Director
“The experience of drama is one of those moments in which a human being sits in awe, wonder, and admiration of something outside of self.”
“The most challenging and rewarding aspect of directing happens months, or even years, before you actually begin to direct the piece. It’s that moment of discovery when you find your ‘concept,’ the unique personal vision that, while rigorously honoring the playwright’s intention, makes this particular production your very own.
It is that clarity of vision which informs every decision throughout the rest of the project. The other aspect of directing that inspires me is collaboration – with designers, actors, technical crew, even the marketing team. A play exists in the moment, but the process to achieve that moment is a model for human beings working together at the highest possible creative level.”
Testimonials
Aichele has put together a production that boils with intensity, bubbles with humor, and soars with amazing music. It’s among the finest of the many fine plays to which she’s lent her remarkable artistry. – The Wire (Amadeus)
Director Genevieve Aichele’s abstract staging is simple, and executed beautifully. – The Edge (Men on Boats)
A mix of fantasy, abstract, dreamscape and expressionism, a truly artful, vivid, erudite work that is beautifully presented. It is about experience rather than explanation. – Spotlight (Finding the Prince)
Everything about this production is impeccable. – The Edge (I Am My Own Wife)
Utterly smart and well done… Director Genevieve Aichele has cast beautifully and staged and used each actor perfectly in turn. – The Edge (Waiting for Godot)
Aichele’s production of “The Crucible” heightens its small-town tension by staging it in a close round. We audience members… look across the stage and uncertainly meet each other’s eyes – a provocatively uncomfortable way to start this show. It’s an immediacy that carries through in the staging, which is beautifully wrought on a near-bare set…Aichele production is especially successful in how recognizably it draws its characters – they are not just 300-year old characters in an allegory, but people we have all known. – Portland Phenix (The Crucible)
Directing Awards
Spotlight Award Nominee for Best Director, The Crucible, 2016
Spotlight Award for Excellence in Direction, I Am My Own Wife, 2015
Spotlight Award Nominee for Best Director, Twelfth Night, 2012
NH Theatre Award for Excellence in Youth Theatre, 2008
Spotlight Award for Best Director: Caste & John Wopps, 2004
New England Theatre Conference Award: Outstanding Achievement in American Theatre, 2002
Spotlight Community Arts Award, Neighborhoods, 2002
NH Theatre Awards, Best Youth Theatre Production, Macbeth, 2002
NH Governors Award for Excellence in Arts in Education, 2001
“Extraordinary. It’s an amazing play, but it tears you apart emotionally. When the play ended on the night I saw it, the audience sat in silence with the stage dark and the lights on the audience. Then, after a few minutes, the entire audience began to clap. Everyone just sat and clapped for quite awhile. The three actors came back out for a second bow, but a stand up ovation was more than any of us could even express. I left in tears.”
