-language opera tells the rags-to-riches story of Puss in Boots. A collaboration between OperaHub, Boston Conservatory, and Puppet Showplace Theater, this built-to-tour show delighted audiences of all ages.

Director, 2016.

Ryan Landry’s M

In this irreverant and twisted homage to Fritz Lang’s classic thriller at the Huntington Theatre, I collaborated with visionary creator Ryan Landry on the puppetry and visual dramaturgy that would bring his outrageous, funny, and deeply unsettling theatrical vision to life.

Puppetry Director, 2013

Miles_with_Candle

Turn of the Screw

Opera Brittenica invited me to create an intimate, immersive staging of Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera in a historic New England home. Cast members conducted the audience through different rooms and levels for an up-close, ghostly experience.

Stage Director, 2014

MidnightZooRaya.jpg

The Midnight Zoo

An immersive installation at the Franklin Park Zoo transformed a formerly abandoned site into an enchanted realm where Lord Midnight’s guardians protected endangered mythical and monstrous creatures. This site-specific outdoor performance featured a cast of 28 and was attended by over 4,000 people.

Director, producer, co-writer, 2015.

The Long Christmas Dinner

Hindemith’s hauntingly beautiful opera sets Thorton Wilder’s play of the same name to music, telling the story of a family through the lens of one gathering across decades. My staging for OperaHub was an intimate, powerful ensemble piece that used stylized gesture and ensemble movement to signal the passing of time.

Stage Director, 2013

Ariadne_Yell.jpeg

Lowell House Opera

From 2012 - 2018 I served as the resident stage director for Harvard’s Lowell House Opera. Each year, I worked with an extraordinary team to transform an elegant residence hall into fantastical operatic worlds. Pictured here is a scene from Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos (2017).

Stage Director, 2012 - 2018

LightandPowerChorus.jpg

Light and Power

Juventas New Music ensemble presented the world premiere of Isaac Schankler’s opera about Nikola Tesla, his feud with Thomas Edison, and his peculiar relationship with Nova, an electro-charged deity that only he can see. The show’s innovative lighting design featured a chorus in wearable electronics.

Co-Director, 2011

Woman in clothes evoking the colors of a fox stands on tree stump scenery; puppeteers in dark hats and long coats stand behind with baby fox rod marionettes that stand on the stage.

The Cunning Little Vixen

Boston Opera Collaborative’s production of Leoš Janáček’s masterpiece was a melancholy meditation on life and eternity. It combined opera, puppetry, and dance theater, and was performed at MassArt’s Tower Auditorium.

Stage Director, 2011

Rusalka6.jpg

Rusalka

The Diva Day Foundation produced Dvorak’s Rusalka at the Berklee College of Music. My production cast the water nymphs as a tight-knit religious community thrown out of balance by human interference. Photo Corey Hines.

Stage Director, 2010

CrucibleGlobe.jpg

The Crucible

With Boston Opera Collaborative, I staged an immersive production of Robert Ward’s opera The Crucible at a historic church in downtown Boston. Drawing on the material culture of 1690s Salem, our ghostly rituals reverberated through the church’s magnificent gothic architecture.

Stage Director, 2009