What is Intimacy Direction?
As an Intimacy Director with training through the IDC, I'm equipped to assist theatrical productions by choreographing intimate moments, advocating for actors' boundaries, and being a liaison between many of the professionals involved in the intimate scenes (eg. costumers, lighting designers, etc.). My role as an intimacy professional is to collaborate with directors and provide the necessary support to bring their vision to life, while chiefly maintaining a consent and safety-centered rehearsal process.
My Mission
As many theatre professionals have personally experienced, witnessed, and/or heard stories about, there is a culture in entertainment spaces of coercion, both accidental and purposeful. Actors have historically been expected to surrender their bodily autonomy and be an open canvas for a production to paint on. My conviction, and the conviction of the IDC, is that actors are human first. They are entitled to the ownership and safe communication of their considered physical and emotional boundaries, and should be given the space to voice and change them with no repercussion. "Yes" and "No" are both completely acceptable answers. One is not better or more professional than the other - they are both simply pieces of information for myself and the director to know what paint is available for that canvas. There is an infinite number of ways to shape an intimate moment that will be within an actor's boundary AND effectively tell the story. I'm here to help you find them! ​
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My Experience
I received my training through the IDC in the Accelerator Program. Throughout this course, I was trained to choreograph/direct intimacy, implied and masked intimacy, and various displays of physical touch and simulated sex, as well as create and maintain consent-centered spaces and understand the potential power structures that might influence all aspects of the production.
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I assisted in intimacy directing a reading of Riverbend (one of my original musicals) in June 2023, and this is what first sparked a passion for this work. Additionally, as an actor myself, I have experienced and witnessed firsthand both effective and ineffective, harmful and helpful ways of initiating this work.
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