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Right on the heels of our 54 Below Concert, Show Me Eternity has been nominated for BroadwayWorld Awards in 7 different categories, including Best Direction of a Musical!
Have you seen this gorgeous trailer?
And here's some of our 54 show!
I am fulfilling some life dreams right now as the Associate Director on Xena: Warrior Musical! Playing with this incredible team has been such a gift.
I also got to use my Intimacy Directing training to craft this long-awaited moment between Xena and Gabrielle. Though this was some of the only lesbian representation on TV at the time, fans waited 6 long seasons and never got to see these two kiss! It feels restorative and kind of historic to help bring this kiss to life.
And yes I wore this Xena shirt to tech!​
This article was originally published on ExeQutive Entertainment's website. If you’ve ever watched a play or musical with a sex scene, you may have wondered “How did they rehearse that? Wasn’t it awkward?”. That’s where an Intimacy Director comes in handy. “Intimacy Director” is a relatively new role in the arts world but a vital part of the industry’s move toward becoming a safer, more equitable space-- something we can all get on board with!  So what is an Intimacy Director, exactly? An Intimacy Director (sometimes called an ID) is a person specially trained to support a creative team with the crafting of sex scenes, moments of nudity, and other potentially sensitive material in a performance. And while intimate scenes are certainly the main work of an ID, IDs can help with all kinds of non-sexual sensitive material as well. For example, my last project as an ID (shout out to That Pretty Pretty at Brooklyn College!) contained moments where a character gave birth, a character urinated on a hotel bed, and a character wore a burqa-- all non-sexual content that required additional mindfulness and support. So why this new role? Can’t directors just do this themselves? While it’s true that many directors are skilled and confident at handling intimate moments, just as many are not or would rather bring in an expert for added help. This is a collaborative art form, after all, so I’m always of the opinion that the more brains working toward a shared vision, the better! I’m sure everyone working in theatre or film has seen or experienced some horribly mis-handled intimacy, either in a rehearsal room or on stage. I have horror stories for days-- and those are just from high school! Having an Intimacy Director around can help to keep things professional, make sure everyone’s boundaries are respected, and dissipate the pressure that can come with the actor/director power dynamic.  Many folks come to this work from the perspective of being an actor wanting to advocate for other actors, but my journey to Intimacy Directing looked a little different. I spent years teaching Sex Ed to high schoolers and became passionate about destigmatizing conversations about sex. This has helped a lot in my ID work because I’m always thinking about how we can make talking about sex less weird. After all, with both real and staged sex, clear communication is essential to a positive, consensual experience for all involved!  As I began my directing career and started navigating sex scenes in plays, I found that the candid approach I cultivated as a Sex Ed teacher was actually super helpful. I’ve always gravitated toward bolder material as a director-- for example, my second full length production ever was a Sarah Kane play featuring a sexual assault that occurred just a few feet from the audience. Stepping up my skills for tackling this material became not just a personal passion, but a necessity to safely and responsibly handle my own work.  Just like every director brings a bit of themselves to their plays, I like to think I bring a bit of myself to my Intimacy Directing. All Intimacy Directors are there to carefully choreograph intimate moments and foster a safe, consent-based environment for performers, but coming from my perspective as a queer person, my Intimacy work also prioritizes authenticity, dramaturgical utility, and being intentional about our gaze. I remember watching an evening of one-act plays in a tiny off off Broadway house and seeing a play written by a straight man, directed by a straight man, featuring extremely gratuitous lesbian sex. You could feel the energy in the room sour as these women acted out a thinly-veiled vehicle for this man’s fantasy. The staging did not reflect my lived queer experience (can we get some authentic representation around here?) and the performers seemed genuinely uncomfortable. Basically, it was awkward and unfortunate all around.  I’m passionate about this work because I’m helping take the “awkward” and “unfortunate” out of the equation so we can tell bold stories without causing performers harm. If you’re interested in learning more about Intimacy Directing (or possibly becoming one yourself!), I recommend checking out Intimacy Director and Choreographers (IDC) and Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE). These organizations are doing incredible work providing advocacy and training to create a consent-based industry. I have loved all the training I’ve done with these inspiring folks. Next time you see nudity or intimacy in a play, movie, or on your favorite HBO show, you can think about what went into crafting that moment-- I bet an Intimacy Director was there!  Y'all, the gorgeous Glass Town is coming to a computer screen near you March 22nd! This trailer just dropped and I am obsessed.
Wait, what is Glass Town? So glad you asked. Glass Town music and lyrics by Miriam Pultro directed by Daniella Caggiano A rock requiem starring the Brontë siblings -- Anne, most feminist and most faithful, a neosoul star; Emily, melancholy alt-rock prodigy; Branwell, full of the blues; and Charlotte, fiery frontwoman, desperate for recognition and love. A staged concept album that defies traditional musical theatre, Glass Town explores familial bonds, grief, and isolation, using the literary family as archetypal touchstones. Glass Town is "an ambitious, credible new musical with a bright future ahead" Read an interview with writer and performer Miriam Pultro. See you on the internet! Using our week-long residency at The Center at West Park, the MAXA team and I made a music video for the song Strange Power. I had so much fun directing this spooky beauty and seeing it all come together! You can read more about the project and team here.
“Strange Power” from MAXA, The Maddest Woman in the World Starring L Morgan Lee and Yansa Fatima as Paula Maxa Book and Lyrics by Mika Kauffman Music by Thomas Jacobsen Directed by Daniella Caggiano Produced by Xiaoyu Yang Visit www.maxamusical.com for the full team After Assistant Directing the 2016 production of Tumacho, I am back in the saddle as AD for this remount of Ethan Lipton's "impeccably inane horse opera"! And we are a NYTimes Critics Pick again! Come check us out now through March 21st-- you can grab tickets here.   I'm the Associate Director on the remount of Jocelyn Bioh's School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play at MCC this Fall! Working with Rebecca Taichman has been incredible. You can check out this production in NYC this October, tickets are here!
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