DIRECTING
I create artist-centered work through collaboration, curiosity, and bold storytelling —
building spaces where artists feel empowered, process is prioritized, and meaningful stories come to life.
Bold stories. Collaborative process. Work that matters.
I believe the job of a director is not to control every moment — it’s to create the conditions where artists can do their best work.
That means building rehearsal rooms rooted in trust, curiosity, and collaboration. I’m less interested in perfection than I am in connection — to the story, to each other, and to the audience.
My role is to shape a cohesive vision while giving artists the freedom to bring their own instincts, imagination, and brushstrokes to the work.
I want the people I collaborate with to leave stronger than they arrived — more confident in their craft, more connected to the art, and more willing to take bold creative risks.
I’m especially drawn to classical works and new scripts because both offer what excites me most: the freedom to reimagine, challenge, and make a story feel urgent now.
My goal is simple:
To create bold, collaborative work that feels alive — for the artists creating it & the audience experiencing it.
SELECTED WORKS
Clue by Sandy Rustin
Beverly Theatre Guild, 2026
Photos by Camilla Joe-O’Keefe
Cast: Jane Flynn-Royko, Jay Haak, Joseph Adlesick, Ki-Jana Moore, Leandra Ward, Maddie Arnold, Morgan Ayres, Regan Bobich, Richard Jordan, Rose Murphy, Sean Henry, Sherry Anton
Set Design - Emil Zbella; Lighting Design - Wayne Wendell; Props Design - Nicole Correll; Costume Design - Camilla Joe-O’Keefe; Violence Design - Christopher Wilson; Projections Design - Larry Huetteman; Sound Design - Anna Rachel Troy
MEDEAMEDEAMEDEA by Olivia Buntaine
Theatre EVOLVE, 2025
Photos by Nick Cartwright
Cast: Mary Eliza Willingham, Riley Lucas, Marley Doakes, Amber Dow
Dramaturgy - Hailey Scott; Set Design - Rose Johnson; Lighting Design - Ellie Fey; Costume Design - Janine Casey; Sound Design - Harper Justus; Props Design - CJ Jelagin; Intimacy Design - Ali Foley
“MEDEAMEDEAMEDEA is so close to a perfect play. It’s no simple task to retell a story that has been told countless times over hundreds of years and manage to say something new, and Buntainepulls it off spectacularly.” Jessie Bond, Splash Magazine
“Theatre Evolve has assembled a good cast to portray how patriarchal mores and behaviors have cast women as hysterical and needy, without control of their emotions. This redemption of Medea is a vivid retelling of the power of emotion, and what has been seen as hysteria can also be a purging of pain to let the matriarchy overcome subjugation.” - Kathy D. Hey, 3rd Coast Review (RECOMMENDED)
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
by Selina Fillinger
Green Shirt Studios, 2024
Photos by Nick Cartwright
Cast: Erica Masini, Hane Ryu, Bailey Holtz, Kelsey Summers, Rachel Carreri, Jessie Shaw, Wongel Abamegal
Dramaturgy - Jessie Shaw; Set Design - Bailey Holtz; Lighting Design - Javan Whitney-Warner; Costume Design - Hane Ryu; Sound Design - Javan Whitney-Warner; Props Design - Hane Ryu; Intimacy Design - Ali Foley; Fight Design - Rachel Carreri
Krugozor! by Katie Coleman
Theatre EVOLVE, 2023
Photos by Evin Hoffman
Cast: Caroline Kidwell, Andy Ricci, Anthony Whitaker, Ellen Spann, Ian Maryfield, Audrey Napoli, Christine Watt, Olivia Rose Nathan
Music Direction - Alex Kulak; Set Design - Alexander Trice; Props Designer - Elise Soeder; Sound Design - Dawson Schmit; Costume Design - Moises Diaz; Light Design - Abby Beggs; Violence Design - Pol Cooney; Intimacy Design - Tristin Hall
"a wild, energetic production that mixes performance styles, tone, and mood with the wild, carefree abandon of someone changing stations every few seconds on a car radio. Yet somehow, director Anna Rachel Troy and her cast keep it together, mixing strictly naturalistic scenes, with ones with a more Brechtian tinge." - Jack Helbig, The Chicago Reader (RECOMMENDED)
"the infectious energy of everyone involved ensures that the clever script never fails to engage throughout its length. I might not want to go back to the U.S.S.R., but I would recommend to anyone a look back at Krugozor." - Noel Schecter, NewCity Stage (RECOMMENDED)
