Blog Posts

New York Times Review - Up and Away

10/14/2015

I am so incredibly proud to be a part of this amazing team. I still can't believe it wasn't too long ago we were sitting in workshops, developing this beautiful show. It's been life changing to say the least.

Up and Away Review

Generosity and gentleness of spirit may be the two most striking features of “Up and Away"

..... immersive theater at its most thoughtful and deliberate. Making its audience feel welcome and at ease is fundamental to the production — an approach a lot of mainstream theater could stand to learn from.

When I left “Up and Away,”... I was thinking less about its audience than audiences in general....It was surprising, even moving, to see artists consider them so deeply, in such a compassionate embrace of human variety.

Trusty Sidekick, SDCF Directing Observership, New Georges

9/28/2015

I can't believe I've been working with Trusty Sidekick for a year now. It's been an unbelievable year and I can't wait for the next one.

Up and Away is officially opening at the Lincoln Center this Tuesday!

Here are some things that the press has to say about it....

"Hottest ticket in NYC" "Taking 2 years to get to 80 days"

The Journal News

Journal News Feature

Broadway World

American Theatre Magazine

"Up and Away for Young Audiences Who Don't Want Surprises"

NYTimes Feature

Also, I am so excited to announce that I have been accepted into the Directing Observership Class, with SDCF, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation. It's an incredible opportunity that allows those in the class to apply to directors on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Regional Theater productions, to observe their process. You can find out more information about the program below.

SDCF

The newest news, is that I have officially been offered an assistant directing position with The New Georges upcoming production. HOW TO GET INTO BUILDINGS is an exploded view of love; confusion blends with confidence, time keeps shifting, amateurs are experts, and brunch can be fatal. The show will be opening December 3-19, 2015 at The Brick in Williamsburg. Stay updated down below

New Georges Website

And after that, I will be joining Trusty Sidekick's next amazing venture... I will be assistant directing for The Boy At The Edge Of Everything at the Lincoln Center in 2016. In this quirky and charming play written by Australian playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer and developed by Trusty Sidekick Theater Company, 12-year-old Simon Ives dreams of a place where he can just stop and think. Meanwhile, at the other end of the universe, The Boy at the Edge of Everything is lonely and bored. When Simon is accidentally rocketed into space their worlds collide. Neither will ever be the same. The photo below is from the staged play reading we held this summer.

LC Kids Link

Busy! Lincoln Center/Live IN Theater/One woman-puppet show-musical madness

6/23/2015

Keeping you updated my friends! So here's what's been going on the past 2-3months...

We opened previews for Up And Away at Lincoln Center from April 28th-May 3rd.

This production has been monumental for me, not just for my career, but for me as a human being. What an incredible show, with an incredible purpose, where I never failed to cry while calling cues.

Photo credit: Alexis Buatti-Ramos

Up and Away will be coming back this fall for it's public run, where I'll get to be one of those cool full-time, 8 shows a week, professional stage managers, who doesn't also work as a waitress. (But just for a month)

A week after that, I opened the first show I've directed in NYC, Begochiddy.

Not only my first show directed in NYC, but also my first musical, first puppet show, and first one woman show I've directed. We were able to sell out for nearly all the performances, and we all had a great time doing it. It was a wild ride working with Charlotte on the development of the production, and we're both looking forward to continuing to develop the project, and are currently searching for it's next home.

Photo credit: Caroline Dorn

Begochiddy.com

Currently, I'm working as a Stage Manager for Live IN Theater...

which creates interactive theatre based around real-life, unsolved murder cases, and ask audiences to solve the case. People get to walk through the streets of New York, interrogating suspects and at the end they get to guess who did it. It's a new kind of theatre for me to work on, but I absolutely love it.

And now, I'll be Assistant Directing and Stage Managing at the Lincoln Center for the staged reading of The Boy At The Edge Of Everything.

It's one of the most charming and imaginative shows I've read in a long time and I'm so excited to be working with Trusty Sidekick again in a new role as AD. I'm constantly reminded of how lucky I am to be a member of this company, who completely support me as an artist, and am looking forward to all our future adventures together!

So much more exciting news to come that can't be announced... All I can say is that I'm incredibly blessed to be living the dream my friends!

Stage Managing at Lincoln Center and Directing at Under St. Marks

4/1/2015

Hey friends! I have some amazing news that I've been waiting to share and announce...but I just can't wait any longer. I'm going to be directing my first fully realized show in NYC coming up in May.

But before I get to describing all of that, I'm ALSO currently stage managing at the Lincoln Center with my favorite Trusty Sidekicks. We're in the final stretch of rehearsals to put up the show called Up and Away, a beautiful adventure loosely based on "Around the World in 80 Days", and created for an audience on the autism spectrum. It's not only incredible work to be a part of, but it's going to be such a powerful experience watching an audience of 8-12 people with their caregivers, seeing a show that is made just for them.

Here are some great photos from the rehearsal room, and some developmental photos of design.

Below is a beginning model of the set design. Each family will get to ride in their own balloon with the Fogg family on a journey to all sorts of incredible places. Set is designed by Nick Benacerraf.

Below are photos of costume design renderings made by the amazing Natalie Loveland

And second, my other huge/exciting/can't believe it news, I will be directing the premiere of Begochiddy written by Charlotte Claire Moroz this May at Under St. Marks. Begochiddy is a new work inspired by the Native American creation story and being presented as a one woman show/puppet show/musical. The show follows the journey of Begochiddy, a child-God, who must climb from the beginning of time to today, beyond fire and flood and a very nasty restaurant manager, to get up an enormous reed to the new world. I have fallen deeply in love with this story and am looking forward to sharing it with you May 7-9, and May 14-16. More info and beautiful photos coming soon.

Below is some of the beginnings to our poster art

Get tickets at http://begochiddy.bpt.me/

An Update...

1/23/2015

I've been a bit busy recently and haven't had a chance to update anyone on what has been keeping me busy. So here's the update my friends....

In October I stage managed two shows at the Park Avenue Armory with Trusty Sidekick...

The 7 1/2 Mysteries of Toulouse McClane

And..... The Haunting of Ichabod Crane

Click here to read what NYTimes said about it...

In November I was invited back to Nebraska to direct A Christmas Carol. It was amazing to return home and see my family and friends while also getting the chance to live as a professional director, focusing solely on what I love to do (and getting paid to do it).

Click here for an article about my returning to NWU

In December I flew out of Nebraska and straight into rehearsals (literally) for The Power of Emotion presented at the Under the Radar Festival. Rehearsals carried me into the new year, and we opened and closed the show all in one day. It was amazing to be a part of such a great body of work that this festival presents.

Under the Radar Link

As for Upcoming Work, I'm so excited to join up with Trusty Sidekick again for their new adventure with The Lincoln Center. Up and Away will be a new work developed for children on the autism spectrum, and it's already been an amazing experience leading up to rehearsals, which will be starting in February. Loosely based on Around the World in 80 Days, it's bound to be an adventure. I'll be sure to keep you updated...this time.

Playbill Blurb

NYTimes Blurb

Trusty Sidekick

9/9/2014

I'm very excited to announce two upcoming projects here in NYC. I had a decision to make back in July, and although it was an incredibly difficult one for me to make, in the end I chose to spend my fall with Trusty Sidekick, a new and innovative children's company. This is a place that has children as co-collaborators in their play development process, and they create theatre meant to entertain children instead of theatre meant to educate them. But above all, they continue to stay true to themselves as theatre artists as they create work that is exciting for all ages. Trusty seemed like a good challenge for me, working with a new company on a type of theatre I haven't had as much experience in. I also felt like this was the kind of place that I could grow as an artist, and that these are the kinds of people I want to learn from.

And after the first couple of rehearsals, it's been everything I had hoped it would be, and so much more. I will be stage managing two productions with Trusty: The Haunting of Ichabod Crane, and The 7 1/2 Mysteries of Toulouse Mclane. Both of these shows will be immersive theatre events held at the gorgeous Park Avenue Armory. No matter what age you are, you can not miss this experience. I can't begin to describe how exciting the scripts and concepts are for these productions. I hope to see you there, and if you have anyone ages 8+ you should bring them along too!

Theatre Mania Blurb

Tickets/Show Info

Youth Onstage

7/13/2014

I'm back at the Castillo and I'm directing AGAIN!

Currently I'm volunteering as a director for their Youth Onstage program, which is dedicated to giving a free theatre education to students ages 14-21. Castillo, which is a part of the larger organization of the All Stars, continues to impress me time and time again. Their dedication to improving the community through free education and arts development is truly an inspiring thing to be a part of. It's probably the most fulfilling job I've had in NYC thus far, teaching students what it means to be a part of an ensemble, the effect telling a story can have on an audience, and even overcoming the difficult task of making eye contact with a stranger, a bigger challenge than I thought it may be.

And of course, I'm always happiest when I'm directing.

In other news, I'm going in for a couple of interviews this coming week, and fingers crossed, I'll have some exciting updates for what I'll be doing this fall and winter. I'll maybe even get to take leave from my waitressing job and just focus on theatre for a while... but that's all I'm going to say about that. I'd hate to jinx anything

Thank you everyone for your love and support! And I'll be keeping you updated!

PEW-ish Articles and Publicity

7/2/2014

PEW-ish was a great success! When we planned the event we had expected 50-80 people to attend. Instead...we had 126. What an incredible community, and what a great experience to be a part of. A little more info about the night you can find out below...

pewish_article.pdf
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Article published about the PEW-ish event that gives a special focus on the play I directed! The Covenant (Or Bagels and Butchery)

I'm also in the photo below! I'm in the back row on the very left.

Another reviewer from The Jewish Daily, was pleasantly surprised by the reading, found The Covenant to be charming, appealing and incredibly relatable to himself even.

The Jewish Daily Review

And a nice summary of the whole event from The Jewish Week.

The Jewish Week Review

Here's a great publicity video David had made that really highlights where the idea came from, and highlight's the playwrights and their inspiration.

PEW-ish Promo Video

PEW-ish - Leigh Walter is Directing again!

6/24/2014

The Donut Play is now closed. What an incredible first experience in professional theatre. Perfect really. Castillo Theatre was willing to give me a chance and I am so thankful to them, and to the talented team I was able to work with there.

After this, I am thrilled to be directing a play reading for a new project called PEW-ish! David Chapman, the director I worked with in Donut Play, has asked me on board to assist him as a line producer, as well as giving me the opportunity to direct one of the 10 play readings, coming this Thursday, June 26th. It's such a joy to work with David again, and it's an exciting project to be a part of. I am over the moon about this.

Check it out at pew-ish.org

Red Eye to Havre De Grace - My Final Project at NYTW

5/14/2014

So with my final days at NYTW, I watch a show about the final days of Edgar Allen Poe. Appropriate I think.

What an incredibly...insane show. Red Eye is advertised as a musical looking at the last distraught days of Edgar Allen Poe. And as one would expect from a musical about a strange man, the musical was very strange in its reflection. Beginning with an amiable, charming gentleman dressed in a Ranger suit (Ranger Steve), he introduces himself to the audience as a tour guide from a Philly museum about E. A. Poe, and that he was asked to come to the Workshop to tell us a few facts about the poet himself. I couldn't help but fall in love his "simple man" charm, and he may have been one of the best devices I've seen to give an audience a bit of background info, although one of the oddest narrator devices.

But then things started getting weird as soon as our friendly Ranger Steve began reading us a poem of Poe's, that led him into a deep and haunting melody that opened the magnificent red curtains with gold fringe (that I helped sew on). All of a sudden we were whirled into the highly disturbing mind of Poe, filled with dreams and hauntings of his dead wife/cousin, Virginia. Virginia haunts him from the very beginning of the musical being silent, mischevious, bird-like and so inhuman in her dance and movements (her first entrance seen below). At times, Virginia is a small fragile girl, and at others she's an 8 foot tall temptress dancing a furious tango with Poe in stilts. Meanwhile Ranger Steve plays all other characters in this story, some from real recorded accounts and some imagined. Poe was a tragic and tortured character, battling with alcoholism, poverty, the loss of his wife who haunts him, and the heartbreakingly futile attempt at selling what he considered his greatest work, Eureka, to a crowd that only wants to hear him recite the "Raven".

Picture Stolen from New York Times

If there is one thing I can say as the largest compliment to this work, is that I was truly disturbed leaving the production. There was nothing offensive, no nudity or flashing lights or gunshots (As Ranger Steve kindly informs us at the beginning of the production, "So it's pretty tame in that respect"), yet I was still left slightly unhinged after leaving the theater. It was a show of stirring images, delightful imagination (reminiscent of Peter and the Starcatcher) and the stuff that nightmares are made on.

Click on the button below to check out what the Times had to say about the show...

Link to NYTimes Review

And what did I do for the production?

For this show, I helped make that suitcase you see Poe sitting on above, I stapled some faux leather onto some chair seats to make them look older, I helped sew the aforementioned fringe onto the grand red curtain, I bought clarinet stands, and at one point I brought the director his notepad he had left in the lobby.

Pretty soon I will be done with this incredible internship which started my adventure in NYC. I made some good friends, and learned from some great professionals on how to be a professional. I learned how much creating theatre actually costs, and every once in a while I got to feel badass and use a drill or staple gun. It was a new perspective into theatre, and was a great place for me to take my first steps toward being a theatre professional. I've seen how a great production team works together to create truly fantastic work, which will be helpful one day when I'm directing with an incredible team to support me.

I'm very grateful for having this opportunity. I'm grateful for being in this city, with the incredible people who support me every day in this terrifying adventure.

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