DIRECTING

(2025)
HONG KONG AFTER MIDNIGHT: THE DISCO DISCO MUSICAL
Book & Lyrics by Trevor K. Band
Music by Amos Wong
Concert Reading presented by PRISM: A Festival of New Queer Musicals
"Hong Kong After Midnight: The Disco Disco Musical" is a new musical set in 1970s Hong Kong, telling the story of Gordon Huthart and his legendary gay club, Disco Disco. The musical, written by Trevor K. Band and with music by Amos Wong, explores themes of identity, community, and fighting for acceptance in a city facing both police oppression and the impending handover to China. It's a story based on firsthand accounts and features a "rollicking disco score".

(2025)
THE POTLUCK: IN CONCERT
Book, Music, & Lyrics by César Alvarez
Directed by Sarah Benson
Presented in partnership with Lincoln Center & Dartmouth College
(Associate Director)
On November 3, 1979 five communist labor organizers were murdered in broad daylight in the streets of Greensboro, NC by a group of KKK and Nazis. All five of the victims had committed their lives to fighting the rule of the capitalist class. The murders had been planned and supported by paid informants of the Greensboro Police and agencies within the U.S. government. One year later in Greensboro, César James Alvarez was born into the survivor community and named after two of the victims, César Cauce and James Waller. 36 years after that an “entertainment” company paid César to write a musical about the Greensboro Massacre, but it turned into a musical about ghosts and queerness and feelings and how to recuperate from trauma that happened to you before you were even born, and also capitalism.

(2024)
NOISE
Book, Music, & Lyrics by César Alvarez
Wilbury Theatre Group
NOISE tells the story of a bunch of musicians who agree that society isn't working. And since civilization is found in its earliest form in musical structure, they figure they should be able to make some music that reflects a society they'd actually like to live in. Like, right now. In this musical…

(2024)
THE WELKIN
by Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by Sarah Benson
American Premiere at Atlantic Theatre Company
(Associate Director)
Rural England, 1759. As the country awaits the return of Halley’s comet, a young woman is sentenced to death. When she tries to escape the noose by claiming she is pregnant, twelve ordinary women are gathered to decide whether she is telling the truth. A dark, fierce, funny play about democracy and housework.

(2024)
TEETH
Book & Music by Anna K. Jacobs
Book & Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
Directed by Sarah Benson
Playwrights' Horizons & New World Stages
(Associate Director)
Teeth is a sharp tale of revenge and transformation that tears through a culture of shame and repressed desire one delightfully unhinged song at a time. The musical follows Dawn O’Keefe, an evangelical Christian teen struggling to be an exemplar of purity amongst her community of fellow Promise Keeper Girls. Her stepbrother, Brad—alienated by his repressive upbringing in the community led by his fanatical Pastor father and intrigued by the online camaraderie of the Truthseeker men’s support group—is haunted by an indelible incident from his and Dawn’s past. As Dawn’s desires become tested and twisted by the men in her life, she discovers a deadly secret not even she understands: when men violate her, her body bites back—literally. Crackling with irrepressible desire and ancient rage, Teeth is a dark horror comedy conjuring the legend of one girl whose sexual curse may also be her salvation.