MEET GRACE

Grace (she/her) is a Jersey City-based director with experience in educational, professional, and youth theater. She holds a BFA in Theatre Directing from Hofstra University. Past credits include Shakespeare in Delaware Park, the Hudson Guild Theater, Theatre Row, and Irondale Ensemble Project.

Grace finds the most exciting performance blooms from a collaborative rehearsal process where each artist's unique abilities are highlighted and shine through the script to create a harmonious picture. She loves the thrill of figuring out how each performer's unique puzzle piece fits into the picture of the script and within the world’s artistic conversation at large. Getting curious through questions, exploratory rehearsal processes, and getting to know each character deeply by how they weave into the plot is how she likes to approach her productions. She loves finding ways to incorporate physicality and movement into her pieces and finding new ways to engage with the space. Grace believes research and preparation is an essential part of every rehearsal process, but equally important is the organic growth and discovered development that happens in the rehearsal space, and encourages those she works with to embrace that fluidity. Transporting an audience through the seed of an idea, into an experience of shared emotion and imagination is her favorite part of directing.

EDUCATIONAL THEATER

Grace's approach to working in the classroom centers around collaboration, connection, and engagement. Learning something new can be daunting, requiring encouragement and a safe atmosphere to be vulnerable and step out of one’s comfort zone. Grace believes in creating an environment that allows every voice to feel comfortable sharing their ideas and questions. When working with young people, she works to establish that type of environment while teaching in a way that “translates” the topic to make sense to them and resonate with their skill level.

She also believes successful programming includes engagement from students that contributes to the process. The educational component naturally a part of directing has beneficial crossover in this regard. Her experience with age groups ranging from 4- to 18-years old has taught her how to make the education process of productions engaging and enjoyable while still impactful.