Macbeth at Linfield University, 2025. All photos by Mariah Anderson Director’s Note Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, Macbeth doesn’t bother with subplots or comic relief characters. Instead, it zeroes in on its tragic heroes, the Macbeths. Strong textual evidence suggests this couple suffered an excruciating loss of a child, and the devastation left them deeply bonded to…

Director’s Note Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief hit bookshelves in 2006 and became an instant classic. Filled with adventure, magical creatures, and absent parents, this first installation in an epic series follows Percy as he tries to stop a war between the Olympian gods. Many of our students grew up on these…

“smart passing smart listening smart eyes” Near the end of The Wolves, the character Soccer Mom instructs the players to win their upcoming game with “smart passing smart listening smart eyes,” a line indicative of Sarah DeLappe’s brilliant and gutting use of language. Her use of punctuation (or lack thereof), word choice, verbal ticks, interrupted…

We are in a New Age! Over the past few months, I’ve fallen so in love with this zany, brilliant, stupid musical about cavepeople that I’ve determined it might be the best musical ever–or at least, the musical we all need right now. This piece deftly blends important and pressing themes related to climate change…

In recognition of the vital importance of and inherent challenges associated with telling intimate stories, particularly with respect to power dynamics, actor boundaries, and the pressures of repetitive live performance, I’ve pursued training as an Intimacy Director through Intimacy Directors and Coordinators. My status is currently “certification pending” after over 100 hours of advanced training…

What’s your damage, Heathers? A student asked me recently why Heathers was a musical worth producing, given its heavy content and violent themes. The list of content warnings for this show contains bullying and homophobia, suicidal ideation, murder, and multiple forms of abuse–and more. Yet through the ugliness the musical depicts, the story of Veronica…

Digital performance, Fall 2020 I had originally planned to direct something else this year. Covid of course intervened and the Linfield Theatre Program had to abandon our plans for our 101 season, which were unworkable with masking and social distance restrictions. So I planned to direct a radio play instead… But the headlines piled up…

Original adaptation of TROJAN WOMEN My adaptation of Trojan Women confronts the effects of war and trauma not just in the immediate aftermath of the Trojan War, but after war more generally, across time and space. This adaptation breaks out each woman of Troy from Euripides’ script and gives her a chance to tell her…

Photography by Liam Pickhardt, Set design by Robert Vaughn, Costume design by Laurel Peterson, Lighting design by Derek Lane Director’s Note “It’s Just a Sweet, Sweet Fantasy, Baby” High school is hell, especially for nerds, kids with disabilities, queer kids, and other communities that don’t sit at the popular table in the cafeteria. Nerds are…

by Heather Raffo Performed by Melory Mirashrafi In 1993, American playwright Heather Raffo traveled to Baghdad to visit her family after the Gulf War. The country was forever changed, and she began an ethnographic study of the women of Iraq—a study that spanned past the 2003 U.S. invasion. The play she created about the people…

  As resident dramaturg at Linfield College, I chair the committee to plan the production season, organize post-show roundtables, and meet with directors and casts to discuss historical and thematic research. In my second year as dramaturg, I created a website for research and resources here!

In the spring of 2018, after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, and on the anniversary of the Columbine Shootings, playwright Lauren Gunderson released the rights to her one-woman show Natural Shocks for simultaneous national staged readings. I directed the reading at Linfield and turned the show into a chorus for…

A co-production of Stanford Repertory Theatre, Ethics in Society, Stanford Peace + Justice Studies Initiative, and Stanford TAPS, Democratically Speaking explores the idea and realities of “democracy,” from ancient Greece to the Occupy Movement. This performance features a dynamic interplay of voices, including Aeschylus, Thucydides, Euripides, Demosthenes, Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Paine, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant,…

The Knot delves into the very human impulse to locate our origins. Tracing one woman’s journeys back to West Africa, again and again, across multiple time periods and in multiple bodies, The Knot suggests that however alone we may feel on our journey, we carry tapestries of rich history inside us. The cast included undergraduate…

8, by Academy-Award winner Dustin Lance Black, is a documentary play taken from the transcripts of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial that eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The play offers a performative method for understanding the legal intricacies of this historic gay marriage trial. In 2012, Lindsey directed a production at…