159. BOX CITY
i moved! and also, somehow, so much other stuff is happening!
we’re calling our new apartment “box city” for the time being, for the obvious reason that our view is mostly of cardboard boxes, and i have very little to share here other than that things in box city are messy but joyful. the new place is already becoming home. we have more than we know what to do with — more mugs, more shoes, more lamps, more love.
reading.
annie bot by sierra greer. i absolutely could not put this down. one of my favorite books i’ve read in a hot minute. go read it! go!
show don’t tell by curtis sittenfeld. i’m usually not great with short story collections, but this one is really doing it for me!
curious about what being an intimacy coordinator actually entails? this article is for you.
this breakdown of broadway / west end microphones is nerdy and fun!
a look at one communal house in brooklyn.
seeing.
in absentia by my brilliant sister naomi goodheart, directed by sarah shapiro. i was truly so beyond proud to see naomi’s work go up in nyc for the first time. even with my own sisterly bias accounted for, i feel very confident saying naomi is an extraordinary playwright, and it was such a gift to get to see one of her earliest works fully realized. also, why are we ever doing plays set in apartments in locations other than saint lydia’s? i fully squealed and clapped my hands when an actor heated and ate a microwave dinner in real time. anyway, indie theater makes my heart swell, and i’m so happy for nao, sarah, and the whole gang.
the last five years by jason robert brown, directed by whitney white — specifically, standby night, starring my unbelievable pal noah kieserman as jamie and the incredible nasia thomas as cathy. i started sobbing somewhere around “if i didn’t believe in you” and didn’t really stop. i fervently hope that this show convinced other producers to make understudy nights (in shows that can reasonably accommodate them) a regular practice. the moment the lights went down, the theater erupted. it was truly like a rock concert. i can’t remember being in a broadway house with a younger, more diverse, more enthusiastic audience — and broadway desperately needs audiences like this one. and to see two young artists living out their dreams in front of a crowd that was moved beyond belief to see it happening in real time… i honestly don’t have the words. and also, if you forgot, the last five years really is that girl. get two powerhouse singers and a kickass band and let me hear that score and i will weep, guaranteed. if you find out that noah or nasia is going on again before the end of the run, i implore you to catch these two rising stars.
prince f—— by jordan tannahill, directed by shayok misha chowdhury at playwrights horizons / soho rep. intentionally provocative and totally engrossing. truly stunning direction and performances. and yondr pouches are used for good reason.
i’m rewatching parks and rec because my sweet boyfriend has never seen it, and late season 2 onwards really remains such a balm for the soul.
hearing.
making.
despite how much of this week was consumed with packing and unpacking (and still being nowhere near done), i managed to squeeze in a whole bunch of meetings. i called my agent to prep for a big pitch meeting i have coming up, zoomed with the other road kills producers and hashed out some scheduling issues, chatted with an undergraduate director looking for advice, zoomed with my scenic designer for road kills to go over details and material costs, called another young director looking for advice in a crisis, and got some good advice from directors a few steps ahead of me on navigating interviews for big opportunities.
i also did a bunch of prep for this aforementioned pitch meeting. i’ll be honest: i’m not going to tell you guys what this one is right now. it feels too delicate. if i don’t get it, which feels highly probable, i’ll probably never say what it was! such is the process of writing a public newsletter on the internet that live chronicles my career as a director. i want to be transparent, but i also need to be discreet. i want to be vulnerable, but i also need to protect my heart. you get the idea.
that said, i can say what my prep looked like! i reread the script and took notes, i reread my previous notes, did some major pinterest visual research, transferred my favorite images to a canva whiteboard, made a dream cast list, and met with the playwright to talk things through. before the meeting, i’ll probably do one more check-in with my agent, finesse the presentation of the images i pulled, make a list of dream designers, and listen back to the voice memos of encouragement some directing mentors sent me.
and finally, sophie and i had the awesome opportunity to record an episode for the drama book shop podcast! we were expecting to be the openers for another episode, but when we arrived for the recording, they decided to do an entire episode just about us and good apples collective, with a bunch of promo for road kills! it honestly was such a blast — very grateful to david rigano and mark-eugene garcia for such a joyful conversation. whenever the episode drops, i’ll share it here. feeling grateful that other people see and appreciate the work we’re trying to do.
