“I don’t know what director Serotsky did to achieve such a fine production. But whatever it was she should keep doing it.” - DC Theatre Scene
Images from: CRUMBLE, Catalyst Theater; THE RISE AND FALL OF ANNIE HALL, Theater J; REFERENCES TO SALVADOR DALI MAKE ME HOT, Rorschach Theater
Photo: Joe Shymanski
Photo: Stan Barouh
Photo: Marigan O’Malley Posada
THE HISTORY OF INVULNERABILITY, Theater J
Shirley is a freelance theater director based in the Washington, DC area. She has a passion for directing new work and has been active in the development process of numerous plays and musicals. While she has been fortunate to work in a wide-variety of genres---the stories that she is most attracted to are those that depict surprising versions of the world we live in.
Shirley is also the Associate Artistic Director of Theater J, where she directed the 2011 production of The History of Invulnerability; The Moscows of Nantucket; Mikveh (which received two Helen Hayes Nominations for Best Actress); and The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall (which received a 2009 Helen Hayes Nomination for Best New Play). She works as a freelance director in the DC area and beyond, and is particularly interested in the development of new work. Recent directing credits include: a 21/24 Signature Lab Workshop presentation of The Break (Signature Theatre); Working: The Musical (Keegan Theatre); Blood Wedding (Constellation Theatre); Birds of a Feather (which won the 2012 Charles MacArthur Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play—at The Hub Theatre); Juno and the Paycock (Washington Shakespeare Company); a staged reading of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo for the National New Play Network at Arena Stage; This is Not a Timebomb (The Source Festival); Reals, Five Flights and Two Rooms (Theater Alliance); Crumble (Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake) and We Are Not These Hands (Catalyst Theater); References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Rorschach Theater, for which she received a 2007 Helen Hayes nomination for outstanding direction); Sovereignty (The Humana Festival of New Plays); Cautionary Tales for Adults and the Many Adventures of Trixie Tickles (2007 CapFringe); LUNCH (2007 New York Musical Theater Festival & 2006 CapFringe), Titus! The Musical. (2009 Capfringe and Source Theatre). Training: BFA, North Carolina School of the Arts. Shirley was a member of the 2002 Designer/Director Workshop with Ming Cho Lee; the 2003 Lincoln Center Director's Lab; and was a 2001/2001William R. Kenan, Jr. Fellows at the Kennedy Center.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
My strongest theatrical influences as a young artist were musical theater and classical works. These two worlds, which demand a kind of heightened theatricality, taught me that some of the greatest truths can be revealed in conventions that are not tethered to naturalism.
I appreciate when a moment that is recognizable and familiar becomes surprising through a theatrical choice--and vice versa--when a moment that is unexpected plays out as powerfully inevitable on stage. I like theater to be impulsive and fresh, but not under-cooked. My favorite experiences as a director have involved successful collaboration--with playwrights, actors, and designers; I don’t believe that a director goes at this work alone.
