Jeffrey Steele, Ezra Stiles College

By the start of this past year, his third year at Yale, Jeffrey had already worked on ten productions in more areas of theater practice than most students–not only acting, directing, and playwriting, but also dramaturgy, producing, stage management, design, and choreography. As I told Jeffrey at the time, it only required a small leap of faith now to try his hand at directing. In truth, I already secretly knew he would take to directing immediately because he truly understands both how to read plays in order to find their form (movement, music, architecture, etc.) and how to develop a persuasive, inventive, and compelling directorial vision. Everything he had studied so intently to that point (both in class and in his extracurricular learning) led him to develop this capacity. I did not know, however, just how inventive and ambitious his directorial ideas would be, how skilled he would become at working with actors, and just how much his understanding of dramaturgy, lighting design, and choreography would inform the three gorgeous scenes he directed for that class, which I taught.

Dr. Shilarna Stokes, Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies