Observe. Listen. Discover.
Inspiration
Starting a career in the theatre was never what I imagined for myself (despite being posed to be the prodigal nepo-baby; see below my uncle, James, already teaching me how to mug for the camera!). I went to public school my whole life and there was a theatre program and there were arts programs, but I turned away from those programs in high school… I did not have the courage to pursue a career in the arts. I was very shy and very introverted. While I took a lot of creative writing classes, I found critics totally devastating and humiliating.
I spent my twenties pursuing life in wilderness adventure activities because it rebuilt my self-esteem one cell at a time, because I found that if I could be brave and I could be strong physically, then everything else would eventually catch up. I’m really glad that at nineteen, I made that strange and difficult decision. I grew up on the East Coast but I moved myself to the West Coast. I pursued this thing and this life. I became an Outward Bound instructor and there’s not a day that doesn’t go by where I don’t draw from having have that experience. I think I didn’t know who I was until I escaped the trappings of what I thought I was supposed to be
Special thanks to Victoria Myers for usage of interview material from The Interval, 3/27/2017.
By the time I found a space in the theater, (or rather, it found me, thanks to happenstance, the Intiman Theater in Seattle, and one Bartlett Sher!), I realized approaching the theatrical canon often started with mining the work for data and information about the writer, the society they existed in, and the cultural moment; a skill set I was already well-versed in. I think I’ve just always been somebody who’s really attracted to, or really dedicated to trying to live my life as fully as I can in the present moment. I try to follow the energy of that and try to stay open to those opportunities and take the work as I need to.
Process
“BE A KEEN OBSERVER OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.”
What defines a success is more fluid than we tend to believe— I see my role as being a facilitator of conversations around the work, whether that be with actors, my creative team, or the audience. The process is driven by active dialogue and conversation to create something bigger than ourselves. Ego and fear are killers of process; they rob us of a shared communal opportunity at discovery. It’s imperative everyone in the room stays open to exploration and isn’t trying to work out everything in advance. We have to commit to being fully present with one another.
“When I’m directing, I don’t draw my inspiration from other theater,
I draw it from music, nature, architecture, the visual arts,
the world around me,
and then those are imbued in the piece.”
collaboration
Nothing is made in isolation. Below are some of my closest collaborators whose work has challenged, inspired, and delighted me time and time again.
"I like to say Laura Penn & Bart Sherr opened the door and gave me my first opportunities to work, but my friendship and collaboration with MIKIKO SUZUKI ADAMS is what has made me stay." - SL
MIKIKO SUZUKI ADAMS:
SARNA & MIKIKO have worked together for nearly twenty years and over a dozen productions, not only nationwide, but worldwide.
"KATE HAMILL engages in any work at multiple levels-- she’s thinking about the original piece, and pulling it out of history and into the present with present day attitudes and questions and humor. Her spirit and intellect, precision and wit are an endless delight to be in a room with." - SL
KATE HAMILL:
KATE & SARNA have collaborated on two different premieres of Kate's work, and are currently developing with Deaf West Theater a production of her adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility.