my mission
…is to find the vulnerable and gritty theatre, to support actors in portraying sensitive subject matter, and to tell stories that shed light on the darker parts of the human existence. Art is a powerful tool for healing when we protect and support our artists.
Kat Hickey, Chloe Price, Lincoln Everts, Stuart Hepler
Dir. and playwright Darby LeClear
Indiana Musical Theatre Foundation, The Longest Night, 2024
I was brought onto this show by the playwright and director to be the Mental Health Coorinator and Fight Choreographer. To be a guide for the actors exploring a play that doesn’t shy away from family trauma, abuse and suicide. It was a thoughtful and provoking play that was such an honor to be a part of. Much of my work was helping the actors approach scenes or moments that were activating and brought up their own person experiences and found ways to make the work more active and physical. Also, how to contend with relating to the darker thoughts and feelings a character may have. Helping them find the line of using the material to process their own emotions and experience and when to find distance and separation.
Article about the production:
https://whatzup.com/fort-wayne-playwrights-work-comes-to-life/
Parker Hickey
Directed by Veronica Santoyo
Cleansed By Fire, 2022
This show was a self-written, self-performed one-person show that fulfilled the capstone requirement for my BFA. The production was intended to employ the drama therapy technique of Self-Revelatory theatre. A completely autobiographical exploration asking questions about my life up to the moment of the show. A mix of essay storytelling, devised movement, choreopoetry, and the occasional song. This show was a one act catharsis of how we come into this world, the wounds we collect, and what we make of them. How we choose our own cleansing and baptism to cool our burns. How we choose healing over anything else.
