D I R E C T I N G
Photo by Lovely Day Photography.
I go to the theatre to think and feel with others — to be moved with and as a part of an audience. I make theatre for the same reason. As a director, I approach theatre as a potent space of historical possibilities. This means that, while theatre always reflects the time in which it’s made, it also has a remarkable capacity to critique and re-imagine how we represent and understand particular ideas, histories, identities, ourselves, and each other: to make history.
My process is collaborative, and I work to build common methodologies and vocabularies that provide a foundation for mindful artistic teamwork with both my actors and designers. My work is guided by intimacy coordination best practices, allowing me to build performances out of a culture of consent that emphasizes the actors’ safety, bodily autonomy, and agency in the creative process. In educational settings, especially, I have found this yields a greater capacity and willingness on the students’ part to think about and discuss the material and make bold artistic choices.
The Sugar Wife
by Elizabeth Kuti
November 2021
Clarion University Theatre
Costume Design: Shelby Hostetler
Sound: Sam Santangelo
Properties: Sarah Tychinski
Hair and Makeup: Julie Finlan-Powell
Assistant Technical Director: Robert Hoover
Director, Projections, Dialects: Nic Barilar
Stage Manager: Tylar Nardei
Dramaturgy: Brian H. Roberts
Scenic and Lighting, Tech Director: Edward J. Powers
Photos by Edward J. Powers
Poster Art by Natalie Franke and Joe McNamara
On Trial
by Máiréad Ní Ghráda
April 2019
North American Premiere
University of Pittsburgh Stages
co-sponsored with the generous support of the European Studies Center
and the Provost’s Year of PittGlobal
Scenic Designer: Jess Fitzpatrick
Costume Designer: Mozart Armstrong
Lighting and Projection Designer: Thomas Bednarz
Sound Designer: Nick DePinto
Dialects: Jen Tober and Nic Barilar
Producer and Director: Nic Barilar
Stage Manager: Xiao Han
Production Manager: Derek Lamb
Technical Director: Sophia Kosowsky
Photos by Samantha Caun Photography and Danielle Barilar.
Poster art by Zev Woskoff.
I Can’t Go On/I’ll Go On:
Footfalls and Catastrophe
by Samuel Beckett
February 2017
University of Pittsburgh Stages
Costume Designer: Madalyn Lenahan
Sound Designer: Kristen West
Makeup Designer: Jahir Christian
Director: Nic Barilar
Stage Manager: Polina Pomytkina
Lighting Designer: Jessie Lynn Smith
Photos by Danielle Barilar and Amanda Olmstead.
Poster art by Zev Woskoff.
Hair
Book and Lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado | Music by Galt McDermot
University of Pittsburgh Stages
Dramaturgy: Elizabeth Coen and Nic Barilar
Scenic Designer: Zev Woskoff
Costume Designer: Minjee Kasckow
Lighting Designer: Jessie Lynn Smith
Sound Designer: Casey Dalsass
Video Designer: Joe Spinogatti
Director: Cynthia Croot
Graduate Assistant Director: Nic Barilar
Undergraduate Assistant Director: Chloe Torrence
Choreographer: Amanda Olmstead
Music Director: Rob Frankenberry
Stage Manager: Kristen West
As the assistant director, I staged the number “Air,” (image 2), coached dialects, rehearsed already-staged scenes and numbers, provided dramaturgical support, and collaborated with the director and production team.
Photos by Samantha Caun Photography.
If I Loved You…
Music by Richard Rodgers | Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II | Scenario by Jonathan Eaton
Pittsburgh Festival Opera
Stage Manager: Lauren Wickett
Costume Designer: Tony Sirk
Lighting Designer: Bob Steineck
Hair and Makeup: Jina Pounds and Rikkilee Rose
Director: Jonathan Eaton
Assistant Director: Nic Barilar
Conductor: Robert Frankenberry
Pianist: Anthony Gray
As the assistant director, I ran rehearsals in the director’s absence, coached the singers on their acting and physical performance, and collaborated with the director on blocking. The performance took place at two different venues, and I was also in charge of re-blocking the show from a thrust space to a proscenium one.
Photos by Joel Goodloe.