You’re both specialists and rockstars in care and cultural consent. What has inspired your practice? Do you recall the first time you were hired to do that kind of work?
Denise: It started unofficially, I think. I was hired as an assistant director for a Taylor Mac production, Hir, which centers around a family with a trans teenager, as they navigate trauma, conflict, and abuse. I learned a lot from how the director Hallie Gordon facilitated her vivid vision of the piece and its themes with care for the artists creating it. I shared affinity, solidarity, and visibility with the queer and trans folks in the room. I noticed how my dramaturgical lens is colored by my experience, values, and identity. My presence in a room can be revolutionary because of who I am and what I care about; with or without a title, I can build the practice of care into the process.
Sheryl: I am always inspired by the humanity of the performing arts and the joy that this work has the potential to bring into spaces. Supporting people finding the joy in having autonomy over their choices and the confidence to try different choices, even if it is not a physically intimate moment, I think, creates space for the performers to dive deeper into the work than they may have before. The first time I was hired for this work was at the beginning of the pandemic. It was a student production that had moved over to Zoom, dealt with heavy subject matter, and had scripted intimate touch. (I did) consulting on the script, helping them find a way to create containers for the spaces they were bubbled in, so that the content of the show didn’t linger with them.
What’s your No. 1 self-care practice this season?
Denise: The bean of the week! My Monday ritual is cooking up a big batch of beans without a recipe, usually with seasonal local veg and what’s in my pantry. It slowly cooks all day, while I have a therapy session or do living room yoga with the smells in the air reminding me that good things take time and will always surprise me.
Sheryl: The two self-care practices I have this season are to drink more orange juice in the morning and to dance/sing around my apartment. With the early nights and being inside more, having a way to take up more space than just my physical size, for me, is a nice way to stretch my soul, like how one stretches their body.
What’s one thing you wish people knew about the art you make or the way you make it?
Denise: It’s remarkable to lead and have a lot of good ideas, but a leader doesn’t always have to have the best idea in the room (rehearsal or otherwise). Sometimes I’m planting the seeds for ideas I might never have imagined myself! I love collaborating and the feeling of volleying ideas and images back and forth. I look forward to learning about new forms (from) visual artists, choreographers, and architects because I’m learning from my collaborators’ ideas and recognizing their brilliance for what it is.
Sheryl: I thrive on the collaboration between me and the performers with director guidance for story notes. I want them to feel like they gave me their ideas, and I helped them plan out the technicalities. I ask performers to make a note as they continue through the choreo and let me know if something is not working anymore; whether impulses change or their throughline has shifted so we can keep the work as autonomous to them and authentic to the work and story everyone is wanting to tell.
Shoot your shot. What artist or company are you dreaming of working with? What show or project are you dreaming of working on?
Denise: I recently directed for Lyric Opera of Chicago and was really inspired by the process. I think it would be outstanding to work on the new opera adaptation of The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros! Sandra is a Chicana elder I truly admire, and the work has made such an impact. I can (so far!) only imagine how beautifully it might fill the epic container of an opera.
Sheryl: I would love to work at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, a huge theatre complex that also houses opera. Originally from the West, I miss the climate and, with my BA in musical theatre and minor in stage combat, opera is a great way to incorporate those skills while providing new tools to a new venue of performers. As a Baldur’s Gate, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect fan, the gamer in me would love to work with Larian Studios or BioWare and collaborate on their romance option scenes if their future series have them.
