Single Carrot Theatre produced “The Memo” in May 2014. The question foremost in my mind while I was directing the piece was how to make Václav Havel’s critique of Communist Party bureaucracy and conformity in the mid-sixties relevant to a contemporary audience. Upon reflection, it became apparent that 50 years after the first production of “The Memo” and 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union and its satellites didn’t have the corner on top-heavy bureaucracies. Anyone who’s gone to the Maryland DMV knows that.

“With The Memo, Single Carrot manages to balance its tendency toward avant garde, progressive theater with excellent acting and staging, resulting in one of the best local productions this year.” – Evan Serpick, City Paper

“The Memo” was awarded “Best Revival” for the City Paper’s Best of Baltimore 2014.

"Rockaby," which was also presented at St. Mark’s Church in October 2013, was the most “traditional” presentation of the productions, in that Beckett’s stage directions were followed fairly carefully. The approach was, however, far more technically oriented, in that the recording of the text was overseen by the Canadian sound designer and composer, Alexander MacSween, who working with myself and the actress, Temple Crocker, was approached as four very separate soundscapes—with slight atmospheric and acoustic differentiations. Also, Crocker and I approached the text in an extremely technical way—finding four very different performance approaches to each section, though each was tonally connected to the others. This is different from the normal way the text is approached (as conceived by Beckett and the original performer, Billie Whitelaw), which is that the four movements are usually approached in a very consistent manner. These technical considerations were more musically oriented—focusing on tempo, cadence and rhythm—rather than character, psychology or emotion. This was keeping in the spirit of Beckettian adage: “What matter who’s speaking, someone said what matter who’s speaking?"

"Play," which I co-directed, took Samuel Beckett’s stage direction—“repeat play”—at the end of the script literally: the piece ran repeatedly for 12 hours starting at 12 p.m. on March 15, 2013 (concluding at 12 a.m. on March 16), and 24 hours starting at 12 p.m. on March 22 (concluding at 12 p.m. on March 23). Audience members came to performance anytime during the 12- or 24-hour run of the piece.

This was partially an experiment in endurance—I was particularly interested in seeing how the piece would “break down” over an extended period of time. Such temporal concerns are not that uncommon in the world of performance art, but it is not something that one normally encounters in traditional theatrical settings.

“But something else happened in each section, particularly in the monologues: Everything that was "acting" in the performances was burned away, purified. It was the closest I'd ever come to religion in a church.” – Baynard Woods, City Paper

"Play" was recognized as Best Production in the City Paper's Best of Baltimore for 2013 and one of the performers, Sophie Hinderberger, won best actress for 2013 in part for her work in the piece.

"Not I" by Samuel Beckett, was produced as part of Acme Corporation’s "Rogue Waves"—an evening of short plays in February 2012 at the Bell Foundry.

The presentation of the piece was a radical rethinking of the work. Rather than presenting it in the traditional way—“a stage in darkness but for a mouth . . . faintly lit from close-up and below”—the actress, Sarah Lloyd’s face was totally lit and her voice was amplified by a visible microphone. In front of her was a 50 gallon fish tank filled with water, with a video camera underneath. The text is broken into five sections. At the end of each section, Lloyd put her head in the tank, with her face facing the camera. The image of her face under water was shown on a television screen stage left. While Lloyd held her breath, a singer (Susan Stroupe) sang verses from the traditional Scottish folk ballad "Bonny St. Johnston," one of the “Cruel Mother” songs collected by James Child.

The song, and the violent (and yet oddly peaceful) image of the actress’s face under water underscored the traumatic (and yet unspecific) act that is possibly the reason for the character’s loggerhea.

This Sam Shepard monologue--the last fleeting thoughts of a man about to die in an electric chair--was performed by Chris Ashworth and produced by the Acme Corporation. I staged it in the bell tower of St. Mark's Church, a claustrophobic, stone-encased, dungeon of a room that fit approximately 18 people per performance. Selected by the Baltimore Sun as one of the “Best on Baltimore stages in 2013," Sun reviewer Tim Smith referred to Ashworth's performance as one of "virtuosic nuance and arresting intensity."

A reimagining of Bertolt Brecht's classic play, set in present-day Baltimore. As well as directing this project, I composed music for it as well. Lyrics are by Brecht, translated by Tony Kushner. This production was staged at Towson University in April, 2016. (Recordings are from the performance.)