Makaylee "Mak" Secrest (she/her) is a theatre director interested in the power of presence and perspective. Her work aims to make audiences think by asking them to feel in order to build community and inspire empathy in audiences. As a collaborator, she strives to balance diligent preparation and attention to detail with embracing creative problem-solving, accidental discoveries, and play. Her approach centers on subverting expectations, making stories come alive with specificity, breathing fresh life into familiar narratives, and grounding new works in timeless themes. She is most excited by projects that fearlessly explore the complexities of the human condition and work to dismantle oppressive ideologies.

“It is not the place of the theatre to show the correct path, but only to offer the means by which all possible paths may be examined.” - Augusto Boal