Ken's Confetti: Shredding Ideas, Building Trust
When Ken shreds your ideas, he can do it in a colorful fashion.
For 21 years, Ken has been a trusted, if critical, ally on almost every opera I’ve created. As the dramaturg of each show, he gives feedback on everything—writing, direction, and production, from first note to final curtain. Sometimes, working with Ken can feel like he’s shredding my (and the creative team’s) ideas, leaving them scattered like confetti on the floor. But his goal is to always improve the work.
He’s not afraid to “tell it like it is”—even if the process can feel stressful. One memorable moment: his comment, “The costumes resemble Crayola potato sacks,” sent the team into a panic just two nights before opening. But, in the end, it saved the show from becoming an unintentional comedy.
In fact, it’s his commitment to honesty that makes me trust him as a collaborator and why he’s been by my side for so long.
Recently, I captured a discussion we had that highlights our spirited working relationship.
Ken: There’s something wrong with you, Garrett. No, really. You’re completely fascinated by and seem to have this insatiable desire to engage with almost every kind of feedback I give. You’re relentlessly curious—even excited—to get my responses, which, I admit, can sometimes be a little…
Garrett: Slash and burn?
Ken: If you say so…
Garrett: I think that’s because we work in a brave space. I trust that even if you’re highly critical and your comments are, shall we say, “colorful,” your ultimate goal is for me—and the work—to succeed. Sure, things can get a little bumpy, but we always smooth it out.
Ken: I remember one time I told you that the draft of a piece you were working on made me want to vomit.
Garrett: Which I appreciated! Because I still trusted that you were an ally. You were vomiting with me, not at me.
Ken: How is it that you trust me? What on earth did I do?
Garrett: I think it started with that first email I got from you. Unsolicited, I might add. You poked so many holes in my work’s premise that it made Swiss cheese look smooth.
Ken: Twenty-one years and countless projects later, and you’re still talking about that email.
Garrett: I got excited when I received it because I thought, “Here’s someone who really gets what I’m trying to do!” The fact that it was unsolicited and so carefully and articulately written made me—trust is the word—that you believed enough in the work to spend the time writing it. That, and you still somehow make time for me amidst your Super! Busy! Schedule! With! Broadway! Stars!
Ken: [dramatic silence]
Garrett: Uh-oh. Did I upset you?
Ken: Sorry. I was just vomiting at you.