Joanie Schultz Email & Phone Number

Authenticity. Curiosity. Collaboration.These are the core values I hold dear as an artist, leader, thinker, and person.Theater has the ability, or more specifically, the responsibility to make the invisible visible. We are an art-form that hinges on suspension of disbelief, and traffics far better in metaphor than realism. We can physicalize an emotion, ideal, state of being, dream—the potential for awe in the smallest of gestures is the essence of theatricality. The more we can distill and amplify the world around, the more successful our theatrical projects are at reaching the inner subconscious of our audience. We have the potential to create deep empathetic experiences for people in an era gravely in need of human connection.I believe that we must use the platform of the stage to help the world see what they might not, to connect them to what is invisible to them in their daily lives. In particular, much of my work as a director focuses on the forgotten: not only the outcasts of society and people who go through life mostly invisible, but also the part of a person’s psyche or heart that has been cast aside, the consequences of an action that might not be apparent, or just a part of life that isn't usually discussed. By bringing to light the forgotten, we use the theatre to remember, rediscover, and realize.