"Hi! My name is Ava.

I was born and raised in the heart of the theater district to two theater people. I attended The Professional Performing Arts School for middle school and high school. I was a drama major and studied under Waterwell Theater Company. My freshman year, I started taking assistant directing roles. I liked helping people understand the material, and seemed to get Shakespeare better than anyone I'd ever met. I was accepted into BADA’s Midsummer Conservatory Program on that basis. Not as an actor, but as a dramaturg. I found a lot of joy in helping people understand the material.

I attended Mary Baldwin University for college because of their world-class academic-based theater program. I studied interdisciplinarily there because I know that theater is not stagnant; it is both informing the world around us, as itself is a reflection of the same world. I graduated with a BA in Theater History after writing a 25 page undergraduate thesis on the use of "Revivals as Preservation" in current theater.

In drama sessions or in writing sessions, a lesson with me always begins with the text. To make sure we understand it, we may use many techniques. I am a big fan of going big so we can scale back. Developing technique is like learning how to use spices in cooking. When you first try cinnamon, make a cinnamon cake. Enjoy the newness! You might love it and decide that you'll do it forever! Or, when you're making a new type of cake, you might realize that you really need a teaspoon of cinnamon. Because you have the further knowledge, you can apply it in any scenario. This is why contemporary actors study Shakespeare and vice versa. This is why most academic writers should study poetry. Not because it's natural or easy or even particularly good; but because when we stretch ourselves--- stretch our creativity--- we learn new rules and how to use them.

Writing and theater have so many rules we can use to inform a piece. I know a lot of them, and I can teach you, so we can figure out how to use them together." less...