ABOUT
I am a multidisciplinary director and creator whose work explores the intersection of the whimsical, the uncanny, and the politically urgent. Whether directing existing works or writing and devising stories from the ground up, I draw from mythology, fairy tales, and folklore to craft immersive and allegorical experiences that challenge conventional narrative structures. My process is rooted in devised theater, feminist adaptation, and the integration of movement, music, and tactile design: I approach each piece as an expansive and emotionally resonant holistic world, created through a collaborative process which balances rigor and precision with fun and joy.
My aesthetic floats somewhere in the liminal space between horror and fantasy, weaving whimsical worlds where girlhood and womanhood are reclaimed and reimagined through dreamy textures and metatheatrical magic.
As a director, I view my role as one primarily of curation: I bring together a group of unique voices...and then I listen to them. Through communal creation, I guide the cohesive crafting of shared stories which allow artists to feel inspired and empowered.
I'm particularly passionate about expanding accessibility, bringing theater into unexpected spaces and exploring the role of digital platforms in communal storytelling. My work aims to engage the collective subconscious and spark radical reimaginings of the world around us. With a commitment to social justice, feminist thought, and aesthetic innovation, I create transformative theater that is equal parts beautiful, haunting, and profoundly human.
ABOUT ME
PROFESSIONAL BIO
Anna is the founder of the feminist artist collective Beating of Wings (www.beatingofwingscollective.com). where most recently she directed, wrote, and produced the outdoor immersive dance show "Our Feet Off the Ground," a feminist retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales. Other recent theater projects include “Coriolanus” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Assistant Director; director Rosa Joshi), “In the Green” by Grace McLean at The Wayward Artist (Director), “A Sad Tale’s Best for Winter” (Writer, Director), produced with Noise Now at A Noise Within Theatre, and 'Into the Woods," “Puffs” and “Our Town” at Woodland Opera House (Director). Her collaborative short film “Zenith” (Director, Co-Writer) was an official selection of the NYX Collective’s “13 Minutes of Horror” festival, and her work in digital theater includes both video design for live events and as fully-digital projects such as “#NeverAlone,” an interactive Instagram experience (Director, Co-Creator). She holds an MFA from Brown/Trinity and a BA from Northwestern, and has been recognized as a finalist for the Beatrice Terry Drama League Directing Residency and a member of the Kennedy Center Directing Intensive. She currently lives in Southern California with her partner and three cats, where she spends too much time on TikTok in the name of artistic research.
BEHIND THE SCENES
From the Inside, Out
Lucia Joyce, Collaborator, Beating of Wings Company Member, and Cast Member of A Sad Tale's Best for Winter shares her experiences
The women-driven, LA-based theatre company, Beating of Wings Collective, found its way into my heart so quickly and unconventionally that I was still in quiet awe of the whole experience long after the applause ended and the chairs were put away.
I'm smiling at the remarkable timing and joyful buzz of this opportunity, even now.
In the land of Hollywood gatekeepers, depressingly specific casting breakdowns, and packed audition calls, I booked a role in a full-length, feminist reimagining of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale retitled: A Sad Tale's Best For Winter, and sporting original choreography and music.
Director/Playwright Anna Miles, a kind, driven, and sharp-witted creative, offered me the job through a friend's name-drop and a perusal of my website (Thanks Wix!). We met over breakfast in the NoHo Arts District, discussing typical theatre preconceptions and the ambitious dreams she had for Beating of Wings and the Sad Tale project. My first art language being dance, and Anna's being theatre/song, we connected over mutual admiration for both art forms (and a really good scone). I felt a silent, shared trust of each other's passion and dedication. Anna was featuring choreography and hiring a more dance-minded actor for the first time. I was jumping from commercial dance gigs and classically misogynist musicals straight into her indie, experimental theatre with Shakespearean text and A-cappella soundscapes. A scone was eaten, a bond was forged, and the excitement was palpable.
Over the course of three weeks, our team of versatile artists fused harmonic melodies, challenging monologues, extensive prop work, and visceral movement in one 2.5 hour performance on a Sunday in November.
We were billed as a staged reading, but as the play went on, lighting, sound, costumes, and clever original dialogue transformed our office-like studio space into something other worldly. Script pages were torn and littered across the staging area, to be replaced by flowers in the second act. The corseted, oppressed women of the court became barefoot songstresses in a warmer, freer place. The story didn't just reveal the consequences of toxic masculinity and female oppression...
...it also uncovered the flaws of an all-out dismissal of men and what they've built. There were moments of intense grief and childlike awe. There were genuine laughs and friendly jabs at the current social norms, as well as the upturned expectations of a Shakespearean theatre experience. The costumes were hand sewn; each prop movement a mulled-over decision that reflected back on the story (we were traveling between worlds, after all). A bucket of mud served as a sticky reminder of where we all came from, and where we all eventually return. My general impression? It was awesome.
From the Outside, In
Review: A Sad Tale's Best for Winter
by Miranda Johnson-Haddad
As a Shakespeare academic who focuses on Performance Studies, and therefore also a veteran of many productions of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, I was excited about seeing the workshop performance by Beating of Wings of their play A Sad Tale’s Best for Winter. Although I had been intrigued by what I’d learned about the play, the workshop performance completely surpassed my expectations. I was very impressed by the staging of the first half of the play, which is more directly Shakespearean than the second half, for its thought-provoking innovations, which reflect the company’s confidence in performing Shakespeare, and which shed new light on this enigmatic late Romance. But the second half took me utterly by surprise with its creative reimagining of an alternative yet thoroughly integrated storyline for Shakespeare’s female characters as they appear in the second half of the original play. This alternate version resolves much of the lingering uneasiness that twenty-first century audiences may understandably experience when watching Shakespeare’s play; and it is a measure of the sensitivity and intelligent awareness of Sad Tale’s author and of the company’s cast and creatives that the modern reframing feels like a natural extension of Shakespeare’s Romance – an homage and an exploration, rather than a criticism. I was especially delighted in the second half of Sad Tale by the judicious inclusion of many lines from Shakespeare’s other plays, an inclusion that is indicative of the author’s and the company’s well-informed understanding of Shakespeare; and while a recognition of these passages will certainly enhance the pleasure felt by Shakespeare fans in any audience, that level of familiarity with Shakespeare is by no means required to enjoy Sad Tale or to appreciate its deeper message. Sad Tale is the rare Shakespearean-inspired play that is certain to appeal to both the specialist and the non-specialist alike, for it takes the inherent theatricality of Shakespeare’s play – a theatricality that can be both gratifying and challenging to realize fully onstage – and fearlessly embraces and then boldly runs with that very theatricality. A Sad Tale’s Best for Winter deserves a wider audience. I look forward to seeing where Beating of Wings is able to take their thoughtful and thought-provoking play in its future development.