I had this epiphany that I like the interaction with people. I wanted to make things happen at a grassroots level.

Creativity and the world of the imagination - the beauty of what we see as a child and the kind of play that we experience as a child - can be a way for us to survive tough times.

The idea of making audiences feel like they matter, that the theatre matters, and that they're a partner in the event—that's what fuels me as a director . . . I believe it's actually radical to think about the audience.

Art cannot be looked at as an elite, sacred event anymore. It has to be embraced as an accessible, popular form, which is what I believe theater is at its roots.

Opera is the ultimate art form. It has singing and music and drama and dance and emotion and story.

Im always interested in looking - historically - at how theater can animate history and how all of that can make us engage with our lives in an enriching way.

Theatre and opera were always the twin kingdoms that I felt I had to conquer, because they were my parents' favorites.