2023 Wrapped

2023 was a really creatively fulfilling year. I got to do so much in dance, intimacy, and movement direction, and I am so grateful to have had these opportunities.

TL;DR:

I did a lot of fun stuff with awesome people.

I work with students, who then become professional colleagues.

I work with director colleagues who value me, not just as box to check, but as movement artist who makes story better/more interesting/clearer.

Theatre improves your Spanish!

I interact with incredible artists, at the top of their craft. But my 2023 award for star collaborator goes to Morgan Parker.

Photos of all of these moments are on my Dance and Intimacy Choreography works sample pages.

January: I actually performed again, as well as choreographed for the 2nd "KINesphere", funded by the Broward County Cultural Division. I was also back at Theatre Lab ID'ing "Last Night in Inwood" by Alix Sobler, directed by Matt Stabile, featuring Aubrey Elson and Javon Jacobs.

February: I ID'd 3 shows: "Good People" at The Maltz Jupiter Theatre, "Chicken and Biscuits" with the incredible Bianca LaVerne Jones at Asolo Rep, and "Company" at NWSA.

March: I got to movement direct and choreograph as part of TheatreLab's New Play Festival. I also ID'd a Miami story, "Defacing Michael Jackson" at Miami New Drama.

I was also honored to be a speaker at the 40th annual Miami Film Festival, on Intimacy Coordination. I got to be with a wonderful creative and conversation partner, Chris Molina.

April: I had the honor of working on the Rolling World Premier of the incredible Spanish/English play-with-music, "Refuge" with friends and colleagues.

I also ventured into violence, as well as intimacy, for “Marisol” at NWSA.

May was a rest, which was great, because I needed to plan for my VAP position at FAU Department of Theatre & Dance, before jumping into rehearsals.

June: I had a blast with my second Summer Shorts at City Theatre.  Extra bonus was working with Melissa Almaguer, Alex Alvarez, and Maha McCain on these.

A film I worked on the year before, "Jagged Mind" premiered in Miami at the American Black Film Festival, and then dropped on Hulu. It later makes Decidr's Top 10 List of Movie Sex Scenes for 2023! Masie Richardson-Sellars stars, with direction by Kelley Kali. 

July: I met one of my new favorite humans and collaborators, Christopher Michaels! I did intimacy and violence for "Thrill Me", which he directed, starring Dylan Goike and Kevin Veloz. They were accompanied by Eric Alsford, and honestly, he and the 2 actors did NOT get enough love and notice this theatre season. They were perfection.

August: I got to work with Miami's hottest new theatre company, Lakehouseranchdotpng, on the world premier of "XOXO, Lola" starring Noelle Nichols and Samuel Krogh. Lauren Witte captured some of our rehearsals for the Miami Herald.

September: Was all about "Love! Valour! Compassion!". I worked my tail off on this one. Re-staging the "Little Swans" variation from "Swan Lake", creating a modern dance solo for Robert Koutras (who was flipping amazing at it), and collaborating with the legendary Michael Leeds on the intimate and violent moments. All of these actors were amazing and they ripped my heart out.

October: I FINALLY got to ID "Spring Awakening". It and "Romeo and Juliet" are like THE shows for IDs, and I've done R&J twice, so, it was time. This was for the BUTC at FAU. My favorite moment was actually the fantasy about the piano teacher. I am appreciative of the students' clear communication, bravery, and joy in the process.

A film I worked on the year before, "Pain Hustlers", also came to Netflix. I was the Miami unit IC.

November: At the end of October, I got to rejoin Bianca LaVerne Jones, this time in Philadelphia at the Lantern. I was so excited to come "home" to create the dance and intimacy for the powerful, beautiful "Crumbs from the Table of Joy".

I also did dance and intimacy for fun musical "9 to 5", at FAU. The dance captains, Sarah Sun Park and Marissa Spurr were invaluable, and working with Ted deChatelet and Caryl Ginsburg Fantel was a dream.

I also got to go back to the Lab, this time as the movement director for "The Berlin Diaries" as the forces that are Niki Fridh and Avi Hoffman tackled 14 characters in 85 minutes.

December: Was a month of joy as I watched Ballet 2 of FAU be more beautiful than I hoped in the fall dance concert. And right before the holidays, we closed "La Gringa" at City Theatre. This play exemplified the magic of theatre, for me. But also, the magic of the work I get to do.

End of Year Accolades

Jagged Mind, now streaming on Hulu, has one of Decider’s “10 Hottest Movie Sex Scenes in 2023”! Read what they said here.

While I am super excited to have my work noticed and celebrated (not to mention the work of the director and actors), I was really disappointed to see that not only did this piece not mention a single intimacy coordinator to credit their work, but, it didn’t even mention the fact that the role of intimacy coordinator exists. We still have a long ways to go…..

Miami Herald Photo Essay

Check out some photos of me at work with LakeHouseRanchdotPNG in this online story from the Miami Herald.

Photos and story by Lauren Witte.

Actors: Noelle Nichols and Samuel Krogh

2 Great Reviews for Jagged Mind

There’s always going to be good and bad reviews. And I feel like with magical/sci-fi/horror blends, you are really going to get strong opinions on what worked and didn’t.

But here’s the link to two reviews of Jagged Mind, now available on Hulu, that let you know- the simulated sex worked!

Lesbian Thriller “Jagged Mind” Is a Haunting Portrayal of Abuse- by KAYLA KUMARI UPADHYAYA for Autostraddle.

Jagged Mind Review: Putting the Eroticism Back in Erotic Thrillers - by David Reddish for MovieWeb

New Photos and Videos up on Work Samples page

Head over to my Intimacy Choreography page to see photos from City Theatre’s Summer Shorts: Homegrown Edition, as well as the trailer for Jagged Mind, now available on Hulu!

Me, wearing my Intimacy Choreographer mask at Opening Night of City Theatre’s Summer Shorts: Homegrown Edition. Photo by Morgan Sofia Photography.

God Forbid Wins Miami New Times Best of Award

Every year the Miami New Times gives out “Best of Miami” awards. Last year when these were announced, I was actually on the set of God Forbid, with Bill Corben and the Rakontur team when they won, in this category, for Cocaine Cowboys.

This year, God Forbid is taking home Best Miami Documentary! Were there lots of contenders? No idea. But, without a doubt, I know this one is the best.

I am very proud to have been the Intimacy Coordinator for the reenactments for this doc. Haven’t seen it yet? It’s on Hulu (and is still their most-watched doc!).

"Jagged Mind" to American Black Film Festival and Hulu in June

Excited to share that Jagged Mind, a film I worked on most of last summer (when I wasn’t on the set of God Forbid) is making its world premiere a feature at the American Black Film Festival here in Miami in June! A few days later, it will hit Hulu, as a Pride feature. Hulu actually kept me very busy last summer!

Woodward and Richardson-Sellers in a moment created by Kelley Kali and Nicole Perry for Jagged Mind, coming to the American Black Film Festival in Miami June 2023.

The 20th Digital horror feature from director Kelley Kali and writer Allyson Morgan stars Maisie Richardson-Sellers and Shannon Woodward.

Intimacy Coordinator: Nicole Perry

New Free Downloads

Over on the “Why Hire an Intimacy Choreographer” page, I’ve created 3 new, free, downloads that I think might be useful for theatre or dance companies or production companies or studios considering whether an Intimacy Choreographer is the right fit for the project, and what they can expect that to look like:

1. 5 Questions to ask when Hiring an Intimacy Choreographer

2. Intimacy Coordination Overview

3. Intimacy Direction Overview

As this is my website, the views expressed on this page, that page, and in those documents are solely my own.

Talking about Intimacy Coordination as part of the Miami Film Festival Promos on WLRN's Sundial

I had the honor of being on South Florida radio staple Sundial today to talk about the intimacy profession and give a teaser of my conversation as part of the Miami Film Festival.

Hear the episode here. Get tickets to the conversation here.

Intimacy Direction Conversation in South Florida Theatre Magazine

Last week, Luis Roberto Herrera, Gaby Tortoledo, and I sat down for a conversation about what intimacy direction is, and how it can support actors for South Florida Theater Magazine. You can check out the whole piece here. Hopefully, this is the start of a larger conversation with the community!

Bad Behavior in Theatre Communities

Shows with nudity, intimacy, and/or hyper-exposure require extreme vulnerability from actors. We have consistently seen actors in our community provide incredible performances in relevant, nuanced shows, in these states of vulnerability.

Sadly, they often get reduced to their bodies' appearance, rather than their skills in transporting us into a story. Also, how ridiculous that that those of us who are professionals in the crafts of theatre-making are doing this. We have the best opportunity to discuss technique, skill, character, and story, but we go for looks?!

Safety in theatre or in film doesn't just include creating a safer space for work to be done. It also means respecting the work AS WORK and our colleagues (and even when we are audiences, we are still colleagues) AS COWORKERS. Exploitation and harassment have no place in a workplace.

As a community we should be disappointed and horrified when exploitation and harassment happen, and are not met with resistance or the desire for change. We absolutely should less safe when one of us not safe.

This is not about 1 person or 1 incident. This about bad behavior.

No matter who is committing the exploitation or harassment, no matter who is receiving it: it is exploitation or harassment.

Carbonell Nomination

Thank you the Carbonell judges and the South Florida theatre community for the nomination of Outstanding Achievement of an Artistic Speciality. And deep gratitude for the Theatre Lab team for putting the Intimacy Choreography for To Fall in Love forward for consideration, Lou Tyrrell for being an incredible collaborator, and Matt Stabile and Niki Fridh for being the beautiful, brilliant performers they are.

See all the nominees here.

Just like with the Silver Palm post below, I want to take this opportunity to point out that “Intimacy Direction supports good story-telling!” Because, honestly, being a part of a team that helped support these performances, is what the work is.

I was the Intimacy Director for 2 of the 6 of the nominees for Outstanding Production of a Play- GringoLandia and One in Two. These same two productions also appear in the Director category, and Stuart and Delicia were certainly outstanding to work with! UPDATE: Delicia won!

1/2 of the actors nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Lead Male Role in a Play performed Intimacy Choreography- Tom in I Hate Hamlet and Nathaniel and Randall in One in Two. UPDATE: Tom won!

Two of the Lead Actress nominees performed Intimacy Choreography- Natalie Cordone in I Hate Hamlet and Lindsey Corey in Overactive Letdown. UPDATE: Natalie won!

GringoLandia and Overactive Letdown appear multiple times in the Supporting Actor and Actress categories. I Hate Hamlet and Overactive Letdown also gathered noms in technical categories.

Seeing productions and actors get noticed for doing work that some might consider “too choreographed”, “inauthentic”, or some of the countless other criticisms lobbed at this work is my reward. Intimacy Choreography, Intimacy Direction, make excellent art! If I get to give a speech, I shall shout this!

See the full list of nominees in the Broadway World Press Release here, and the explanation of changes here.