From hours-long Shakespeare to one-minute plays, director Sidonie Garrett clocks in

Even offstage, Sidonie Garrett is in the spotlight. She has been the executive artistic director of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival since making the festival’s Twelfth Night “a spirited 1940s comedy” in 2001 (“Best Hire,” The Pitch‘s Best of Kansas City, 2001). But her directorial hand has shown up on stages — and her name on programs — all around town: at the Unicorn, the Coterie, UMKC Theatre, the Kansas City One-Minute Play Festival, Avila University, in collaborations with Bach Aria Soloists and the Kansas City Chorale, the KC Symphony’s Magic of Christmas and How the Symphony Saved Christmas, and with the now-defunct Civic Opera, American Heartland Theatre and Fourth Wall Productions. What’s not defunct: her many upcoming projects, including a guest-directing stint of The Whale — an “emotionally rich and demanding story,” she says — opening this week at the Unicorn, and a different rendition of Twelfth Night for HASF this summer.

While in rehearsals for The Whale, Garrett answered my questions by e-mail.

Garrett: I always believed I’d be an actor and maybe a comedian. I don’t know if there was a moment when I decided; I just think I’ve always known that somehow my life was going to be spent working in the theater.

I grew up near KC and went to university and then began my professional career here. I moved away for a time, but returned and have been working in professional theater in KC ever since.

My love of stories. My parents read to me and taught me to read at a very early age. I loved creating character voices with my parents as we read books. And when I was very young, I began to create my own “shows,” which included performances of long poems and playing the piano and some baton twirling and maybe a headstand or two. I loved performing and putting on a show for any and all audiences.

I’ve been training all my life by performing for my family and friends from the age of 4 or 5. I did theater and forensics in high school, and studied journalism, acting, psychology and communications at MU and UMKC. I then worked professionally as an actor and eventually as a director.

I co-produced The Widow’s Blind Date with my friends Jan Rogge and Nora Denney, and it was the first professional production that I directed. I was responsible for bringing all the elements together, and that experience was where I learned about collaboration on all levels. From that time on, I knew I wanted to direct plays and tell stories onstage.

What about The Whale attracted you?

I was drawn in by the clearly depicted characters, each carrying his or her own significant emotional “weight.” It’s a play about the desire for connection and empathy, and the story is both devastating and hopeful. Much like the contradictions which exist in our day-to-day lives.

The lead character in this ensemble play is a 600-pound man. Creating a space that is appropriate for his life and determining how best to outfit the actor who’s playing the character are the most significant physical challenges. In addition, the story requires very specific and detailed emotional scoring. The cast has worked hard together and with me to find the exact and sometimes subtle shadings of language, both spoken and physical, to tell this emotionally rich and demanding story.

Of shows I’ve directed, there are several. I’ll pick one Shakespeare and one modern. HASF’s most recent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a sublime alchemy of a great play and a superb group of actors who embodied their roles completely. The elements of lights, sound, scenic and costumes, combined with great physical life and commitment, made it a standout. It was touching and often hilarious! Non-Shakespeare, a favorite is The Motherf**er With the Hat at the Unicorn [in 2012]. It’s a terrific play, and the cast was superb. That production’s humor and pathos really resonated with audiences. I wish it could have run for several more performances. I wanted so many more people to have had the chance to see it.

Collaborating with artists. Communicating ideas and thoughts that resonate within a group and become the pieces that create a shared story. Exploring human nature and all of the facets of human behavior with a group of like-minded and talented storytellers.

Bringing my best into the rehearsal space each and every time. Being sure to have done my work on interpreting the script between rehearsals so I have more questions and answers to bring to the actors every time we are working. Providing the input that is needed by a particular actor or actors at the right moment.

I am inspired by three great women of the theater. Marilyn Strauss, who founded the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, is a Tony Award-winning producer, and by her example showed me that being a female artistic director and producer was possible. In the same way, Dr. Patricia McIlrath, founding artistic director of Missouri Rep (now KC Rep), inspired me by her life’s work as a female director and arts leader. I am inspired by my friend and colleague Cynthia Levin, artistic director of the Unicorn Theatre, who is an example of tenacity and bold artistic choices. And I am constantly inspired by the actors, theater artisans, designers, technicians and craftspeople with whom I work.

I will direct Twelfth Night for the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in summer 2016. It will be set in a different time period from the 2001 production. A very musical play, it will have a live-music element and will be significantly different in its sensibilities. Also upcoming, A Streetcar Named Desire for Kansas City Actors Theatre in August.