You are both specialists and rockstars in care and cultural consent. What inspired your practice? Do you remember the first time you were hired to do this kind of work?
Denise: It started unofficially, I think. I was hired as an assistant director for a Taylor Mac production, Hirwhich focuses on a family with a trans teenager, as they deal with trauma, conflict and abuse. I learned a lot from how director Hallie Gordon facilitated her vivid vision of the play and its themes with care for the artists who created it. I shared affinity, solidarity and visibility with the queer and trans people in the room. I noticed how my dramaturgical purpose is colored by my experience, my values and my identity. My presence in a room can be revolutionary because of who I am and what I care about; with or without a title, I can integrate the practice of care into the process.
Sheryl: I am always inspired by the humanity of the performing arts and the joy this work has the potential to bring into spaces. Helping people find the joy of having autonomy in their choices and the confidence to try different choices, even if it’s not a physically intimate moment, I think, creates a space for performers to delve deeper into the work than they had before. The first time I was hired for this job was at the start of the pandemic. It was a student production that moved to Zoom, dealt with heavy topics, and had a scripted, intimate touch. (I did) consulting with them on the storyline, helping them find a way to create containers for the spaces they were seething in, so that the content of the show didn’t linger with them.
What is your #1 self-care practice this season?
Denise: The bean of the week! My Monday ritual involves making a big batch of no-recipe beans, usually with local, seasonal vegetables and what’s in my pantry. It cooks slowly all day long, while I have a therapy session or do yoga in the living room, the smells in the air reminding me that good things take time and will always surprise me.
Sheryl: The two self-care practices I’m doing this season are drinking more orange juice in the morning and dancing/singing around my apartment. With the first few nights and being indoors more, having a way to take up more space than just my physical size, for me, is a beautiful way to stretch my soul, like you stretch your body.
What is one thing you wish people knew about the art you create or how you make it?
Denise: It’s great to lead and have lots of good ideas, but a leader doesn’t always have to have the best idea in the room (in rehearsal or otherwise). Sometimes I sow the seeds of ideas that I might never have imagined myself! I love collaborating and the feeling of flying ideas and images back and forth. I look forward to learning new forms from visual artists, choreographers, and architects, as I learn from my collaborators’ ideas and recognize their genius for what it is.
Sheryl: I thrive on the collaboration between me and the performers, with guidance from the director for story notes. I want them to feel like they gave me their ideas and that I helped them plan the technical details. I ask the performers to take note as they continue the choreography and let me know if anything is no longer working; that the impulses change or their direction has changed so that we can keep the work as autonomous and authentic to the work and to the story that everyone wants to tell.
Take your shot. Which artist or company do you dream of working with? What show or project do you dream of working on?
Denise: I recently directed for the Lyric Opera of Chicago and was really inspired by the process. I think it would be great to work on the new opera adaptation of The house on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros! Sandra is a Chicana elder that I truly admire, and her work has had such an impact. I can (so far!) only imagine how wonderfully it could fill the epic container of an opera.
Sheryl: I would love to work at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, a huge theater complex that also houses opera. Being from the West, I miss the climate, and with my bachelor’s degree in musical theater and minor in stage combat, opera is a great way to incorporate those skills while providing new tools to a new venue. artists. As a fan of Baldur’s Gate, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect, the gamer in me would love to work with Larian Studios or BioWare and collaborate on their romance option scenes if their future series have them.
