July: recap, rebrand, rehearse

From July:

Colors of Paradise Dance Concert 

Forager Theatre’s summer dance concert was a dream! I loved experimenting with a blend of partnered and contemporary choreography for my “Fields of Gold” piece (there will be video, eventually!), as well as the opportunity to meet many other dancers and see exciting work of so many styles within one performance. Take Root classes will resume at the beginning of the fall, and I look forward to continuing to expand my dance network! 

Announcing an Expand the Canon rebrand!

As we celebrate five years of our flagship project to uncover and uplift classic plays by women and underrepresented genders, Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre has formally rebranded to be Expand the Canon full-time. We’re excited to share our shiny new website, as well as a special podcast conversation in which we toast the rebrand and discuss how and why our updated mission prioritizes our outreach and advocacy work. Tune in to hear me talk about my cool job of leading the Research Team – and how working with ETC has influenced other projects I’ve worked on as a writer and director. 

Upcoming: Freelance at a Glance

New freelance projects are just around the corner, but not yet finalized enough to share dates and details. Instead, here’s a peak behind the curtain at the types of prep work I’ve been doing this month:

• Script annotations for a little whodunnit podcast I’ll be recording soon!

• Revising a few playwriting projects for submission

• Researching venues for future Ladies & Fools projects

• Applying to directing residencies 

• Visual art for a Queequeg & Paulina commission 

Ongoing: Keep up with Ladies & Fools! 

I am at work behind-the-scenes on upcoming projects for Ladies & Fools, but until we have our next performances to share… We would love to invite you to keep in touch with us between shows on Patreon! Patreon is a simple-to-use platform for artists and creatives, allowing us to offer quick updates as well as donation opportunities to support the troupe. 

• If you select to follow our page for free, you’ll receive periodic emails when we have updates such as upcoming performances or livestreams.

• If you are interested to set up a small monthly donation (including $2 and $5 levels), rather like a mini membership, you will gain access to fun perks such as behind-the-scenes blog posts and early ticket info. And of course, you will also receive our tremendous gratitude for helping us to continue creating and producing exciting theatre!!

July Highlights & Recommendations

Some favorite media and performances from the past month!

Reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

On Broadway What a joy to finally catch Buena Vista Social Club! Bringing together incredible musicianship, phenomenal dancing, and thoughtful dramaturgy, this was really a wonderful evening at the theatre.

SheNYC Festival Back downtown (in their new residence at Classic Stage), I was glad to catch several festival offerings in-person this year after livestreaming the past few seasons. My 2025 standouts go to the powerfully-delivered Pas de Trois (or, the dancing witch play) and the strong new musical The Garden Bridge, which skillfully adapts a fascinating “why have I never heard about this before?” moment in history.