From Mover to Mentor

A Queer, nonbinary artist, MC wears many hats in the fashion and artistic worlds. At age four, they fell in love with two things: the fickle performing arts and the Legend of Zelda. After the curtain closed on their red sequined dance recital, MC started bawling because they didn’t want the show to end. For the next ten years, they chased ballet and breakdancing, only to realize their lack of flexibility and a quadruple pirouette would stunt their career. Thankfully video games were there to offer escape and solace (and gender neutral clothing inspiration in the form of Link’s tunics). MC soon discovered theatre however when they performed as Liesl in their high school’s production of “The Sound of Music.”  

MC’s dreams of Broadway both blossomed and wilted while attending Boston College. Theatre intermingled with dance and poetry provided them a much needed escape from an alcoholic family, depression, and sexual assault at the hands of supposed friends. After an embarrassing cattle call audition for the New England Theatre Conference, they gave up on acting. Fortunately, at that same time their first play “Chase 304” was produced, and playwriting percolated into MC’s number one passion. Upon graduating, they shipped off to the University of Glasgow in Scotland for a playwriting fellowship. While studying in Scotland, they single-handedly wrote, directed, choreographed, and produced an Edinburgh Fringe show called “Sleeping Soldiers,” which was a finalist for Amnesty International’s Freedom of Expression Award. 

After their time in the highlands, MC moved to New York to be a playwright, which devolved into finding the means to pay rent. They could never sit still, so a desk job was out of the question. MC began teaching performing arts to elementary schoolers, who had just as much energy as them! Thankfully MC’s years of dance and acting came in handy, and they discerned that they enjoyed fostering children’s creativity and laughter as much as their own. After three years of teaching at public and charter schools, MC got their Master’s in Educational Theatre from New York University, all while teaching at a trilingual International Baccalaureate school. A versatile educator, MC realized they loved teaching middle and high school theatre too, and now they have led classes for students as young as two, and as old as 99!

At night, MC would write and produce for the American Renaissance Theater Company (ARTC) and other arts organizations. They still serve on the board for ARTC as the head of the literary committee, and they initiated a DEIJ campaign to recruit diverse writers. Despite long days, MC successfully staged over seventeen of their plays in New York and abroad. Their playwriting endeavors led to dabbling in screenwriting, and they immediately became enraptured with this written form of expression too. 

MC combines their love of writing and education wherever possible, with an emphasis on social justice. They were commissioned to write a rock musical about bullying for the Community School of the Arts in Arkansas, and they taught screenwriting and playwriting in China and Madagascar. In Manhattan, MC had eight original musicals produced for young people. One of their shows “Little Feet, Big Dreams” tells the fictional story of real-life female astronauts and scientists of color who reverse climate change together. MC also teaches commercial writing, screenwriting, and playwriting to their students.

Once COVID hit and MC got terribly sick of Zooming in on their own face teaching endless online classes and spearheading virtual meetings and play-readings for ARTC. They decided it was time to venture outside of NYC and explore life beyond western theatre. They got a job teaching middle, high school, and college-level classes in Singapore to students at the Canadian International School, one of the most prestigious International Baccalaureate schools in South East Asia. Now head of the theatre program at CIS, MC watches and researches Asian theatre traditions as often as they can, enjoying Khon Dance Drama in Thailand, Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre in Vietnam, the Cambodian Phare Circus in Siem Reap, Yuèjù Cantonese Opera in Hong Kong, or Kecak Fire Dance Theatre in Bali. They also collaborate with fellow Singapore artists on theatre projects through the Haque Centre of Acting & Creativity (HCAC).

After three years in South East Asia, MC plans to return to the bustle of Brooklyn to pursue writing full time. Learning has always been in their blood, whether mastering pullbacks and wings in tap or learning how to speak Mandarin, and they hope to either continue teaching on the side, or enroll in a playwriting MFA program.

Although teaching started as a survival job, MC is incredibly grateful for their students’ vivacity. They constantly refuel their imagination. MC often jokes that they could be a stand-up comedian for young people. Perhaps one day MC will find enough room in their closet for that particularly ostentatious hat.