TESTIMONIALS
DIRECTORS:
Des McAnuff (Two time Tony award winner an former Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse and Stratford Shakespeare Festival): I want to express to you my enthusiasm to you about the work of Daisy Walker. We have worked together on three productions at the Playhouse and I have found her to be extremely bright, imaginative, insightful, even visionary. Daisy displays a keen ability to communicate her ideas and to address concerns with tact and diplomacy. Her dramaturgical gifts became apparent from out first sessions together. She is also, quite simply, a joy to work with.
Les Waters (Artistic Director of Actor’s Theater of Louisville): Daisy was a graduate student of mine when I was teaching at UCSD Dept of Theatre and Dance. And she was one of the best students that I worked with in eight years of teaching. Her production of ARCADIA was witty, perceptive and strikingly beautiful. Her relationship to text is sensitive and assured…She has the capacity to create a working environment in which all involved feel that they can contribute and produce their best work. She has a flair for working with new writers—she has that appetite and desire to be the first director to work on a new script. She has shown great sensitivity in working with young writers—prodding and encouraging them to articulate what they actually want to say and what are the best ways to achieve the necessary clarifications.
PLAYWRIGHTS:
Daisy Walker is the kind of new play director every playwright wants to work with: energetic and excited about new work, dramaturgically savvy, and able to translate words into a bold theatrical vision. I loved working and collaborating with Daisy; she's a playwrights' director for sure. -----Andrea Stolowitz, Knowing Cairo, Tales of Doomed Love, Hotel Traumbad
Daisy Walker is an outstanding director! I am so grateful to Daisy for her superb direction of my play, How Alfo Learned to Love, Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters (December 16, 2015 – January 3, 2016). Daisy is the best that a playwright can wish for. She cares deeply about the play itself. She possesses an innate and masterful understanding of the structure of the play. And she knows how to both challenge and support actors, playwrights, and designers. In rehearsals, Daisy patiently and intensely analyzed my writing, sitting with me as I revised. She would listen to my writing and identify what was truthful, what was not, and what needed tightening. She is a remarkable theater artist who has an uncanny eye for the truth. ---Vincent Amelio, How Alfo Learned to Love
Daisy Walker is a director that every playwright wants on his or her side. Daisy gave so much of herself to our show, and to bringing my vision for the play to life in an exciting, vibrant production. Daisy's also a bit of a mind reader. She seized on all the moments I knew were problematic, and helped me come up with solutions that were so satisfying that I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of them earlier. I looked forward to seeing her, and working with her, every day during our production and rehearsal process. Daisy also fought tirelessly for the play, and is the true definition of a collaborator and artist. ---David Meyers, Broken
ACTORS:
Daisy has a rare and wonderful way of melding organic process with practical discipline. She makes it easy for actors to live in the moment because she's got such a firm, essential grip on a piece's big picture-- its pace, tone, truth. She runs the room with an open heart and a sharp eye, allowing you to take risks without straying too far from the play's honest path. She's loyal to both the play and the ensemble, and brings out the best in both. A thoughtful, dedicated, totally refreshing artist.--------Brenda Withers (Detroit)
Daisy is, hands down, one of my favorite directors! I have worked with her on three occasions and find her consistently affable, engaging, probing, challenging, inquisitive, collaborative and supportive of an actor’s process. She creates a pleasurable and artistically satisfying journey for the ensemble from table-read to opening night, and is, in my experience, capable of bringing any moment a playwright could ever think to throw at her, to life with truth, humor and excitement.--- Michael Samuel Kaplan (Splintered Soul, Oblomov, Red)
Daisy always creates a safe environment to take risks — which is of the utmost importance to an actor. I’ve had the privilege of working with Daisy in grad school at UCSD Dept. of Theatre and Dance and she always communicates her ideas clearly and asks the right questions. The process of creating new work is always fun with Daisy as she is an inquisitive collaborator who always challenges her creative team. She is an innovator who pays meticulous attention to detail and I would jump at the chance to work with her again and again.--Daoud Heidami (The Dutchess of Malfi, There's no Bayville in Texas)