Hamlet ran at Cohesion Theatre Company March 4-20, 2016. For it, I was interviewed in and featured by The New York Times and USA Today, and awarded Best Director from Baltimore City Paper's 2016 Best of Baltimore. It was set in 1993 Seattle and featured a female Hamlet. 

Review Excerpts:

“Baltimore’s Cohesion Theater is focusing part of its season on works by and starring transgender theater makers. For its ‘Hamlet,’ the director Alice Stanley, who doesn’t identify with any gender, cast a female actress to play a female Hamlet and a female actress to play a male Laertes. There’s nothing new about gender shake-ups in Shakespeare, but for this show the gender-fluid roles were hashed out in collaborative decisions over whether the characters would be male, female or ‘fall somewhere on the transgender spectrum,’ said Brad Norris, a company co-founder.”
-The New York Times

“Cohesion Theatre artistic producer Alice Stanley, who directed the recent Hamlet with a lesbian protagonist, is in her 20s, and has re-interpreted other Shakespeare plays to incorporate transgender characters. ‘People use Shakespeare's work to touch on political issues all the time,’ Stanley says. ‘Gender diversity is at the forefront right now, and there's a lot that can be played with and reimagined.’”
-USA Today

“Only in its second season, Cohesion has made an admirable mark on the local ensemble theater scene with imaginative choices of material and concepts. This ‘Hamlet’ reconfirms ‘what a piece of work’ the company is.”
-The Baltimore Sun

“Director Alice Stanley turns in an astonishing version of this old beast: familiar, alien, unnerving and absolutely fascinating…The dynamics that Stanley plays with are truly odd for the play and tease out strangely exciting sub-texts that were (of course) never intended but feel true even for it.”
-The Bad Oracle

 “But the most sensational portion of Stanley’s vision is not the sound work or overall exceptionally tight pacing but rather the silent vignettes captured between scenes. There are a handful of moments, many of which speak as loudly as the Bard’s finely posed words, carefully inserted into the play that illuminate moments of unwitnessed occurrence for the characters…Stanley has given them a sonorous voice by turning them into almost cinematic motion captures flawlessly woven in-between scenes of action and dialogue.”
-Theatre Bloom

“I have a new favorite production of Hamlet and I saw it right here in Charm City. I’ve seen Hamlet done very well before, but I’ve never seen anything like this…Stanley and Scenic Designer/Production Manager Casey Dutt bring the action and emotion right to the people by using a Traverse-style stage for this show…This intimate configuration puts you up close and personal with what’s happening on stage.”
-DC Metro Theater Arts

Exit Pluto by Amy Bernstein is a world premier, running at the Strand Theater January 12-29, 2017. Set in a bakery that is also a fortress, Exit Pluto shows what happens when we resist inevitable change. In directing this project, Alice focused on honest storytelling and meaningful, intimate moments within the heightened reality of the script. Sound and lights were used extensively to move between the main character's imagination, flashbacks, stories, and the real world.

Aphorisms on Gender is a one-act piece written by Alice Stanley about their experience discovering and revealing their agender identity. It was produced at Cohesion Theatre Company as part of the Trans* Voices Workshop Series April 1-3, 2016. The project was directed by Melanie Glickman and Caitlin Carbone.

Review Excerpts:

"Kudos to Stanley for bringing these questions to the fore and to Cohesion Theatre Company and Iron Crow Theatre's commitment to new work that is a catalyst for the exchange of ideas and an instigator for social change."
DC Metro Theater Arts

"A remarkably smart and insightful piece, Stanley's work sheds light on a great deal of subjects relating to gender identification and speaks to audiences of all genders in a fluid and openly honest voice."
Theatre Bloom

"I left feeling that Cohesion is doing right for this underrepresented community."
The Bad Oracle

The Complete Deaths of William Shakespeare was a partnership between Cohesion Theatre Company and Baltimore Shakespeare Factory to kick off the 400th Anniversary year of Shakespeare’s death. In two hours, we performed the 71 deaths that occur onstage in all of Shakespeare’s works. Alice wrote this piece, determining an order that made sense and remained interesting, and weaving Zombie Shakespeare, a character of their own invention, to guide the audience through the deaths. Alice also co-directed with Tom Delise, Artistic Director of Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, drawing heavily upon their deep knowledge of Shakespeare's work. The first production of Complete Deaths was so successful that it was remounted for Halloween weekend.

Review Excerpts:

“Stanley, working with Co-Director Tom DeLise, charismatically toes the high-wire of balance when it comes to dispensing doses of equal parts reverence in these noble and bloody scenes, finding the honor and respect, and often the gravity of the situation, and pairing it perfectly with highly hysterical moments of hilarity.”
-Theatre Bloom

“Delise and Stanley’s variety of staging creates an excellent flow of scenes on the two set levels and the floor, multiple entrances and zombie Shakes popping around the stage and throughout the audience. They make sure the show isn’t just a parade of deaths by changing up comic and straight interpretations in engaging small group scenes and a fantastic stretch of full ensemble Fight Club-style deaths with actors bouncing around like UFC fighters before a grapple and egging on the deaths as onlookers.”
-The Bad Oracle

“If you’re a Shakespeare enthusiast, you’ll delight in this celebration of the Bard’s death-iversary…. And if you’re not that boned up on the Bard, Cohesion and Baltimore Shakespeare Factory have so much fun with the production that you can’t help but get swept along – especially when a fairly authentic ‘Zombie Shakespeare’ interacts with the audience, getting you involved in the action.”
-MD Theatre Guide

A Little Bit Not Normal by Lillie Franks was a world premiere production and the start of the Trans* Voices Workshop Series. I was very proud to produce a piece written and directed by transgender individuals with a transgender main character played by a transgender actress. Too often, trans people are not allowed to tell our own stories in mainstream media. To put on Trans* Voices, I won the Creative Baltimore Fund – Mayor’s Individual Artist Award, and Trans* Voices in turn won Best Stage Series from Baltimore City Paper’s 2016 Best of Baltimore. 

Review Excerpts:

“While there are clearly represented and intentional messages designed to spark conversation, awareness, and discussion, Stanley also focuses on the humanity of the characters, their struggles and their relationships… Stanley’s use of the space is exceptional, especially the inclusion of the “upper deck” space when it comes to God being placed up on high.”
-Theatre Bloom

“Depicting the more routine experiences of the trans* community will go a long way in achieving Cohesion Theatre’s goal of fostering an understanding that despite our differences, we are all human. Our similarities far outweigh our differences. Kudos to Cohesion Theatre Company for their Trans* Voices Workshop Series and, notably for including the trans* community in the process.”
-DC Metro Theatre Arts

“Franks is trans*, as is Alice Stanley, the director, and Erica Burns, the lead actress (this casting is another place where Stanley and Cohesion step absolutely right).”
-The Bad Oracle

Named #9 Stage Production of 2015 by Baltimore City Paper

Coriolanus was Cohesion Theatre Company's inaugural production. We performed in Highlandtown, and my direction sought to bring out questions in the text about the value of democracy and nobility. It played November 20-December 7, 2014.

Review Excerpts:

“If you care about Shakespeare, you shouldn’t miss the fine production now at the Cohesion Theatre, for it turns the title character into a monster that you can’t take your eyes off…. Director Alicia Stanley maintains a brisk tempo, slowing down only for the impressive set pieces.”
Baltimore City Paper

“Everything moves at a brisk pace under the direction of Alicia Stanley, co-founding artistic producer of Cohesion, underlining the volatility of the play.”
Baltimore Sun

“Director Alicia Stanley used the space well, focused poignant moments accordingly, and kept the physical movement from stagnation.”
The Bad Oracle

“Directed by company Co-Founder Alicia Stanley, the production is impressive and fulfilling for a brand new company making waves in Charm City’s largest arts district.”
Theatre Bloom