The Life of Edward II of England
Written by Bertolt Brecht
California KPBS Patté Award
Outstanding Direction
Winner
University of California San Diego 
Directed by Bill Fennelly
Scenic Design by Kevin Judge
Costume Design by Ivy Cho
Lighting Design by Jason Thompson
A Note from BillEdward II, my second-year MFA production at UCSD, was a wild, queer, highly theatrical take on Brecht’s epic adaptation of Marlowe’s play.
It received the KPBS Patté Award for Outstanding Direction, an honor I accepted alongside fellow honorees Jack O’Brien and Delicia Turner Sonnenberg.
Being recognized by the San Diego community as a graduate student was a genuine surprise, and it remains deeply meaningful: a powerful reminder that meeting a great text can unlock incredible things within a director.
My years at UCSD under Les Waters’s mentorship gave me room for some of the greatest risk-taking of my career. When I arrived, Les offered me this advice: “Don’t let us train the instinct out of you.”
I remain forever grateful to all my incredible mentors at UCSD: Des McAnuff, Kyle Donnelly, Ivo van Hove, Tina Landau, Anne Bogart, Jim Winker, Robert Egan, Darko Tresnjak, and of course Les Waters. Thank you.
