Spotlight On Liz Fredette, Associate Artistic Director

Liz headshot bestLiz Fredette is MacGuffin’s Associate Artistic Director. She has been working with MacGuffin for 11 years. She directs, choreographs, teaches, designs costumes and sets, and manages all things MacGuffin. Currently, she is directing our Spring production of Shakespeare’s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The sold out production goes up May 6-8.  This summer she will be directing The Jungle Book and Maurice Sendak’s Really Rosie for our two Youth Muiscal Theatre Camps as well as heading up our brand new Little Twisters Musical Theatre Camp. She will once again be assisted by MacGuffin teacher and former student, Emma Ditnes.

MacGuffin Questionnaire for Liz Fredette

What is your favorite word?
For sound or meaning? I love the word onomatopoeia because it sounds nice and feels really good coming out of your mouth. And most onomatopoeias are really fun words to say!

What inspires you creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Cliché as it sounds…our students. Their fresh perspective, their interesting ideas, their silliness, their commitment to the work they love and our community.

Music and fine art both generally inspire my main stage productions.

What turns you off?
The color brown.

What sound or noise do you love?
Rain. Kids laughing. Splashing water.

What sound or noise do you hate?
Fingernails on a blackboard…or really anything on a blackboard, including chalk.

Whining.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
I’d love to work at an animal sanctuary–with pigs, specifically! Or, you know, go back to the other side of the curtain…

What profession would you not like to do?
Anything military. Quaker School made quite an impression, I suppose.

Who are your personal heroes?
I think my answer to this question could change depending on the day, but today: Julie Taymor, Alan Cumming, Claire Huxtable, and Kid President, Robby Novak.

What is your favorite food and drink?
Broccoli. French fries…or maybe tater tots–I’ve been debating this. Macaroni and cheese–all kinds from the delicious homemade to the disgusting box version. Or, just cheese, in general. Anything in the Indian or Mexican food genres.

Diet Coke, water. Coffee. A cold craft beer on a hot summer day. In that order. I’m never without a beverage of some sort. EVER. John used to say that if I was ever ‘roasted’ there would definitely be something about my constant beverage holding. Like, me teaching choreography with a fountain soda in hand…it’s happened.

What is your favorite color and flower?
For me, these are pretty unrelated, but:

Color: Purple.

Flower…Maybe Snap Dragons? Birds of Paradise? I might prefer plants.

What are your favorite names?
…Well, the names I have chosen for a future child currently rank in the top…I’ll give you one. Ramona.

What is your idea of happiness?
“Happiness is…finding a pencil…pizza with sausage…telling the time…”  Just kidding. Happiness for me is being in or on the water. Pool, lake, ocean, boat, swimming, snorkeling, you name it!

What famous quote resonates with you?
This is a tough question because there are all sorts of famous quotes that resonate with me depending on the moment…

The following piece of a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals–” It’s a really beautiful piece of writing and a good reminder to look around and appreciate life.

Name a recent theater piece or film that moved you.
The “musical” Fun Home. It was more like a play with songs (as opposed to a standard musical), set in the round, addressing issues that are important to me: family, sexuality, mental health, adolescence…