Creativity and the world of the imagination - the beauty of what we see as a child and the kind of play that we experience as a child - can be a way for us to survive tough times.
For me, the reason why people go to a mountaintop or go to the edge of the ocean is to look at something larger than themselves. That feeling of awe, of going to a cathedral, it's all about feeling lost in something bigger than oneself. To me, that's the definition of spectacle.
Im always interested in looking - historically - at how theater can animate history and how all of that can make us engage with our lives in an enriching way.
The idea of making audiences feel like they matter, that the theatre matters, and that they're a partner in the event—that's what fuels me as a director . . . I believe it's actually radical to think about the audience.
Art cannot be looked at as an elite, sacred event anymore. It has to be embraced as an accessible, popular form, which is what I believe theater is at its roots.
At the core of what I'm doing is a belief in the audience, a belief that populism doesn't mean dumbing down theater, but rather giving the audience a voice and a role in experiencing theater.
The musical theater is a glorious and distinctly American innovation in the history of theater.
Im always interested in working with people who are good team players - that are selfless that way in their interests and dedication to the project.
I grew up with a beautiful gold harp sitting in our living room. My older sister played it.
I had to drop a boulder to wake people up about the A.R.T. We've done that, and now we have audiences again who want cutting-edge work, who want to be challenged, but who also won't be falling asleep at the theater.
I don't want to be in an art bubble.
Creativity is a form of knowledge.
Opera is the ultimate art form. It has singing and music and drama and dance and emotion and story.
I had this epiphany that I like the interaction with people. I wanted to make things happen at a grassroots level.
When you're a freelance director, you are hired to create the art, and it kind of stops there.
Theatre and opera were always the twin kingdoms that I felt I had to conquer, because they were my parents' favorites.
My generation of director has no illusions that we are going to be fed and cared for by subsidized theater in America.
I've gotten to the point that I don't even know what tomorrow brings. When I'm teaching, obviously I'm in town for the class every week.
As a director, I never feel that I have the answers.
