About Ethan

Ethan Thomas Dixon (He/Him/His) is a director and deviser. He attended Pace University, where he received his BA in Directing. He also studied at the Institute of the Arts Barcelona. He enjoys a collaborative process of creation with those he works with. Whether through a devised process, like his work on A Real Doll, or by collaborating with a playwright. He focuses on crafting open and inviting spaces with actors, creatives, and anyone else he is blessed to work with.

Ethan is a mutli-faceted artist who works to bring the totality of himself to his work, and encourages those around him to do the same. He is proudly part of the LGBTQIA+ community and explores these themes in his work. Through inclusion of more nonbinary actors and characters, queer centered stories, and explorations in gender expression. He is particularly enthralled in allowing a queer world to exist as the norm- not requiring explanation or censorship as it often does in everyday life. However, he isn’t afraid to address the struggles the community faces in this life. He usually finds himself wanting to hold up a mirror to the audience, forcing them to address current affairs. He refuses to allow them to find bliss in escapism (even when he himself is wishing to tune it all out). The totality of our existence has become politicized, and it is a luxury to be able to ignore that. A luxury he refuses to award audiences. He instead wants to lure his audiences in to show them a truth in a more digestible way. One way he finds exciting to lure in the audience is through magic and spectacle. He finds awe in creating literal magic on stage with spells, potions, and enchantments. He also loves theatrical magic and how it solves problems in unique ways, showing us things we never considered possible. One of the most magical parts of the theatre is how a community is formed at each performance. While the show is the same performance to performance, it is also unique thanks to the community formed, with each unique audience. He loves to build this community up by using audience participation. By having the audience engage this way with a show, he hopes to create a more personal and visceral impact.

He is a collaborative director who steers the ship towards a common goal while taking input from the humans around him. He recognizes that a show becomes whole thanks to each individual's contribution. Without them, the show would not be the same. He encourages each person who enters the rehearsal room to bring their whole selves- their ideas, passions, experiences, emotions, identities, and personhood to help craft a complex and profound piece. He guides this work primarily through images. He is a lover of art and brings that love into the rehearsal room. He brings forward paintings, statues, and other visual images that spark the creativity, emotions, and humanness in the work.