Spotlight Artist: Dani Snyder-Young

Dani Snyder-Young

Company Member since 2014, Artist in Residence 2013. This season, director The War Zone is My Bed

Favorite Halcyon shows:
May 39th

Favorite show you saw:
Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphosis, when I saw it at Lincoln Center as a much younger artist. It's what made me want to be a director and a teacher.

Complete the sentence I create theatre because…
I create theatre because it brings people together, embodied and passionate, to grapple with tough questions in complicated ways.

If you weren't a theatre artist what would you be:
Yoga instructor

What is one of your favorite neighborhoods in Chicago and why:
Lincoln Square. I love eating gelato and watching kids play on the plaza on a summer day.

How did your family/friends react to you joining the arts?
No one was at all surprised I was going to try to earn a living organizing other people to play make believe, but they've been pretty impressed that I've figured out how to earn an actual living doing it.

What does "making it big" mean to you?
Having the power to get the artists I most want to work with paid a real a living wage to collaborate on my projects.

How do you judge success in a show?
I always have questions I want audience members to grapple with when they see my shows. If I overhear people I don't know in heated discussions around those questions, I know I've done what I set out to do.

How do you overcome rejection?
I make my own opportunities.