​Tell me a bit about yourself as a director.
I tend to be an actor's director and work very organically. Each moment in a scene has the potential to be riveting, even if it's a character doing her laundry. A play is simply a map to the performance as a whole, I feel the director’s job is to allow actors to fully embody the essence of that map, to feel the different elevations and to find a place within it that is unique. From this place, the story is told—a special place where each particular actor can fully explore all of the play's mysteries and sureties.
 
At its core, A Number is about:
Being unique. It's about how dearly we hold our identities with the conviction that we are, even with the knowledge that countless humans have come before us, somehow singular in all of time. The play challenges us investigate what truly makes us individuals, even if we are standing in the presence of a perfect genetic copy of ourselves. In a similar way, we are also allowed to see this action from the viewpoint of a parent, whose genes were the source of it all.
 
What is the most challenging aspect of directing A Number?
A Number is a stunning combination of subtle language, horrible and beautiful lies, murder, and human cloning. The challenge was to reveal to the audience how truly simple and beautiful the story is. Luckily, my team was able to take my vision and turn it into something even more audacious, fun, and moving than I could have conceived alone.
 
Are you approaching your section of A Number as mutually exclusive from the other two pieces?
No. Being the last section, it relies so heavily on everything that came before. I stressed to my artists how important it was to be familiar with the play as a whole.
 
The script for A Number does not have many stage directions, or even much punctuation; do you consider this a gift or a challenge when directing your “slice” of The Bake Off?
It has been a gift. Even more than the lack of punctuation, there is the lack of completion of voiced thoughts from each character. Many characters’ lines seem interrupted or incomplete. This marvelous conceit allows me and the artists to complete the characters' sentences in our heads— it keeps us on our toes as far as the meaning of each line. With minimal stage direction, it allows us to create all of the action based on what is occurring as opposed to being actions to make things occur. There can be more creativeness this way.
 
What makes directing this play fun?
The anticipation of seeing how three different visions will work as a whole.
 
What's your favorite line in the play?
“We've got ninety-nine per cent the same genes as any other person. We've got ninety per cent the same as a chimpanzee. We've got thirty percent the same as a lettuce. Does that cheer you up at all? I love about the lettuce. It makes me feel I belong.”

Tell me a bit about yourself as a director.
I knew I wanted to be a director when I was 13. I founded a high school video club to scratch that itch in the 80s (MTV-inspired!). I directed my first play at 19; Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians on an Air Force base in the Philippines—I was the youngest member of the entire production. I've never been to school for theater; I've learned from doing and observing. As such, I don't have a dialed-in industry vocabulary which can sometimes be challenging—my ideas of a "beat" or diagramming a script are probably not the formal definitions. I work intuitively and collaboratively. I don't know if that's the most efficient methodology, but it sure is fun and while actors may occasionally wrinkle their brows figuring me out, we seem to happily arrive at theater together.

At its core, A Number is about:
Nature. Shaped by nurture. But mostly identity, the fragile glaze that binds them. If nature is the basic clay of identity, and nurture the long slow shaping, why does simply learning where the clay came from suddenly cause a crack to appear? Does nurture get re-written: is the shaping redone? Is nature altered: does the clay fundamentally change? Science tells us that yes, trauma can actually change DNA. Epigenetics is a thing.  But we're looking more at how individual identities are bound to others, and how the reflection of one's identity in another, especially parent to child and vice versa, can be utterly foundational.

What is the most challenging aspect of directing A Number? 
I think the inspiring challenges are more in the “Bake Off” format than the script! So few rehearsals! In the script, mapping truths and lies has been an interesting puzzle.

Are you approaching your section of A Number as mutually exclusive from the other two pieces?
We read the whole script a time or two. I think we all believe that more information is better when trying to understand the story, character's histories and motivations, and what's a lie versus what's not. But we've made no efforts to map anything that might be useful beyond our section. For example, we haven't given any thought to a nature aspect of the Michael character since he doesn't appear in our section, like do all three clones echo a physical affectation we can see and how would it present specifically in Michael and how would it affect Salter? Don't care! Is the set layout going to work for later scenes, and how should later needs inform earlier scenes (normal things you discover in rehearsal). Don't care! If we had the whole show, we'd pay attention to those things, but “ain't nobody got time for that!”

The script for A Number does not have many stage directions, or even much punctuation; do you consider this a gift or a challenge when directing your “slice” of The Bake Off?
Both. The dialogue is powerfully real this way, and there's freedom to live and move in it. It's like how we really think-talk, but not how we normally perform. It is a challenge to memorize, however. Chris and Bruce have worked really hard on it! Stage directions might have made blocking slightly more efficient in our compressed process, but having none written means we can make bold choices and own them, which is perfect for The Bake Off!

What makes directing this play fun?
What powerfully moves me and makes it totally rewarding is getting to work with super talented actors like Bruce and Chris. I am lucky, humbled, and blessed to be their audience of one! One fun thing about this script for me is that it gets the science right (it bugs me when scripts get science wrong), yet the science is merely a layer under the story of relationships and identities. The science—and even the ethics of the science—do not try to own the story. It's merely what happened (what could happen? what will happen?), and while it informs the story it isn't the whole story. Some of the characters’ feelings could map onto near-parallel stories like, "I had a twin I never knew about that you drowned at childbirth" or "I just found out I was adopted from the prison orphanage, one of sextuplets" or "my dad had a secret second family." The cloning gives a wonderful new twist to explore, though, (what constitutes my uniqueness?) without just being a story about test tubes. One last fun thing was discovering all kinds of music about clones—I am now a Gary Numan fan.

What's your favorite line in the play? 
So many!!!!! I'll force myself to pick one … Bernard says, “you called them things. I think we'll find they're people.”

​Tell me a bit about yourself as a director.
Recently, I've been directing extensively with young performers … several middle schools, summer camps, and soon moving into becoming the drama director for Essex High School. As an educator, the directing goals center around skill sharing, team building, identity, and empowerment. As a director with adults, my ethos is similar, though deeply rooted in script analysis, movement generated content, play, and trust between all creative partners. As a director, I come with a vision, ask a lot of questions, remain open to discovery, and then carve out the meat with the editing knife.
 
At its core, A Number is about:
The risk inside relationship. What does it mean to be vulnerable? How do we mask who we are and what we want? What does it mean to be one's own? What does it mean to be recognized? To be a part, to be apart?
 
What is the most challenging aspect of directing A Number?
In the case of The Bake Off, it's time. We have a very short rehearsal schedule. Maintaining space for discovery while also driving decision making is the most awesome challenge! Efficient use of hours and talent while generating content with intention and clarity: what a fantastic opportunity for preparedness and urgency in the work. A lot of sparks fly, and we need to catch them quickly.
 
Are you approaching your section of A Number as mutually exclusive from the other two pieces?
In what world does mutually exclusive exist?
 
The script for A Number does not have many stage directions, or even much punctuation; do you consider this a gift or a challenge when directing your “slice” of The Bake Off?
A gift for vision and imagination. Churchill's words are coded, deliberate and rich with interpretations. Every problem is an opportunity.
 
What makes directing this play fun?
The actors who have given me their trust (and they have mine). Paul Ugalde and Andy Butterfield are some gorgeous and brutal clay to shape. We are having a good time in rehearsal, with a section of A Number that carries with it a landscape of aggression, abandonment, and discord. How does it feel to play with dialogue and action that never resolves? Full of potential, and the feeling of tilting on the edge.
 
What's your favorite line in the play?
"because if there was nobody there that would be terrifying and if you were there that might be worse but it's something I wonder"