Actor • Director • Grammy Nominee

Hi! I'm an NYC-based director, specializing in developing new plays and musicals. I love the "soft power" of theater as a medium for live social influence, and I endeavor to work on shows that have educational and visceral impact on the audience -- especially with regard to the Asian American, Queer and other underrepresented communities. I also believe in radical inclusivity - consciously and thoughtfully done - in terms of cast and creative teams. 

I have a background as a (Grammy-nominated) actor and singer, and am an "actor's director" and a "singer's director" to a greater extent than most directors: I'm able to really speak the same artistic and technical language as the actors in the play, and coax out their best performances; the same with the singers in a musical. In addition, I am also a former lawyer, and have exceptional reading and analytical skills -- another one of my more specialized skills as a director is the ability to deeply collaborate with the playwright (and lyricist, in a musical) to both focus the overall themes and hone the granular storytelling of the script/libretto (and as a lifelong musician, I'm able to do the same with the development of the songs/score in a musical).

My directing aesthetic tends to be minimalist and refined, with a sense of underlying restraint and tension. I prefer naturalistic acting and staging, and simple, elegant sets -- in order for the story to shine through first and foremost. I'm always thinking about what is most effective to connect with the audience and communicate with them, as opposed to just wowing them with busy staging/choreography or dramatic effects. Thus far I have enjoyed amping up basic technology (oversized projections, strongly colored lights, narrative sound effects) to enhance the sensory experience of productions with limited budgets. In the future I would like to include additional sensory elements into my work such as smells and even feels (but still with some restraint -- not going full immersive or interactive).