I’d love it if you would start by sharing a favorite theater memory from your student days.
SF: One of my indelible theatre memories is the night a windstorm caused a power outage during Grapes of Wrath — the fall 1991 mainstage show — and we finished the show using every flashlight that could be found, holding them up to spotlight each other on the stage (before this was a trope of a technique). The audience was with us, hushed and reverent, every step of the way. It was one of my most moving nights in the theatre
JKS: In my junior year, I was taking a contemporary world theatre class taught by Geoff Proehl and he took us to see a production of In Bella Copia by Italian company, Deja Donne. It was the first piece of dance theatre I had ever seen, and it rocked my world! I was simultaneously so moved by the material and so hungry to learn how this type of work was made. I can draw a line from that one audience experience through independent research, summer training intensives, graduate school, internships, and my own directing and pedagogy now. Years later I even wrote the company a love letter, which led to me interning for them in Italy, serving as an assistant director on a project in Slovenia, and eventually publishing a chapter in a book about them. Just goes to show, you never know how a single production might change the course of someone's curiosity.
What is the focus of your research?
JKS: I am a freelance director, founder and creative producer of Art Party residencies and festival, and an intimacy director and educator. I love creating work with imaginative interplay between heightened physicality and naturalistic scene work, whether in the context of generative work, adaptations, interdisciplinary collaborations, or classic texts. I have a long history and deep love for site-responsive work and am drawn to feminist dramaturgy and epics.
SF: I research contemporary playwriting and alternative, political, and feminist theatre. My main focus has been British alternative theatre companies and playwrights, but has also expanded to the overall relationship between playwriting and devised and ensemble theatre creation in both the U.S. and Britain. I write as a scholar, serve as an editor, and am an active director and dramaturg.
Can you share a story about your Logger colleague’s work that inspires you?
JKS: I am floored by the scope, rigor, and reach of Sara's scholarship. From her research on Sarah Ruhl and Timberlake Wertenbaker to her new book, Playwriting, Dramaturgy, and Space and her extensive work on the upcoming Encyclopedia of Modern Theatre, Sara's depth of knowledge is simply staggering. Two productions that really showcased the fruits of Sara's sustained investment were In the Next Room (which was just gorgeous in every way), and her dramaturgy for last summer's co-production of Fairview, which did such a beautiful job of provoking reflection and connection.
SF: I am regularly in awe of Jess's work: her site-based piece from 2016, We Remain Prepared, staged at the Georgetown Steam Plant, still lives in my mind, as does the experience I had moving through The Archivists in Warner Gym when she was developing a first phase of a larger work on campus one summer. That allowed me to process some feelings about my mother I had never really addressed before. But my absolute favorite show of hers, so far, has been Marivaux's The Game of Love and Chance. I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw it. There was pure exuberance on stage and pure joy in the audience. It was a glory.
Do you have a favorite theater memory from your professor days?
SF: For me, it was the whole production of Sarah Ruhl's In The Next Room. Directing that was a culmination of many things for me, and the beginning of many more. That cast! The design! Our stage manager! One of my friends saw the show and said, "I forgot they were students while watching, it was that good." I hold it all in my heart still.
JKS: Having the opportunity to work on Paula Vogel's gorgeous play, Indecent, was such a fulfilling experience for me. The cast and production team were so generous and invested, I had the opportunity to collaborate with alumnus Leo Levine Sporer as our Jewish cultural consultant and dramaturg, there was a live Klezmer band comprised of students, alumni, and professionals, and the resulting production was beautiful, affirming, and impactful for audiences.
Would you like to add anything else about what it's like to teach at your alma mater?
JKS: One of the things that was so valuable for me about my time as a student was developing deep relationships with my faculty, which extended beyond my time on campus. So returning as a faculty member, I had the unique honor of teaching alongside professors who had been my mentors. Our relationships evolved into that of colleagues and friends, and I was afforded a new view of them — learning beside instead of from. Now being a professor with sustained relationships with students and alumni, I see how fulfilling it is from the other side! It is one of the many gifts of being an educator.
SF: It's not like being haunted; it's not like being in a museum; it's not like being in your childhood home and everything seeming so small. It's more going to your favorite restaurant but trying all new menu items. It's more like being part of a constitutional congress. It's more like remembering a dance, but also adding new choreography. It requires noticing patterns but also releasing them; finding peace with all your most dearly held ideals and all your hard earned battle scars; committing to each new wave of students and asking them new questions. It also means you're one of the only faculty members at commencement who knows the words of the Alma Mater without looking at the program!
