We are excited to bring you this new episode in our podcast series, The Art of Collaboration, with Brandon Stirling Baker and Justin Peck. This series focuses on directors and choreographers in conversation with some of their collaborators. The series explores the ins and outs of these processes, both finer details as well as overarching ideas about what goes into a productive collaboration on a show. In this episode you will hear a conversation with Brandon (Lighting Designer) and Justin (Director, Choreographer, co-Book Writer) about their work on Illinoise including how they collaborate, the value of incorporating team members early in the production process, and the role of lighting in theatrical storytelling. They also discuss the different iterations of the production as it moved from venue to venue.

Bios:

Brandon Stirling Baker is a Tony Award-Nominated lighting designer working internationally. His work can be seen on stages throughout the United States and abroad including Broadway, Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl, Walt Disney Concert Hall, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Australian Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, Park Avenue Armory, American Repertory Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dutch National Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, and many others. Baker received a Tony Award Nomination for his lighting of ILLINOISE on Broadway and is a recipient of the Knight of Illumination Award for his work in dance. Baker has designed over 30 premieres worldwide for director and choreographer Justin Peck, and works frequently with William Forsythe, Jamar Roberts, and Pam Tanowitz among others. He is the Resident Lighting Designer of Boston Ballet and a Lecturer of Design at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. www.stirlingbaker.com

Brandon's headshot by Vincent Tullo

Justin Peck is a three-time Tony Award winning choreographer, director, filmmaker, and dancer based in New York City. He is currently the acting Resident Choreographer of New York City Ballet. Peck has created and developed over 50 dance and theater works for stages around the world, including work for Broadway, the Palais Garnier, Lincoln Center, the Sydney Opera House, & Brooklyn Academy of Music. He has created extensively for film, most notably choreographing Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021). In 2024, Peck directed and choreographed the original Broadway musical Illinoise. Honors include the Tony Award for Best Choreography for Carousel (2018) and Illinoise (2024), the National Arts Award (2018), the Golden Plate Honor from the Academy of Achievement (2019), the Bessie Award for Rodeo (2015), and the World Choreography Award for the film West Side Story (2021).

Enjoy this special stand alone episode with Anne Bogart. This is a recorded in-person conversation held in London with the Young Vic and SDCF in January 2025 that is now in podcast form. Anne discusses working in the theatre as a director including delving into her directing practices both as artist and teacher as well as her work through co-founding SITI Company. This conversation picks up after some introductions in the room and encapsulates the interview portion of the event.

Bio:

Anne Bogart is a theatre and opera director. She was the Co-Artistic Director of SITI Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She is a Professor at Columbia University where she runs the Graduate Directing Program and is the author of six books: “A Director Prepares,” “The Viewpoints Book,” “And Then, You Act,” “Conversations with Anne,” “What’s the Story” and, most recently, “The Art of Resonance.” She is the recipient of an Obie Lifetime Achievement Award, a Doris Duke Artist Grant, a USA Fellowship, a Rockefeller Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as four Honorary Doctorate degrees, from Bard College, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Cornish School of the Arts and Skidmore Colleges.

Recent theater works include Existentialism (La Mama and Talking Band), Eastland (Trinity Theater, Dublin), The Beautiful Lady (La Mama), and Composition as Explanation (Court Theater, Chicago). With SITI, recent productions include A Christmas Carol, Falling and Loving, The Bacchae, The Theater is a Blank Page, Persians, Steel Hammer, A Rite, Café Variations, Trojan Women, American Document, Antigone, Freshwater Under Construction; Who Do You Think You Are; Radio Macbeth; Hotel Cassiopeia; Death and the Ploughman; La Dispute; Score; bobrauschenbergamerica; Room; War of the Worlds; Cabin Pressure; The Radio Play; Alice’s Adventures; Culture of Desire; Bob; Going, Going, Gone; Small Lives/Big Dreams; The Medium; Noel Coward’s Hay Fever and Private Lives; August Strindberg’s Miss Julie; and Charles Mee’s Orestes. Operas include Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle (Boston Lyric Opera), Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde(the National theater of Croatia), Ruder’s The Handmaid’s Tale (Boston Lyric Opera), Verdi’s Macbeth(Glimmerglass), Bellini’s Norma (Washington National Opera and Los Angeles Opera), I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Glimmerglass), Bizet’s Carmen (Glimmerglass), three operas by Deborah Drattell, Nicholas and Alexandra (Los Angeles Opera), Marina: A Captive Spirit (American Opera Projects), and Lilith (New York City Opera) and Brecht/Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins (New York City Opera).

We are excited to bring you this new episode in our podcast series, The Art of Collaboration with Anne Kauffman and dots. This series focuses on directors and choreographers in conversation with some of their collaborators. This series explores the ins and outs of these processes, both finer details as well as overarching ideas about what goes into a productive collaboration on a show. In this episode you will hear an in-depth and transparent conversation with Anne and Dotes focused on the collaboration between directors and designers as well as navigating the industry as a collective.

Bios:

dots (Scenic Designer) is a design collective creating environments for theater, film, commercials, and immersive experiences. Hailing from Colombia, South Africa, and Japan, we are Santiago Orjuela-Laverde, Andrew Moerdyk, and Kimie Nishikawa. As collaborators, we believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts. Recent highlights include the Broadway productions of Oh, Mary! ; Romeo + Juliet, An Enemy of the People (Tony Award Nomination for Best Scenic Design of a Play); Appropriate (Tony Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Outstanding Scenic Design); The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window; and The Big Gay Jamboree ; Recent awards include a 2024 Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in Design, 2023 and 2024 Henry Hewes Design Award, recipient of 2025 USA Fellowship Award . designbydots.com.

Anne Kauffman (Director)’s credits include the New York Philharmonic, BAM, Ars Nova, NYTW, Roundabout Theatre Company, Encores! Off-Center, Women’s Project, Playwrights Horizons, MCC, The Public, P73 Productions, New Georges, Vineyard Theatre, LCT3, Yale Rep, Steppenwolf, Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Z Space, American Conservatory Theater, and Berkeley Rep. She is a Resident Director at Roundabout Theatre, Artistic Associate and Founding Member of The Civilians, a Clubbed Thumb Affiliated Artist and co-creator of the CT Directing Fellowship, a New Georges Affiliated Artist, an SDC Executive Board Member, Vice President and Trustee of SDCF 2020-2023, and Artistic Director of City Center’s Encores! Off-Center 2017-2020. Her awards include a 2024 Tony nomination for Best Director for Mary Jane, a 2023 Tony nomination for Best Revival for The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, three Obies, the Joan and Joseph Cullman Award for Exceptional Creativity from Lincoln Center, the Alan Schneider Director Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, a Drama League Award, and the Joe A. Callaway. She is co-creator of the Cast Album Project with Jeanine Tesori.

dots headshot by Kimie "Kimi-ye" Nishikawa

Anne Kauffman's headshot by Tess Mayer

Check out this podcast replay of our SDCF Panel: The Journey from Dancer to Choreographer with Mayte Natalio, Adesola Osakalumi, and Ellenore Scott. This conversation focuses on career transitions or expansions, specifically for dancers who have shifted or added choreography to their artistic practice. We hosted this panel at Sunlight Studios in February 2024.

This video and audio was recorded by Michael Weir supported by the Maria Torres Emerging Artists Foundation. Transcript available upon request.

Ellenore Scott (she/her) is a BIPOC, New York based choreographer and director. Through her work, Scott values lifting diverse voices in her community while creating a joyous space where the creative process can bring as many people in as possible. Her Broadway credits include Grey House, Funny Girl, Mr. Saturday Night. Her Off-Broadway credits include Little Shop of Horrors, Titanique (Lucille Loretel Nomination), I Can Get It For You Wholesale. Other choreography credits include: So You Think You Can Dance?, Single All the Way (Netflix). In 2023, Scott co-directed The Lonely Few, a world premiere rock musical at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, CA that will transfer to Off-Broadway's MCC Theatre in Spring of 2024. Scott’s work has also been seen at The Bushwick Starr, The Old Globe, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Cape Fear Regional Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre. In 2020, Scott was a finalist for the SDC Breakout Award for the first ever TikTok Music Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical which raised over $2 million for The Entertainment Fund. As a performer, Scott appeared in numerous television shows (Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Smash, The Blacklist, Glee! to name a few) and was a finalist and All-Star on So You Think You Can Dance? Scott is the Artistic Director of ELSCO Dance, a contemporary-fusion dance company.

Mayte Natalio: Broadway: Suffs (spring 2024), For Colored Girls… (Associate Choreographer). Off-Broadway: Measure for Measure (The Public Theater, Mobile Unit). Regional: The Winter’s Tale (DTC, Public Works), Into the Woods (Barrington Stage Company), Love in Hate Nation (Two River Theater), Hair (The Old Globe), Kiss My Aztec (Hartford Stage), How to Dance in Ohio (Syracuse Stage).

Adesola Osakalumi: is a Bronx native, Bessie Award-winning, Drama Desk-nominated Choreographer and Actor. Inspired by his family’s dance company Africa 1 Dance Theater, he began performing at an early age and was immediately captivated by popping, locking, and all diasporic hip-hop dance styles. He began training seriously at every opportunity possible while maintaining a strong presence in the New York club scene where these styles flourished. Selected Choreographic credits include:

Fall For Dance/Jam On The Groove 3 For 30 (City Center),Skeleton Crew (Broadway MTC), Cullud Wattah, Coal Country, Othello (Public Theater), runboyrun, Eyewitness Blues (NYTW), Good Grief (Vineyard), Jam on the Groove (Minetta Lane) and the film School Of Rock. Upcoming: The Hippest Trip (Soul Train Musical) Associate Choreographer & Dance Consultant and Syncing Ink (Victoria Theater) Spring 2025. As an Actor: Skeleton Crew, Fela!, Equus (Broadway), runboyrun (NYTW), Syncing Ink (Flea/Alley Theater) and the films Red Pill, IBRAHIM, Enchanted, Across the Universe, and Sex and the City 2. TV: "Endgame", “Ice”, Blue Bloods. Awards: Bessie Award Recipient, Drama Desk Recipient. I give thanks to my Ori, Ancestors, and Family for their constant support and love. adesola.com IG @adesolaosakalumi.

Check out this podcast replay of the SDCF Virtual Panel: Demystifying Pre-Production with Knud Adams, Maija García, and Delicia Turner Sonnenberg. This conversation focuses on the pre-production process, giving insights and a better understanding of all the things that happen between when a director signs a contract and first rehearsal. The panelists talked about what they have discovered over the years makes for the strongest pre-production process for them before rehearsals begin. Transcript available upon request. We hosted this panel in June 2024.

Knud Adams is an Obie-winning director of artful new plays, based in New York. This season, he's directing English on Broadway. His work has been featured on "Best of the Year" lists by The New York Times, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post. An avid developer of new work, his world-premiere productions include: Primary Trust (Roundabout), English (Atlantic/Roundabout), Bodies They Ritual (Clubbed Thumb), Private (Mosaic), The Headlands (LCT3), Paris (Atlantic), and The Workshop (Soft Focus). Knud also directed the radio play Vapor Trail, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Maija García is a theater director, cultural innovator and advocate for equity in the arts. She recently directed I am Betty, a world premiere hit new musical at History Theater by Cristina Luzarrága and Denise Prosek; VALOR, a Spanish golden-age play by Ana Caro; and OUR HOOD, a bi-lingual cineplay by John Leguizamo. Director of Movement for Spike Lee's Oscar award-winning Blackkklansman, CHI-RAQ and She’s Gotta Have It on Netflix, and Executive Producer of Art of Dance, a documentary film, García’s Theater Directing credits include Bill T. Jones’ FELA! World Tour; CRANE: on earth in sky by Heather Henson and Ty Defoe and Salsa Mambo Cha Cha Cha in La Habana Cuba. Regional Theater credits include original choreography for West Side Story at the Guthrie Theater; Kiss My Aztec by John Leguizamo and Tony Toccone at Berkeley Rep, and La Jolla Playhouse; Snow in Midsummer by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Cuba Libre by Carlos Lacámara at Artists Repertory Theater (PAMTA Award); and Fats Waller Dance Party with Jason Moran and Meshell N’degeocello at Harlem Stage, SF Jazz and the Kennedy Center. Garcia founded Organic Magnetics to generate urban folklore for the future. She wrote, produced and directed Ghosts of Manhattan: 1512-2012, an interactive history and I am New York: Juan Rodriguez. Director of Education and Professional Training at Guthrie Theater, Maija served on the Tony Award Nominating Committee and is a proud member of SDC since 2008.

Delicia Turner Sonnenberg is a director, artistic leader, teacher, and mother. She is a founder and the former Artistic Director of MOXIE Theatre, which she helmed for twelve acclaimed seasons. Delicia has directed plays for the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego REP, La Jolla Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Cygnet Theatre, New Village Arts, and Diversionary Theatre, among others. Delicia has directed countless workshops and staged readings of new plays for National New Play Network, Old Globe, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, San Diego REP, and Arena Stage. Delicia was twice a recipient of the Van Lier Directing Fellowship through Second Stage Theatre in New York and is an alumna of the New York Drama League’s Directors Program, as well as Theatre Communication Group’s New Generations Program.

Check out this podcast replay of our one on one conversation with 2023 Tony Award Winner Michael Arden hosted by SDCF and the Museum of Broadway. Interviewed by SDC Executive Director Laura Penn, this conversation focuses on Michael's expansive career to date including a deeper dive into his work as an artist and practice as a director. We held this conversation in March 2024.

The video and audio was recorded by Michael Weir supported by the Maria Torres Emerging Artists Foundation. Transcript available upon request.

Michael Arden (Director) was awarded the 2023 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for his production of Parade starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, which will have a national tour beginning early 2024. Michael was also Tony nominated for his revivals of Once On This Island and Spring Awakening. Michael wrote and directed Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol which played the Nederlander Theatre last Holiday season and starred Jefferson Mays. Michael will helm the new Stephen Schwartz and Lindsey Ferrentino musical The Queen of Versailles starring Kristin Chenowith and a new musical adaptation of the cult film The Lost Boys. Other directing credits include: Maybe Happy Ending at the Atlanta Alliance, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, and site specific works: American Dream Study and ALIEN/NATION with his company The Forest of Arden.

Arden has been named on Variety’s Impact List and is the winner of an NAACP Award for best direction of his revival of Merrily We Roll Along at the Wallis Annenberg in Los Angeles. In addition to directing theater in America and around the globe, he regularly directs “The Connors” on ABC, and has appeared in numerous features and TV shows, most notably: Grey’s Anatomy, Bride Wars, Anger Management, Source Code, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. On stage, Arden has appeared on Broadway in Big River; The Times, They Are A-Changin’, and King Lear. Arden is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and alumni of the Interlochen Arts Academy and The Juilliard School. Michael and longtime creative and design partner Dane Laffrey founded AT RISE CREATIVE, a production company that strives to create groundbreaking live experiences with an emphasis on design and innovating technologies. Photo credit:

Laura Penn has been Executive Director of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) since 2008. This year, she was appointed by President Biden to serve as a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Most recently, she was elected to the Board of the Entertainment Community Fund.

Under her leadership, SDC’s Membership has grown more than 100%, a result of her work expanding jurisdictions; leading bold and successful negotiations; and furthering the Union’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives and political engagement. She serves on the General Board of the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) and is an active member of DPE’s Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industry Coordinating Committee (AEMI). She is co-Chair of the Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds, the first woman to hold a leadership position with this coalition of 18 influential unions representing workers on Broadway.

Laura serves on the Tony Awards Administration Committee and is a Tony Voter. She served as a panelist for the New York State Council for the Arts, for more than a decade was a site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, was Vice President of the League of Resident Theatres, and was two-term Chair of the Seattle Arts Commission. Recognized with Seattle’s Distinguished Citizen Medal, she is an advocate for civic dialogue and public participation and has been dedicated throughout her career to the idea that artistic excellence and community engagement are intrinsically connected. Laura previously served as an arts executive for Intiman Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre and began her career at D.C.’s Arena Stage, Living Stage Theatre Company. She currently teaches Labor Relations in the graduate program at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

We are excited to bring you another episode in our podcast series Choreographers in Conversation. This series allows choreographers to interview other choreographers whose work excites them as a way to learn more about their craft and preserve the stories of these exciting artists in our industry. In this episode Choreographer Camden Gonzales interviews Choreographer Sonya Tayeh. They explore Sonya's choreographic process, philosophy around the importance and impact of choreography and dancers in the theatre world, as well as delving into the work she has done throughout her career.

Bios:

Camden Gonzales is an artist, performer, and choreographer based in NYC. She is currently the Associate Choreographer for Moulin Rouge The Musical overseeing multiple companies across the globe. She is also the Associate Choreographer for the upcoming musical Gatsby (featuring original music by Florence Welch) which will debut at A.R.T. in Boston this summer. Other select credits include Sing Street (Associate Choreographer) at The Huntington Theatre, A Sherlock Carol (Assistant Director) New World Stages, Peter and The Starcatcher (Choreographer) White Heron Theatre, Hamilton (Dance Captain/Swing) National Tour, Groundhog Day (Dance Captain/Swing) Broadway. www.camdengonzales.com

Sonya Tayeh is a New York City based TONY® Award winning choreographer and director. Since paving her professional career, her work has been characterized as a blend of powerful versatility and theatrical range.

Selected credits include: Moulin Rouge! Broadway, Australia, UK, Tour (Hirschfeld theatre/Dir Alex Timbers), UP HERE (Hulu Musical Series), The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window Broadway (James Earl Jones Theatre), Is It Thursday Yet? (La Jolla Playhouse), Sing Street Broadway (Huntington Theatre, Boston/Dir Rebecca Taichman), Martha Graham Dance Company (Joyce Theatre/Tour), American Ballet Theatre/What Becomes of Love Film, Unveiling with Moses and dancers (Fall For Dance/City Center), Rent Live! (Fox Network/Dir Michael Grief and Alex Rudzinski), The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova/Dir. Anne Kauffman), Face the Torrent for Malpaso Dance Co. (commissioned by The Music Center/LA), You'll Still Call Me By Name (commissioned by New York Live Arts and Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival), Martha Graham Dance Company's Lamentation Variation Series (Joyce Theatre), Hundred Days (New York Theatre Workshop/Dir. Anne Kauffman), The Skin Of Our Teeth (Theatre for a New Audience/Dir. Arin Arbus), Andrew Lippas' The Wild Party (City Center Encores!/Dir. Leigh Silverman), Kung Fu (Signature Theatre/Dir. Leigh Silverman)

Tayeh has directed and choreographed for world renowned music artists including Miley Cyrus (Directed and Choreographed The Gypsy Heart Tour), Florence and the Machine (Choreographed performances for The Brit Awards, The Voice and American Idol), Kyle Minogue (Aphrodite Tour)

She has gleaned many accolades for her versatile work, including a Tony award, two Emmy noms, one Drama Desk award, an Obie Award and two Lucille Lortel Awards for “Outstanding Choreography.” https://www.sonyatayeh.com/