D I R E C T O R 'S N O T E

How does one start a director's note to summarize a two year journey. The overwhelming sense of gratitude that I have in my heart from this project is beyond anything that I can put into words, but I am certainly going to try.

If someone had told me during my senior year of high school that I would be directing an abridged production of Macbeth on a fully online platform, I would have thought they were crazy... So, I am actually crazy because here we are, with a full production on Zoom.

I was blessed to have spent four years of my life in an empowering all girls school. (shout out to Trinity Hall!) I always felt powerful and strong because of the foundation I was given there. My classmates and I were always reminded by our faculty how valuable and smart we are. From the beginning of this process, I gravitated specifically to Lady Macbeth and her relationship with her own value and her power that she discovers in herself throughout the production. I felt that this character in this text is a true representation of the women that my school was encouraging us to be. The addition of casting an entirely female-identifying cast not only pushed these already established characters further, but challenged gender binaries that are set for us in our society and the concept of “femininity” and “masculinity” and what it means to the people in my cast.

Having the women explore this relationship of femininity and masculinity was something that Celeste Samson (the most wonderful I&E Chair) brought up in an initial meeting we had about this process and deciding what story was ours to tell. Hearing what all of my actors have gone through and what the concept meant to them changed this project from being just a story, to being a process of empowerment for them as my time in school was for me.

Once our relationships began to develop, deciding what would push these women over the edge into a different world was an explorative process. We spent a lot of our time reflecting on how far we could go in our natural world, pushing the standards that are set for us as women by our society. There were moments when those binaries disappeared, and that is where we tied in our relationship with the supernatural world. Exploring the natural vs. the supernatural world contributed to our own realizations of how much more we were capable of not only during this process, but in our own lives. I couldn’t have gone through this process without my actors’ drive and power that was brought (and consistently discovered) to our rehearsal space every day.

I have mentioned my gratitude already in this note, but I have lots and lots of people to be thankful for. This production would not have been possible without them. I first want to send my love to my family, especially Allie, my twin sister, my wonderful friends, my roommate Gabby, and Abigail Devine for all of the advice and love. None of this would have come to be without the endless love and support from all of the people that I have the privilege to call my own.

My cast has been my whole world, and my dreams have come true thanks to all of these amazing women. Thank you Abby, Hannah Verdun, Vanessa, and Sidney for your work; I am so glad we were able to share one of your first (of many) projects at Muhlenberg together. Thank you Elaina, Tessa, Kiana, Amanda Carter, and Ariella for being not only some of my favorite people ever, but for sharing your talents consistently and willingly in our space. Thank you to Amanda Berkson for letting me direct you once again and for supplying me with so much of your light. Thank you to Maddy, for letting me direct you. You are truly the heart of this project. And, thank you to Hannah Goodman for your love, for your hard work, and for letting me cry with you when I needed it most.

I want to send all of my love and gratitude to my wonderful, wonderful creative team. I always tell them this is OUR project because we made this collectively... and we sure made something beautiful. Thank you Jaxson, for dealing with me and your kindness and encouragement that pushed me to limits that I didn’t think were possible. Thank you to Dani and Danny for working tirelessly on the editing for this piece along with Vanessa making it look absolutely beautiful. Thank you to Eden, Michaela, and Kiana for being with this project for the past six months and for sticking with me through all of my crazy thoughts and ideas. Thank you Sophia, Haley, Shachar, and Mikaela for being my rocks and my support system behind the scenes. The hours (I don’t even think hours is the word to describe the time we put into this) we spent making this possible were not only productive and rewarding, but full of so much love, and I am the luckiest to be leaving this project closer and even more thankful for the four of you.

Now, here we are at the end of this journey. We may be finished telling this story, but may we never forget the power and the love that we have gained from sharing this experience with one another. I hope you all enjoy Macbeth as much as we all enjoyed making it together.