directing & writing

The Brotherhood of D.I.X.

    (lyrics & book; original workshop director)

Kevin Everyman is elated to have joined a hyper-progressive fraternity. But when the frat enforces its social justice values with emasculation and violence, Kevin is forced to reckon with the role that young men play in an ever-evolving gender landscape. A full-length book musical, THE BROTHERHOOD OF DIX is an absurdist examination of masculinity in its many contemporary forms (toxic, fragile, allied, or otherwise), and it strives to ask far more questions than it solves. 

THE BROTHERHOOD OF D.I.X. was originally produced via workshop format in June 2023 by Space Space Revolution in Toronto. The workshop engaged actors via the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association, and the presentation was recorded professionally. Further clips from the workshop – along with updated scenes, song demos, and lyric sheets – are available upon request. This piece is currently in development. 

 musical direction by Jackson Seib 
actors’ equity liasion: Damon Bradley Jang 
stage management by Aaron Clapperton
graphic design by Carlos Hernandez
dramaturgical support by Aaliya Alibhai

presented in conjunction with Space Space Revolution

Kevin Forster

Doug MacLeod
Zach Colangelo
Jameson Mosher
Shaemus Swets
Kelvin Yu
Kaleb Piper

Dead Man’s Plunge

    (director)        

Brad and Chad are two old rivals who happen to recognize each other on their way up what they think is a ski lift. We soon learn, however, that Brad and Chad have each mistaken the other for a different Brad and a different Chad that they’d known in life previous. Throughout the play, they continue their ascent up their ski lift until they reach the Dead Man’s Plunge, at which point Chad and Brad fall into the same pattern that all Brads and Chads have always fallen into.

In this piece, I felt that there was a certain musicality to the characters’ manners of speech. Creaking ski lift sounds were vital to the forward momentum of DEAD MAN’S PLUNGE’s text, but to me it felt inauthentic to use realistic sound cues in this play’s non-realistic world. Instead, I used a violinist who stood center throughout the piece and functioned as a musical narrator. The creaking sounds were played by on the violin in varying ways depending on the intensity, timing, and length of each creak. We also collaborated to include a longer solo that was featured at both the beginning and the end. Like the circular staging of the ski lift, this was meant to symbolize the story’s cyclical nature.

text by Allison Theveny

directed by Hamish Marissen-Clark

produced by Northwestern’s MFA in Writing for the Stage & Screen

 lights by Seojung Jang
sound by Deon Custard
projections by Michael Frazel
festival production by Katie Lupica
fest. artistic direction by Skyler Tarnas
fest. co-artistic direction by Alex Joyce

cast:

Peter Carroll
Stephen Peng
Max Reichek (violin)

Songs for a New World 

    (director) 

In early 2021, Hamish was awarded a grant from Northwestern University to adapt Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World into a cinematic piece of theatre. Even though it’s often referred to as a song cycle, Hamish thinks that Songs has a robust dramatic arc, and this was something he wanted to illuminate with his direction. 

directed by Hamish Marissen-Clark
produced by Clay Lawhead
costumes by Lucy London
set construction by Luke Arnold & Olivia Behr
props by Matthew McGrory

Danielle Llevada
Adelina Marinello
Emily Somé (Les Misérables Nat. Tour)
Carson Stewart (The Notebook, B’way)

Sons of Hollywood 

    (assistant director)

directed by David H. Bell
assistant directed by Hamish Marissen-Clark
set by Lauren Nigri
costumes by Sydney Moore
lights by Anthony Forchielli
sound by Willow James
props & set dressing by Foiles
musical direction by Shraman Ghosh

Abby Lee
Adam Jennings
Adriel Irizarry
Ben Dow
Jonathan Connolly
Kyle Patrick
Max Stewart
Trey DeLuna