Lights ON Blackfriars: Assistant Director Cait Redman for Spring 2026

As mentioned, my name is Lia Wallace. I am the education programs manager for the American ShakespeareCenter. It is my luck, privilege, good fortune, and uh

job to um moderate these talks. And today we are joined by uh Cait Redman,

who is the assistant director for all of the shows in our spring season. Um thank you all for being here. Cait and I are going to chat for about 30 minutes.

We’ll see. Maybe three or four hours.

Who knows? Just go. Um, but then I’ll open it up to questions from you all.

So, you know, if we don’t cover the thing that your the burning desire about the clock gears, then remind us at the end. Um, and I would now like to

introduce Cait using mostly her own words from her website. So,Cait Redman is a director currently based in Stanton, Virginia, which is very lucky

for us. Um, who has a deep passion for Shakespeare, new works, and devised theater. She earned her MFA in Shakespeare and performance from Mary

Baldwin University right up the hill. Go squirrels. Uh Cait believes that theater is a service industry and strives to

create not just plays but experiences for audiences through a dedication to clear storytelling and a flare for movementbased spectacle. Her directorial

practice is rooted in viewpoints and caters to a collaborative work environment. Cait has often found staging works where ghosts appear,

siblings are reunited, lovers make devastating mistakes, there might be a puppet, and women take matters into

their own hands. When not leaving rehearsals, Cait can be found in the wild at her local coffee shop or plant store. She enjoys playing the

cranberries for her alo plant, Lana del Aloe.

Fabulous. Um, she is a firm supporter of Sriracha. I am. Yes. By which we mean the hot sauce,

right? I’m just checking because sometimes words have more than one meaning. Sure.

Um, so Cait, welcome to Lights on Black Friers. Thank you so much for being here. It’s so great to have you.

Uh, so I like to start these conversations by asking you about your why or your villain origin story. Um,

how what first got you interested in theater? Tell us about the journey that brings you to where you are in this role today.

Thank you. Yeah. Um, I started doing theater at a young age. I got bit by the bug very quickly. Um, my parents threw me in and they were like, you know what,

this kid should should do this. It’ll be fun. Um, I’m a very shy person by nature and so this was a way that I got to open up and I started acting and I loved it.

And about halfway through high school,

there used to be a organization that would come through the Metro East area.

I’m originally from the St. area and they would pick a Shakespeare play and a group of schools would each get to perform a variety of scenes and together we would produce the show.

Oh, what a logistical dream.

Truly. Truly. Um, for X, Y, and Z reasons, it fell through one year and it was a Midsummer Nights stream that they were going to be doing and everyone was

a little disappointed and I looked around and I looked at our theater instructor who happened to be my mother.

Um, and I said, “Well, you know what? We can still do it and she went, “We really don’t have the time in the calendar year to actually accomplish this, Cait.” And I went, “No, I’ll I’ll do it.” Like,

“I’ll direct it. It’ll be fine.” And it was. And so that was the first thing I directed was um Midsummer Dream in High School. And it was great.

I believe you. Yeah. There were absolutely no problems.

Sounds like it. Just as long as I don’t ask any follow-up questions, right? It was very high school production.

But you know what? That’s a great play to do that for. Exactly. Yes. Just keep going. Yes. And so it was a wonderful time. Um,

but from there I realized acting is not the thing I wanted to do. I wanted to direct. And so began directing in college. I graduated in 2020. Um,

I’m sorry. Thank you. Yeah.

And went back home, taught theater for a year and then had been putting off grad school. I had been told by instructors, “Well, when you go to grad school,

you’ll you’ll probably find these things out or like when you do this.” And I was like, “I’m not going to grad school.”

Um, and halfway through the pandemic, I went, “It’s time to go to grad school.”

And I was on one application done uh to Shakespeare and performance with Mary Baldwin University where I started

working on directing Shakespeare and I’ve loved it ever since.

Did you do any was like Midsummer the the seinal Shakespeare experience you had

before S&P or like what what was your Shakespeare levels and through college?

I had a lot of Shakespeare experience in high school. Um, my first Shakespeare experience was Richard III. Oh, fabulous. Yeah, we love that.

10 years old, Richard thei. And so just fell in love with the language. Fell in love with the plays. And then from there on, because it is free to produce Shakespeare,

my high school, which had low budget,

was always like, we will do at least one Shakespeare a year.

So I was wellversed in the canon by the time I got to high school.

And then moving into college, continued to just be invested in these plays. That explains why you were a oneanddone application for grad school. Yeah, it’s

it takes a special kind of person to go to grad school for Shakespeare and it does.

You know, we it’s good to find each other. Yes.

Um, so in addition to your directing work, you are an accomplished assistant director, which is such a feat because

who really knows what assistant directing is? It’s going to that job description varies so much from process

to process. Um, and I I would love to know more about your role in this season. Tell us what an assistant

director at the ASC in the 2026 spring season does. What might your what did your various day-to-days look like?

Absolutely. So, this is the first time we’ve had someone be the assistant director for the full season, which is very exciting. Yeah. Um, continuity.

Yes.

It’s wonderful and thrilling. Um, but that’s really my day-to-day is continuity. Yeah. Um, I am collaborating with stage management and I’m

collaborating with the directors. And so the the the different variable in each day is who the director I’m working with. And that was Nana and also Brian

on the Hound of the Baskerville and 12th Night. But in the room, my day can look any really my day looks like how can I

support you and what do you need accomplished? And from there we move forward. Um, Nana had a list of things

that she would have me look for and accomplish for her. She had paperwork that she had me do. Um, Brian comes in and will look at me and go, I need to

know the following things. And so, I will sit around and I will observe the show and I will type up some notes and I’ll be like, here you go. Um, but that is really what my day-to-day is. It’s

assessing what does stage management need from me and what does the director need from me and how do I make those things happen.

This room, yes, is special. It is, is such a special space. Um, and, uh,

I can imagine that one of the perks for a director coming into a season here who, you know, may have worked in this space before, maybe not, may have um,

experience with lights on, audience available, theater, may not. um having

somebody who is on for the season and has worked in the space before would probably be a huge benefit to that um particular introduction to the space.

Were there any I would love to hear about any specific Playhouse related things that either Nana or Brian asked

you to look for um that maybe it might be nice for audiences to know that they might want to look for too.

Absolutely. One of the fun things about this space is sight lines. And by that I mean each seat has a different view of the stage all the time. And it’s really

fun to to have that experience as an audience member. As a director who’s trying to make certain that the audience can see most of the show, it can be a little bit of a puzzle piece of like,

okay, well, what can that guy see that that guy can’t? Yeah.

And how do I make big moments be framed so that everybody can see things without just staging everything in this

like square feet that everybody can see all the time?

Um something Nana actually asked me to do that I’ve made um paperwork-wise was she asked if I could make a sighteline

magic sheet. And so if you do lighting design, a magic sheet is a document that just says where lights are fixed and

what lights light that spot. We obviously don’t have the need for that but for sightelines. So what I did was I

took a plot of the theater and I divided it up into playing spaces divided it up into audience sections and then made a

document that said who can see what where or here if you use the staircase or playing spaces but that document also shows very commonly used staging areas.

Um, it’s divided the stage up into four sections plus the discovery, also the

balcony, and then audience spots that we can use so that she could look at it and go, “Okay, nine times out of 10 people

can see this spot.” Um, but once she had that documentation, the first two weeks in 12th night, all I was doing really

was running around and sitting places um and and confirming if we could see things. It’s so it’s like we don’t you

know don’t always think about it when you are in the audience and you’re able to see everything and you’re enjoying the show, right? Then you don’t like we want you to never have to think about

this work being done because why would you why would you?

But when it’s not done, we’re going to force you to think about it because you’re not going to be able to see what you need.

Absolutely. Um I’ve sat back there a lot. I’ve sat in that seat right there a lot. Um and I’ve been in the balcony a

lot. But it’s it’s one of the things if when you’re sitting in a seat that can see everything, you’re like, “This is great.” Yeah.

But when there’s things staged in the balcony and you’re sitting over there,

it becomes an auditory experience and that’s fantastic. But the director needs to know, hey, this is now an auditory performance for half of your audience.

Um, we also,

no spoilers, use the trap at some point in Twelfth Night.

Trap being right here,

but from right there, you can see straight into the trap. And so that’s a different story for folks who are just watching straight on. And so yeah,

providing sighteline information is something that I spent a lot of time for both Nana and Brian. That’s fabulous. Oh, how fascinating.

Um, so these two plays that we were talking about, Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, surprise. And The Hound of the Baskervilles by um based on the

And they’re the similarities perhaps. They’re both classics. Yes.

Um but they’re very different from each other. They are.

Um and we are rehearsing in in a repatory style. So we’re rehearsing both of these shows at the same time. Um, can

you tell me a little bit about the the sort of challenges that that particular process of rehearsing two shows that are

super different um might pose you and some of the opportunities or perhaps joys that can be found working in that way both in your role and what you

observed from the other people involved in the production? Sure. It is it is a lot to accomplish.

Um, we’re rehearsing six days a week and so and the schedule varies. We’re not doing 12 night hounds, 12 night hounds.

It’ll be 12 night, 12 night hounds, 12 night hounds, hounds, hounds. So it it varies on what we’re doing every single day. Um the hounds of the Baskerville,

the hound of the Baskervilles, there’s one hound. There’s one hound. Dramaturically important. Yes.

Um or is there any hound? We will find out.

You should come back next week and see it when it opens.

That’s right. Bob is an accomplished player of canines. He He played crap. And you’re letting us know that now. I at the at the summer three years ago.

Oh, fantastic. Um, the Hound of the Baskervilles is a three-hander, so there’s three actors plus a Foley artist. Um, and so just the energy in

how many people we have creatively in the room is different and fun and exciting to go from a cast of 10 people

all working on a Shakespearean comedy to four people working on a modern farce that is that is quick-paced

and designed to be done with three people who all play multiple roles. It it’s just diff it’s just a different way

to use your brain. Um, from my end of the table, it’s very exciting because my job is also to kind of come in every day

with fresh eyes and go, well, what am I seeing as if I’m seeing it for the first time? Do I understand everything? Is the story making sense? Does that bit work?

And to provide feedback as necessary.

So, it’s a fun challenge to kind of, as somebody who also comes from the Shakespeare program, go, I’ve never seen 12 Night. Yeah. What is this?

I’ve never read this play.

Twins. I don’t know that there are twins.

Who do I now know that there are twins? It’s it’s a brain. It’s it’s fun to work through that creatively. Um, in the

Baskerville, it’s really fun to come in every day and just look at the new It is also a modern play. And that’s the

challenge of this space as well that I’ve been used a little bit with with Brian is looking at how do you take a theater that is known for not turning

the lights off and produce a play that is honestly designed for blackbox theater or high tech theater. Yeah.

Um lots of stage directions calling for blackouts.

What do you do when What do you do?

What do you do when textually the actor says, “Can we dim the lights?” Yeah. You will find out. Um I can’t wait.

Yes. What do you do when textually there is fog on stage and it is supposed to be a big effect? Um, so that’s something I

also lend an eye to and lend just thought generation is how do we make technical things happen in a playhouse

where tech is not really the name of the game. Yeah, we do tech, you know, we think of tech differently than, you know, and it’s and it’s I I think one of

the joys of coming here is seeing like how are they going to do that thing exactly um in these conditions where like we don’t use canned sound and we

don’t have fog machines and that you know that one is not so much a Shakespearean staging edition although it is. They didn’t have fog machines either. No. Um,

in case you didn’t know, unless you count the temps,

the true which is in itself a fog producing machine. Um, but uh has to do with our HVAC system and what the actors union

requires in terms of and and what audiences honestly deserve in terms of air circulation, size of the space for

filling a space with fog or not. Um, and we are staying on the windy side of the law and being careful in not using those

um, uh, effects. But when we did Dracula last season, Yes. do um the solution to

the fog because they’re so textually necessary in these silly little plays that fog and they came up with some

obscenely funny like so much funnier than it needed to be in my opinion. Yeah.

Like um uh uh is there anything that you can tell us about hounds that won’t spoil it for us?

It’s going to be a lot of fun. Okay, great. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Great.

Um because I don’t want I would like I would have been so sad to have had that fog effect spoiled for me. You will not have a fog effect spoiled.

No, I was also You could also spoil it. Oh,

no. Okay, please. You were the assistant,

a director on Dracula and so that was a fun process for Dracula. We had um sheer fabric on wooden dowels and the actor

was supposed to walk through it because the text said the actor is walking through fog and so he was able to kind of push through and walk through it. Um

then they would like when the fog had to move other actors would move the fabric and they were all very serious about it

and it was it was just that just perfect addition to like and I’m sure

when you are navigating so few bodies doing so many things I mean it adds its own technological challenge but that is a challenge that we can accomplish and

that’s what I say like it is still technology it’s just you know a different form a different form Um

what what and how in what ways we talked about them being very different. In what ways do you see these plays speaking to each other or having commonalities,

similarities other than you know the broad term of classic and comedy?

Sure. A through line that I will bring up is disguise. Um 12 Night obviously has the twins involved and Violet

textually putting on a disguise. The fun part about Hound of the Baskervilles is that we have three actors doing all of these different characters. So, there is

a little bit of they’re all putting on disguises all the time because they have to change and pretend to be so many different characters. Sherlock Holmes textually

disguises himself and plays a variety of roles. So, it’s a fun Yes. What is seen,

what is unseen is a beautiful throughine throughout these two shows. It’s so fun like the difference between I actor have

put on a different costume to play a different character versus I character am disguising myself as a different personality.

Yes.

Um and I I love the way I know how Shakespeare always takes care of that because he you know actors have always been expensive. Um and so Shakespeare

more than one part and so how do you know that that body that I’ve seen before is a different person now as

opposed to like they changed the character changed clothes and it’s because that person will walk on stage and go hello it is me

in disguise before the scene goes on um and I love the way that our uh uh team has embraced

that challenge in Baskervilles and um particularly with the disguising of Sherlock and like there’s a sim like his silhouette

always follows the character. Um and he takes on some wacky disguises.

There are there are a few. Yeah.

Yes. No, Costumes has helped out greatly with that. Yeah. Um so another um part of your job

what a multifaceted job it is truly uh involves working with our understudies. Um, and I think underststudying is such a fascinating

and vital and often overlooked component of the performing process. And I would love if you could tell us about what the

understudy process looks like. What did what what does the ASC um provide in terms of and what is our backup plan?

How do we prepare them? What does it look like? What is your role in it?

Absolutely. So, I am also the understudy coordinator and so what I am doing currently is putting together the understudies rehearsal schedule. Um they

are the understudies are typically Mary Baldwin students or alums and we have a really great ratio right now of one

understudy to one performer. So we have 10 understudies for the 10 members of the cast. So everyone is covered. Understudies have a principal track.

They are required to be able to replicate the performance to the best of their physical ability of that primary track so that if they are to go on there

is no surprises to the team of what to expect from performance. They also have a secondary track so they are covering

one actor fully and they’re covering a second actor just in case. Um, the

rehearsal process tends to vary show to show because each show has different requirements and each group of understudies has different requirements.

Something that I like to do is check in with the understudies and see what are things that they want time with. Um, it

depends on the show, it depends on the actors. Um, but I will walk up to them and like, so what are the things that you’re a little nervous about? what what are things that you’re looking at and

going, “Okay, if it takes this long in rehearsal for them to get it like like how am I going to do it?” And I’m like,

“First of all, we’ve got you.” Um, so my job is reassuring and then rehearsing and establishing that understudies have all of the resources that they need,

access to calendars, re um they’re not required to do music. So if you’re seeing the pre-show music, they are not required to do that. However, our

understudy for Festie does need to know the music that Festy textually plays. So making certain that they have access to sheet music, they have access to our

music director if they so choose to use that resource. Um we will have access to our fight captain and then sometimes

this is a really fun acting challenge for these students. Um someone approached me the other day and said,

“Yes, I’m covering this role and I’m excited,

but I’m typically not cast there and I’m so so excited to figure it out.” Yeah.

And so it also becomes a little bit of like well we get to just rehearse and have fun. So that’s what this looks like here. Um they have just opened 12 night

and so we will be rehearsing 12 night and we’re about to go into hounds tech.

So my fellows and hounds will be with me extra um as we work that three-hander.

Yeah. Can you also tell us about what it looks like from the understudy coordinator’s position when we do need

to activate an understudy like what is that machinery?

Yes, we have activated an understudy when I was a coordinator before. So on Little Women, we activated an

understudy. And what that meant for me was I came in and I spent time rehearsing that understudy and we went through all of her scenes and I said,

“What do you need and what’s going to make you feel confident?” And so for that understudy at that time, what they needed was just reps on space. They just

wanted to make certain that they had the lines, they knew where to stand, and that that’s all that they needed to feel successful. And that’s what we did. We

until they felt comfortable, we just repped scenes. Um, and then when it comes to actually putting them on, that goes to stage management. So, I really,

the name of the game for assistant directing and assistant and understudy coordination is support and service.

Um, what can I give you? What do you need? Are all of your, in the words of Nata,

access needs met? Are you are you set up to succeed? Do you feel like you’re ready to go? And so, that’s what that looks like from my end. it it can be a

very quick turnaround if we’re putting somebody in. Um I’ve run over to the to Mary Baldwin and said, “Hey, you are you

needed to run lines. Let’s sit on this couch and run your lines. That’s what you needed.” Um I’ve also gone, “Hey, we need to get some space booked somewhere

right now so that we can just get some scene work done for you.” So it it varies, but service and what do you need is the name of that game.

And the show goes on. And the show goes on,

you know, and everybody has a great time, especially the understudy.

It’s thrilling. I’m really excited when they get to go on.

I do. I um you know having a security net is a safety net is a

fabulous practice to have and like it’s absolutely can be scary when you need it but then when you get caught like I I

love watching everybody else on stage when understudy is activated especially if you’ve been running the show for a while because when you’re doing you know

eight shows a week and you’ve done 13 student matineese and you’re well into a season and you think you know every place where an audience member could possibly yell at you in a weird way.

Like that new energy that comes on with an understudy can just be such a delightful. Yeah. Um addition.

I also work with production a little bit on that end. I’ve coordinating with costumes to make certain that understudies have been fit for shoes so

they are able to rehearse in shoes as we begin rehearsal processes. Um, we’ll also have some secondary fittings so that they do have costume pieces pulled

and set aside for them just in case that there’s no scrambling on that end. So when they come in, if they are activated, costumes has already figured

out what they’re wearing, everybody’s all set. It’s just about making certain that they feel good and ready to go. Fabulous. Yeah. Thank you for your service.

No problem. It’s joy. Um, okay. So, I have one more question,

but it’s a multi-pronged question, and then I’m going to open it up to you all to ask your questions. You stated some things on your website that you love,

and I want to know um how they made it onto this short list. What in your career for like each

one of these things has been your highlight? Let’s start with ghost appearing. Yeah. What’s your favorite ghost appearing?

So, this list was I was putting together my friend Kayie Potter has a very similar list on her website of if you’ve seen me act, this is what you’ve seen me do. And I was like, that’s brilliant.

And so, I’m going to steal it and I’m going to make it about directing. Um,

and I looked at the shows that I had directed and I said, what are the common themes? And one of the common themes was ghosts appear.

Um, one of my favorite ghost appearances is the Spanish tragedy. Um, Don Andrea opens the play and he is a ghost and he

says, “Hello, I am a ghost. And that one is honestly my favorite ghost. You don’t need to do a lot. He tells you right there, I am the ghost. Hello.

Um, that one’s my favorite. That’s great.

But he becomes kind of a figure who just observes the play. And so how we stylized that one was we had him dressed all in white, different from the rest of the cast.

But we made it a rule in the room that if you if Andrea is on stage, you cannot interact with him. And so visually what happened in creating him as a ghost was

that he was like, “Oh, I see my best friend. my best friend does not see me and that is upsetting. So that was one ghost I had that I really enjoyed. I

also work with Silverline Theater Exchange occasionally and their All Valley High School show a few years ago was Emily Bronte Teenage Necromancer.

Delightful necromancy debatable. Um more of a ghost hunter, but there were ghosts in that show. So we had to figure out

how do you stage those ghosts? And that was a series of slow movement work and we had gauze on all of them. But again,

that was a special effect of only one person on stage could actually see these ghosts and one person could not. And so I like ghost work because I like

figuring out the rules of what’s visible. That’s super fun. Yeah.

All right. Tell me about your favorite siblings are reunited moment. 12th Night. Yeah. 12 Night.

So say more. Prior to this 12 night, I had also directed a a production of 12 night and I think the scene where sibling where where Violet and Sebastian

are reunited is just a beautiful moment and it is so sweet and that text is stunning and it’s such a moment of

slowing down in that comedy of these two people who we never saw together but have lived life are finally together again. I’m a

sucker for the romances. So any reuni reunion is something I really really enjoy seeing.

I love that that slowing down the way because there’s so much going on in that final scene. I mean you know Shakespeare everybody on stage wrapping up all those loose ends

and it’s funny and it’s so funny. They’re finally there. They’re fin and everyone’s like what?

And they’re like hang on we have to compare this list of things like because I know what like I’ve you know Violet has an inkling. She’s heard the name

before. They may, you know, they they have met previously. They are aware of the existence of a twin, but they have

to slow down and like really confirm that exist. I mean, it’s just what a lovely time. Okay.

Favorite lovers making devastating mistakes. So, I directed Chilus and Cresa. Oh. Um, devastating.

Devastating lovers. Um, Chilus and Cresa are the lovers from that production. And if you’ve never read Chilis and Cresa, it is a play about the Trojan War. Um,

and it is just as fun as it sounds.

It is fun. It’s none of the parts of the Trojan War that you know.

No, that’s it’s it’s a fast it’s a very two-tower situation because it doesn’t give you why you’re here and it doesn’t tell you how it’s going to end. It says here’s the middle. They don’t little slice.

They don’t even give you the Trojan horse. I’ll never forgive him for that.

I will never forgive William Shakespeare for not giving a Trojan horse. However,

um these two lovers make devastating mistakes and just they go through the play and there is there’s conflict.

There is just devastating circumstances that I won’t spoil Troyless and Crusted for, but that is there are situations

beyond their control that absolutely destroy their relationship and I I think it’s heartbreaking to watch and that’s my favorite devastating lovers situation that I’ve worked with.

Um, there might be a puppet.

So, the Troy and Chris production that I worked with um was a small scale with Shakes with Mary Baldwin Shakespeare performance. And what that means, if

you’re not familiar, is that it is a full show done with X amount of actors. So, much like the Hounds of Baskerville,

much like the Hound of the B Hound, one one Hound of the Baskervilles. Um, I had six performers playing about 50 roles. And

so one of the characters we we were looking at it in production and we said we really can’t make this we we could make this happen with just the actor

body playing this character or we could have a puppet. And so we got uh Ajax who is textually the largest

guy in the Greek army is a Marvin the Martian puppet um who got to be held around and so he was physically huge but

he’s such a tiny little puppet. Um, but I love puppet work and I’m really interested in puppetry and how that in talks in performance. But that is my

there there might be a puppet in some of my direction. I love that.

Um, and women taking matters into their own hands. Yes. Favorite instance?

Spanish tragedy. Belleria. Tell us more.

Tell us more. Um, Spanish Tragedy is the precursor to Hamlet actually. It’s a fun play. It’s written by Thomas Kidd. I if you don’t know it, I would I would find

it. Um, but Bell &i is this character who has just lost so much and they do a play within a play at the very end and

she takes her fate into her own hands is how I will phrase it to not spoil the works of Thomas Kid.

That’s like the only one of his that we the work of Thomas Kid. No, just the work.

Um, okay. Well, that was my last written question and I will now give the

opportunity for if there’s anybody in the audience that has a question for our fabulous assistant director for the spring season. We know you got a question.

Oh, I Yeah, Bob, but I’ll go one at a time. Okay, great. Significance of the clock gears. Yes.

I I saw that and I said, “What the heck is that?” You know, and I I also see one’s missing. Is Conrad working on it or something? Yes.

It got it got there was it was a little bit knocked over. We had a time stop moment. Yeah. No, everything everything was fine. Um,

Nana wanted the world of 12 Night to feel wonderful and fantastical. And in her approach to this play, her answer was she wanted a steampunk Elizabeth and

world. And through further conversations, we all agreed on a clock punk world. And there is some dramatury done by our drama Sienna um available in

the upper lobby during performances to know more about the exactness of that. I read that and what?

I gotcha. Um, but the the answer is we wanted a fantastical feel and and that was our way in.

All right, that’s good because I never heard of steampunk or clock punk. They’re very fun.

Yeah. So steampunk a music a music style. I guess it’s more of a fashion style. A fashion and and a general aesthetic. So it’s

this um idea of mel melding um future and past. So it’s it’s always it’s a it’s futuristic from where wherever you are whenever the thing is being written.

in the future of that thing, but it is using a lot of elements of steam powered technology. Um, so the idea is that everything kind of looks like a train um or like elements on a steam engine.

Um, because it’s all steam powered.

Clock punk is the renaissance version of that where instead of steam it’s it’s gears. It’s clock everything is powered

by clock gears. Um, and there’s uh that was there was the fantastical quality of things that Nana wanted it to look like

not our world but not a specific other world like that we know of and that we can map one to one. Oh, this character

is the the Prince of Spades or whatever.

Like we didn’t want it to be recognizable in that way. Just recognizably fantastical.

Yeah. Um, and I remember her asking towards the beginning of the process like, “Is this something that y’all your audiences will be like sick of? Do you do Clock Punk a lot?” And I was like,

“No, no, this will this will be new and exciting.

This will be new and cuz like I wanted to be new and exciting.” I was like, “You nailed it. Don’t worry. New and exciting.”

Um, and then there’s a lot of lines in the play that are about time. Yes. So, that what made me that came up. Now,

I have a fifth question. Great. Then I’ll stop after this one. Now I don’t remember in the play when the priest uh is asked about performing the ceremony

and and Angela looks at her watch and says according to my watch or something like that. Yes.

Is that written in the original Shakespeare’s play? Okay. I couldn’t remember that. So that’s really fun.

It’s been two hours. She has three different clocks that she looks at in the dress rehearsal, but not so much on Thursday night.

Well, she did it last night.

Different clocks. We had we we’ve we’ve gotten more clocks. Okay. I believe since since Wednesday. I’ll see you again pretty soon. Absolutely.

When in doubt, add more clocks. Yes. Time increase.

Other people ask their questions and I’ll wait for my other group.

Okay. Are there other questions while Bob is waiting?

Well, I have a a costumeuming question because costumeuming is like that’s one of the elements that you can really play

with. Um how what kind of thought process goes into that? Yeah, for the costumes.

Yeah. So, those um conversations begin between the director um ASC leadership

and the costume designer as early as possible. Um so that’s why I was talking about those early conversations about like well what I want I want it to be

fantastical. I have these ideas of that’s when the the costume designer is also being part of the conversation and um the director will have dreams and the

costume department will have a budget and reality and then we will have a certain amount of time and we will make the magic that it is possible to make in

that amount of time. I don’t know if you noticed but this look magical like did you see the stuff? It looks so good.

Elizabeth Whistler is the costume designer for this season. She is phenomenal. She is very intentional

about her use of materials. Um, and so the the amount of repurposing of

existing pieces and existing fabrics and notions and bits and bobs that went into this show is just

laudable honestly. Like I super intentional.

Yeah. Um, and and that I mean I understand that it is what I think we call like um expertise and hard work,

but I’m pretty sure it’s actually witchcraft. Like I don’t It’s magic. Yeah, there’s something magical about it.

It is. I mean it’s just because uh at the first rehearsal the first read through the there will be a design

presentation where the costume designer is able to talk to the whole assembled team about here’s where what we’re

thinking here’s where we’re going here’s what I have distilled from the director’s dreams and the you know awareness of budget and reality and

whatnot and so they’ll they create mood boards and and renderings and drawings of um uh and kind Pinteresty little

murder board things of here’s the vibe for this character, here’s the vibe for this family, here’s um uh you know the

direction we’re heading in and then all of a sudden those things appear like on bodies on stage and I’m the perspective

I get from you know it’s fantastic. Yeah. Mostly audience point of view. Um,

but it is uh a lot of professionals collaborating with hard work, witchcraft and humor.

And humor. Yes, a lot of humor.

Designer for the whole season this year or is that typical?

Elizabeth’s just doing Hounds and 12th Night. There’s another designer for Boldstroke. And that will vary season to season, process to process, show to show.

Sometimes we’ll have a designer for all the shows in the season. Sometimes a different designer for every show. Um it just depends on each season.

But you have a whole costume.

We do. Yes, we do have a we have a year round um uh artistic staff that includes a wardrobe shop manager and um uh

dressers um that are in charge of our stock. I point up every time I say that as if you will know our a lot of our

custom stock is stored in what we call the heavens. So it’s above our heads. Um and uh and that will also run the shows

after the designer leaves. So the people who are actually backstage helping with the quick changes um and maintaining,

you know, doing all the laundry that needs to be done, doing the repairs that need to be done, those are members of our year round staff, whereas a designer is brought in for a certain amount of time in a design process to build,

create, open, and then let be.

Um and everyone involved in that process is a witch.

The actors also get some say in this costume process, which is what I find really exciting. So, we were talking about those renderings that are passed out on day one.

Um, some of them are more detailed than others because we know that actors have things that they’re like, I I really

need this thing in this character or they know the characters better than we’re going to. And so, this is a beautiful collaboration with designer,

director, but also actor. Um I think Toeer was asked how he also wanted to come and present as Orino and I remember

he he said he was like I don’t know I I really like Prince. Um and so that kind of influenced the costume as well that they’re they they bring presence and

they bring what they also need as the people wearing the costume to those conversations.

And I know that’s really important to Elizabeth too to make sure that the actor’s point of view and comfort level are high on her consideration list. Um,

like I I uh understand that Angela said Mariah has blue hair. Yep.

Like that is was an Angela decision and I was like she does.

Thank you. Um, so clearly Oh, you’re Yeah. Well, shut up.

Um, but uh yeah, that everything about theater is at the end of the day a team sport. Um because it’s always going to

require multiple people to pull it off and then other people to watch it get pulled off. Um we got some more time. Are there any other questions? Yes.

Hi. Hi.

I’m interested in knowing what you’ve learned from this process and how you’re going to pull it forward into the next thing that you endeavor like what are

some things maybe like ASC specific or just from having to wear all these different hats that you’re hoping to bring with you to your next project?

Absolutely. Thank you. Time management um is a skill that is going to follow me for the rest of my life. Yes. And just

having everything Nana’s directing is is very structured from from the table side. And that is something that I’m

taking with me of just knowing what is happening where with and having a very clear timetable moving forward. That

also helps with the reparatory that the ASC is having us do is knowing where everything is and having a very detailed time schedule.

Yeah. Yep. A a vital skill.

Mhm. And tracking ability. Um we have some props that we’re sharing with 12 night and hounds. And so that’s one of the ways I lay on with stage management

is I’m like yes we are sharing that blanket. We all have that blanket in both shows. And so it’s it’s yes having

a a mind towards the logistical at all times.

What a fun Easter egg for audiences I always think. And there are things that are shared between shows and the rep.

Absolutely. It’s it’s a very creative and fun experience. It’s also a very logistical Yeah.

spreadsheets world and we want to make it look off the cuff. Absolutely. But there are so many spreadsheets involved. If you go

backstage that’s the primary thing you’ll see. Spreadsheets. sheets. Mhm. And ghosts. Maybe. Maybe. But like only I can see them. Maybe a puppet.

Maybe. There might be.

But that’s a puppet. Some devastating mistakes for lovers. Um, any other questions? Want to build on what what she asked.

I love and the audience loves when Al Vio walks out of there wearing a curtain. Yeah.

You know, it’s such an optical illusion. Yes.

And uh it’s really great. And also I don’t remember. Have we used those curtains before? Probably. Yes. These are these are the originals. Okay.

Um that curtain cloak was built for the 2013 production of the uh uh Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Oh, all right. That was a long time.

Um Valentine tries to when he he’s trying to sneak across with the ladder, he’s blending into the curtains.

Um and then we have used it since then again in Two Gentlemen of Verona for um the lamp post. Oh.

Um right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Cool.

Great. And then I I I was like, “That’s so funny.” Blake sticking his head through. That’s That’s Oh my god.

And the Yeah, it’s great.

He almost got some applause just walking out, you know.

Okay. I I have a few, but I can want to ask one more. Okay.

I was curious. The Hound of the Baskervilles. Was that play written for three actors? Yes.

Because we have so many actors and I’m thinking, why don’t we why aren’t we using our other actors? Because uh the It’s written for It’s written for three. Yeah. Yeah, looking for threes.

That’s That was an easy question. Yeah, you have We can ask one more.

Okay. Sidelines. Um as I’m not sure, so I I probably see each play about 10 times or something like that. And quite often I’ll be thinking, I’m glad I’m not

sitting up there or up there because sometimes quite a bit of the action acts way over in the right, way over in the left. And now I’ve only seen

this play twice so far. I haven’t seen I know you don’t want it all in the center, but I haven’t seen too much way over on the right or way over on the

left. Maybe I’m missing it or maybe you you squeeze them in a little bit. We squeezed them in a little bit.

I I like that better as an audience member, but I always sit in the middle front facing.

Yeah. When I made that uh paperwork for for Nana, um one of the things I said was if you’re sitting over there, in all honesty,

you you do miss a lot of the action over here and vice versa for over there. And so when we got into the room, Nana requested that we have spike tape to get

sight lines done so the actors knew if I’m standing right here, this is kind of the magic spot for 90% of the house can

see me. Um, but that is why we should have a majority of our show visible to these folks. And

sometimes like a character needs to hide in plain sight on stage, right? So if you need to like fade away, it’s great to know where those sight lines kind of

begin and end or if you’re trying not to pull focus. And then sometimes this seat is going to get a little Easter egg. Exactly.

Right. Like that that they’re going to get a different view. They’re going to miss something, but it’s not going to be It’s not detrimental.

Yeah. It’s And and they’re going to gain something by what they have missed. My body is pushed out from the back.

You get a little bit of a behind-the-scenes view. It’s really fun actually. Yeah. Um Well, yes.

And I was like, “Okay, great. I have two separate questions.” Um, so my first question, you’ve clearly done a lot of work in this space through your Mary Baldwin Shakespeare performance stuff.

I’m trying not to stutter. Oh my goodness. Um, but also you’ve assistant directed a lot, it seems like between fall and spring and now doing a

reparatory. So with all of this rich knowledge of the space, what would be your dream um show to direct here as part of like a main production?

She’s listening. It’s on too, so don’t worry. Yeah, no pressure there. No pressure. Don’t worry, I wasn’t. No. Um,

you’ve got such a rich knowledge. I feel like you’d be able to like direct something really incredible. So, I’m wondering like what’s the play that like Cait wants to direct?

My favorite play is Henry V. Um, and I I love trying to figure out how the battle of a

core happens in this in this room. Um, I would love that show. That is will there be a puppet in it?

And who and where is the puppet? Who is the puppet? The puppet is Llewellen. Okay. No, I’m kidding.

No, I have no clue if there’d be a puppet, but I’m open to puppets. Always open to puppets. Always open to puppets. Yeah.

Well, thank you so much, Cait. It’s been such a joy to spend some time with you and shed some share some light with you and get to learn more about what it means to be an assistant director here

for the ASC 2026 spring season, our 25th anniversary of the Playhouse. Um, thank you all so much for being here. Thank you.