Directing
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Production Galleries

​Directing Resume

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - adapted by Marisha Chamberlain
IUST - Indiana University Summer Theatre

​Confessional by Tennessee Williams
Eclipse Theatre Company - Chicago
*see Chicago Tribune review below

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis dramatized by  Le Clanche du Rand
Cardinal Stage
 
Leipzig by Wendy Graf
Jewish Theatre of Bloomington

The Taming by Lauren Gunderson
ArkansasStaged
 
Only Child by Aaron Ricciardi
Indiana University Department of Theatre

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Indiana University Department of Theatre

Talking Pictures  by Horton Foote
University of Arkansas Department of Theatre
 
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
University of Arkansas Department of Theatre
 
The Metal Children by Adam Rapp
University of Arkansas Department of Theatre
 
Talking Pictures by Horton Foote
Oklahoma City University School of Theatre

​Reviews

​Powerful "Confessional" Rare, Touching Experience
By Chris Jones - Chicago Tribune
 
Just as Oscar Wilde's "Salome" is unquestionably the Victorian author's most self-revelatory play, so Tennessee Williams' later dramatic works encapsulated this great American playwright at his most honest and direct.
That's not to say that lesser Williams' works like "Confessional" (better known in its longer form under the title "Small Craft Warnings") are necessarily great plays. On the contrary, this maudlin expose of broken dreams feels both forced and self-indulgent at times.

But this 75-minute barroom drama carries great interest for Williams' fans, not least because of its startling lyrical sensibility and its open depiction of hitherto more veiled sexual themes. And whereas productions of "Small Craft Warnings" usually feel long and self-indulgent, this tighter and more direct "Confessional" wisely ends before one has stopped caring about the bunch of wasted malcontents at the center of the dramatic action.
 
Happily, this extremely powerful and impressive Eclipse Theatre Company production (wisely directed by Jenny McKnight) features some acting of searing honesty and manages to deftly avoid the multiple pitfalls of the self-reflective Williams genre.
Since many of us have been wondering about the future of the Eclipse (which lost its Bucktown storefront to fire and many of its actors to Los Angeles), it's especially cheering to have this venerable troupe roar with a production of such palpable quality. This is the kind of rare storefront experience that really touches one's soul.

Structurally speaking, "Confessional" is one of Williams' simplest plays. Set in a bar on a single night, the play introduces us to an assortment of lonely lost souls, including a drugged-out neurotic who lives in squalor; a trailer resident who moves from place to place seeking friendship; a gay couple of different ages; a doctor of dubious morals; a cynical barkeep and two other losers.
As is usual with this playwright, most of the outsider characters are trying to fight off the demons of loneliness and find a place where they can finally belong. No one here, it seems, has any family roots -- merely a desperate desire for a home.
The strangest aspect of "Confessional" is that each character delivers what Williams termed an "aria." Spoken directly to the audience, these interludes consist of one character or another baring his or her life. It may sound voyeuristic and fake, but actors like CeCe Klinger and Julie Daley create such honest monologues that you instantly forget any stylistic contrivance. Indeed, each actor in this ensemble of nine is entirely believable.

There's nothing fancy or pretentious about Jenny McKnight's open and immensely likable production. Everyone just concentrates on the beauty of Williams' prose and the pain of his or her character. All in all, this "Confessional" is impressive work. 

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