07 WELCOME TO CHURCH
LOCATION: New York, NY
INSTALLATION, 2026
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Welcome to Church is an immersive dance installation set within a Manhattan tenement, transformed to evoke the architecture and ritual atmosphere of a derelict Southern Baptist church. The piece
navigates the interplay of
domestic intimacy and collective memory. By employing task-based and ritualistic movement, the work faces themes of home, heritage, and reconciliation. Projections are deliberately abrasive and confrontational, asserting themselves in the viewer’s space to suspend performance and speak directly to the audience. Juxtaposing the sacred with the ordinary, the installation transforms everyday gestures into potent acts of reflection, ritual, and reckoning.
06 DANCE DEMO
LOCATION: N/A
DANCE, 2026
06.1
05 SASHAYED AWAY
LOCATION: C’mon Everybody, Brooklyn, NY
SET, 2024
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Sashayed Away, a parody of Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film
Spirited Away (2001) follows ten year old Chihiro as she inadvertently enters a
Japanese spirit realm. After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch
Yubaba, Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free
herself and her parents and return to the human world.
Sashayed Away’s scenic elements draw inspiration from the
original animated film while embracing queer references and drag aesthetics.
The size restrictions of the venue required that set elements have multipurpose
use, and project budget dictated a conservative palette of materials and
finishes. From these constraints, an approach to put economical materials “in
drag” was derived as the conceptual underpinning of the project. Cardboard, xps
foam, paper, and other affordable materials received application of paint, glitter,
rhinestones, and/or projection to enhance their visual presence onstage. By investigating the overlap between the mundane and the expressive, questions
arise:
Can cardboard be dusted?
Is polyethylene sickening boots?
04 BREAKING CHARACTER
LOCATION:
Lake Forest, IL
ARCHITECTURE, 2022
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Breaking Character is an immersive outdoor installation of colorful dioramas and movable platforms set within the Ragdale landscape. Arranged in a circular composition inspired by Shaw’s original Ragdale Ring, the project invites both performers and audiences to inhabit the same flexible space.
By dissolving the traditional boundary between stage and spectator, the installation reimagines theatrical experience as something shared, fluid, and participatory. Each diorama — defined by bold forms, playful details, and carefully placed openings — offers unique perspectives into performances, encouraging visitors to shape their own experience.Designed for adaptability, elements of the project extend beyond the site through mobile backdrops used for pop-up performances across Chicagoland, connecting audiences back to the larger installation.
Built with an emphasis on material efficiency and sustainability, all components are designed for reuse. After the installation, elements will be repurposed or donated to community organizations, ensuring the project continues to serve as a creative resource beyond its initial life.
03 DROWNING
LOCATION: Shubert Theater, New York, NY
SET, 2021
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03.2
03.3“Drowning, tells its story swiftly, in a handful of pages,
sketching a love affair from the first moment of desire to the bitter end. All
the characters, including [Pea,] the jilted lover, are described in the script
as potato-heads with bodies “like seals or sea lions” and shiny, oily flesh
covered in warts. Their revolting exterior brands them as unlovable and oddly
makes the story feel more universal: their repulsiveness makes them vulnerable
and draws empathy.” -- Paul David Young
Drowning’s scenery seeks to understand the psyche of the
play’s characters and reflect that into the architecture of their world.
Intentionally disregarding María Irene
Fornés’ note on the physicality of her characters, this production renders a
space where outcasts deliberately choosing to live in exile might find
themselves. The production calls into question what might happen if/when one
chooses to leave their own purgatory.
02 THE LEOPARD
LOCATION: Istanbul, Turkey
DANCE, 2015
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Commissioned by Aksanat Istanbul, funded by Aksanat and the U.S. Consulate.
01 A FUNNY THING HAPPENED
LOCATION: REDCAT Theater, Los Angeles, CA
DANCE, 2011
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Text under development.