My place in the theatre

This thesis details my work as a director and digital media designer on two productions during my time in the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Iowa. Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen is a short atmospheric drama by University of Iowa graduate, Tennessee Williams. It was directed and designed as a film-theatre hybrid that was underscored by live music throughout the performance with actors appearing on video screens above the set. Eight Algorithms for Awakening is an interdisciplinary performance in which digital avatars and human bodies share the stage in an unlikely exploration of expanded consciousness. It was staged in an octagon-shaped installation with audience members seated on meditation cushions. Spectators viewed the performers inside the installation through two-way-mirrored windows. These two works illustrate my approach to making theatre as a transdisciplinary artist and highlight some of the challenges I faced in making theatre during the time of a global pandemic.