So cares and joys abound, as seasons fleet...

Dear friends,

It's been a heavy winter. I hope that wherever you are -- and whoever you are -- you've found some solace in these last months in community, in creation, in sharing spaces and food and ideas and love. We move forward together. We keep Making.

A quick update as the shortest month of the (still new-feeling) year draws to a close:

Recently, I made my first foray into the world of opera, directing Leoš Janáček's mysterious, beguiling song cycle The Diary of One Who Vanished for Cantata Profana, featuring the remarkable talents of tenor William Ferguson, pianist Daniel Schlosberg, and alto Avery Amereau. It was exciting territory, and I hope to explore it much more in the future. Let's be honest -- my bucket list has included The Magic Flute for a looong time now -- so here's to more opera on the road ahead!

I also participated in the Morning in America project at Primary Stages, serving as one of the directors for a performance of monologues written in the wake of the election and addressing, well, the world we find ourselves in now. I am continuing to teach at Primary Stages this semester, and have also added more teaching to my schedule with a class at the New School (also in the addictive, playful late-Stanislavsky technique of Analysis Through Action). My students are my joy these days -- it's an incredible thing to watch what they create each week while we explore the depths and breadths and hysteria and humor and heartbreak of Chekhov. Ah, Anton, you've taken over as big a piece of my heart as Shakespeare, and that's saying something.

Wishing you strength and hope and ART in these late winter days. See you in the spring,

--s