DAVID J. VALDEZ

I believe theatre works best when it makes people feel less alone.

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That is probably the simplest way I can explain why I keep coming back to it. I am drawn to stories about people trying to survive something and trying, often imperfectly, to reach one another through it. Sometimes that is grief or illness. Sometimes it is shame, fear, loneliness, or the feeling that no one quite sees you for who you are. I am interested in the moment when someone can no longer pretend to be fine and we finally get to see what
is underneath.

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As a director, I care most about the people inside the story. I care about the images, the rhythm, the movement, and the world we are creating, but none of that matters to me unless it brings us closer to the characters. I am drawn to theatricality that helps us understand someone more deeply. A bold stage picture should mean something. A silence should hold something. Music, movement, and surprise should reveal what the characters may not yet be able to say for themselves.

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I want the rehearsal room to be a place where people feel trusted enough to take risks. I do not think actors do their best work when they are trying to prove something to the director. I think the best work happens when they feel challenged, supported, and free to bring their own instincts into the room. The same is true of designers and stage managers. I want everyone involved to feel that they are helping shape the production, not simply carrying out a plan that was finished before they arrived.

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I usually come into a process with strong ideas, but I do not want those ideas to close the room down. I want them to give us somewhere to begin. Some of the best choices are the ones I could not have imagined on my own.

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I am especially interested in the place where emotional realism and theatrical imagination meet. I want a moment to feel honest, even when the staging is heightened or visually unexpected. I love productions that can be quiet and intimate one moment and then suddenly open into something larger. I want the audience to feel the shift rather than simply admire it.

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Again and again, I find myself drawn to stories about connection: people reaching for one another, missing each other, protecting themselves, and sometimes finding the courage to be known. I am not interested in theatre that ties everything up neatly. I am interested in theatre that asks honest questions and trusts the audience enough to sit with them.​

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That is the kind of theatre I want to make.