A sampling of some of my writing and directing for Film, Stage, and immersive performance
The Lark written and directed by Natalie Scarlett
Triple Goddess-CLTFM Feasts
I created three performances pieces to accompany a lamb roast, vegetarian feast, and farm to table whole pig dinner in the summer of 2022.
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Pig Roast written and Directed By Natalie Scarlett
Original work by Natalie Scarlett
Water:works--An Immersive Performance, September 2018
slouch and Grouch, 2017 and present
The Eggplant, and Other Domestic Incidents, 2017
The Eggplant, and Other Domestic Incidents by Natalie Scarlett:
A Man and a Woman (Nick Holland and Maya Ortega) A one bedroom apartment. Twenty scenes performed in a randomly selected order each night about life's biggest decision. A new narrative emerges in each performance as the Woman and Man explore the anxieties and exhilarations of spending life and making life together. Absurdly comic, dangerously raw, and almost wordless, this piece of physical theatre explores the intimacy of a relationship that has transcended words and developed its own language. Though the chronology of each performance will be different, the underlying questions and themes remain the same. Come see the show three times and you'll only see three of the 20! (read as 20 factorial) permutations of this play!
"The actors in The Eggplant and Other Domestic Incidents deftly navigated a fine line between a "hell is other people" vibe and (again) absurd humor that hit the mark, and a bold chance procedure yielded a surprisingly epicand expansive ending." --Kit Baker
A Man and a Woman (Nick Holland and Maya Ortega) A one bedroom apartment. Twenty scenes performed in a randomly selected order each night about life's biggest decision. A new narrative emerges in each performance as the Woman and Man explore the anxieties and exhilarations of spending life and making life together. Absurdly comic, dangerously raw, and almost wordless, this piece of physical theatre explores the intimacy of a relationship that has transcended words and developed its own language. Though the chronology of each performance will be different, the underlying questions and themes remain the same. Come see the show three times and you'll only see three of the 20! (read as 20 factorial) permutations of this play!
"The actors in The Eggplant and Other Domestic Incidents deftly navigated a fine line between a "hell is other people" vibe and (again) absurd humor that hit the mark, and a bold chance procedure yielded a surprisingly epicand expansive ending." --Kit Baker
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Perpetuum (48 film festival short film)
Winner of Best Writer, Director, Editing, Cinematography
"Scarlett's project achieved impressive proportions. The actors and characters confronted each other with convincing confusion on one side and impassioned anger on the other[...] As the first student to direct such a large project Scarlett set a precedent for future would-be directors, and she set the bar high "
Hillsdale Collegian, editorial following Natalie Scarlett's production of Six Characters Looking for an Author
"The play (Six Characters directed by Natalie Scarlett) provoked discussion across campus. Plays which force us to confront what we don’t normally offer a broader opportunity to compare traditional thoughts with contemporary ideas in reality, rather than just the theory-world of class and papers. Choosing “Six Characters”—with its entertaining, if somewhat surreal, hour and a half of high drama, lust, and suicide—challenged audiences to examine Pirandello’s of the meaning of language, reality, and existence"
Hillsdale Collegian Review following Six Characters Looking for an Author directed by Natalie Scarlett
"Natalie Scarlett said her interpretation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit will hopefully inspire personal reflection in each member of the audience. Dr. Brandon said he considers the play[…]one of the most challenging works of modern theatre. “Sartre’s No Exit is an extremely important play that is also rarely done,” he said. “This will actually be the first time I’ve seen it in production and Natalie has a great director’s eye.”
Hillsdale Collegian review following No Exit directed by Natalie Scarlett
"I worked with Natalie Scarlett in No Exit. I found our work to be very rewarding on a personal and professional level. She was professional yet colorful as a director. I felt that there was structure, but not too much. I've never felt more human than I did during that show. It was a very different sort of character for me, and Natalie pushed me to make the difficult emotional connections. "
Tory Eisenlohr-Moul, played Ines in Natalie Scarlett's production of No Exit
Natalie Scarlett is brilliant. I was thrilled when she cast me in her production of Six Characters in Search of an Author. As a director, she always encouraged us actors to stretch ourselves--never limiting our creative freedom--yet, keeping our exploration harmonious with the script's given circumstances. Given the complexity of the emotional work of Pirandello's play, Natalie made a point to devote rehearsal time to discussion of back-story and improvisational work, which I much appreciated. The end production was awesome. Aesthetic, cerebral, and profound--Natalie's concept interwove the stagework, lighting design, and set theme impressively. Since working with Natalie as a novice college actress I discovered my own passion for the art of directing. My personal directorial vision is heavily marked by my admiration for Sanford Meisner, and I have Natalie to thank for first introducing me to the Meisner technique in her Six Characters rehearsals. She actively encouraged her actors to pursue living truthfully in each moment, and I now know how rare a gem that is in the theatre world.
Abigail Nones, Twin Cities based Freelance Director, played The Mother in Natalie Scarlett's production of Six Characters
While studying at Hillsdale I discovered this second paragraph from Jerzy Grotowski's statement of principles and it informed much of my directing work
“Why do we sacrifice so much energy to our art?
Not in order to teach others but to learn with them what our existence, our organism, our personal and repeatable experience have to give us; to learn to break down the barriers which surround us and to free ourselves from the breaks which hold us back, from the lies about ourselves which we manufacture daily for ourselves and for others; to destroy the limitations caused by our ignorance or lack of courage; in short, to fill the emptiness in us: to fulfill ourselves...art is a ripening, an evolution, an uplifting which enables us to emerge from darkness into a blaze of light.”
Jerzy Grotowski
Hillsdale Collegian, editorial following Natalie Scarlett's production of Six Characters Looking for an Author
"The play (Six Characters directed by Natalie Scarlett) provoked discussion across campus. Plays which force us to confront what we don’t normally offer a broader opportunity to compare traditional thoughts with contemporary ideas in reality, rather than just the theory-world of class and papers. Choosing “Six Characters”—with its entertaining, if somewhat surreal, hour and a half of high drama, lust, and suicide—challenged audiences to examine Pirandello’s of the meaning of language, reality, and existence"
Hillsdale Collegian Review following Six Characters Looking for an Author directed by Natalie Scarlett
"Natalie Scarlett said her interpretation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit will hopefully inspire personal reflection in each member of the audience. Dr. Brandon said he considers the play[…]one of the most challenging works of modern theatre. “Sartre’s No Exit is an extremely important play that is also rarely done,” he said. “This will actually be the first time I’ve seen it in production and Natalie has a great director’s eye.”
Hillsdale Collegian review following No Exit directed by Natalie Scarlett
"I worked with Natalie Scarlett in No Exit. I found our work to be very rewarding on a personal and professional level. She was professional yet colorful as a director. I felt that there was structure, but not too much. I've never felt more human than I did during that show. It was a very different sort of character for me, and Natalie pushed me to make the difficult emotional connections. "
Tory Eisenlohr-Moul, played Ines in Natalie Scarlett's production of No Exit
Natalie Scarlett is brilliant. I was thrilled when she cast me in her production of Six Characters in Search of an Author. As a director, she always encouraged us actors to stretch ourselves--never limiting our creative freedom--yet, keeping our exploration harmonious with the script's given circumstances. Given the complexity of the emotional work of Pirandello's play, Natalie made a point to devote rehearsal time to discussion of back-story and improvisational work, which I much appreciated. The end production was awesome. Aesthetic, cerebral, and profound--Natalie's concept interwove the stagework, lighting design, and set theme impressively. Since working with Natalie as a novice college actress I discovered my own passion for the art of directing. My personal directorial vision is heavily marked by my admiration for Sanford Meisner, and I have Natalie to thank for first introducing me to the Meisner technique in her Six Characters rehearsals. She actively encouraged her actors to pursue living truthfully in each moment, and I now know how rare a gem that is in the theatre world.
Abigail Nones, Twin Cities based Freelance Director, played The Mother in Natalie Scarlett's production of Six Characters
While studying at Hillsdale I discovered this second paragraph from Jerzy Grotowski's statement of principles and it informed much of my directing work
“Why do we sacrifice so much energy to our art?
Not in order to teach others but to learn with them what our existence, our organism, our personal and repeatable experience have to give us; to learn to break down the barriers which surround us and to free ourselves from the breaks which hold us back, from the lies about ourselves which we manufacture daily for ourselves and for others; to destroy the limitations caused by our ignorance or lack of courage; in short, to fill the emptiness in us: to fulfill ourselves...art is a ripening, an evolution, an uplifting which enables us to emerge from darkness into a blaze of light.”
Jerzy Grotowski
