The Art of Directing: Creating Powerful Productions

1. Chapter 8 The Art of Directing

2. Directors • Turn the script into a production • Coordinate the efforts of a team of collaborators • Represent the intentions of the playwright and the expectations of the audience

3. Directors • Inspire the actors to perform their best • Create an environment in which each member of the theatre ensemble can excel • Offer creative solutions to questions and problems • Demonstrate strong communication skills

4. Directing: A History • The word director comes from the Greek didaskalos, or teacher • Middle Ages pageants and the conducteur des secrets • The playwright as director (i.e. Moliere) • The actor-manager of the 19th century

5. George II, the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (1826-1914) • First director in the modern sense • Long rehearsal periods • Attention to detail in acting • Advocated historical accuracy • Keen ability to stage large ensemble scenes

6. Viewed directing as a process of discovery rather than simply being that of a traffic cop Emphasized that each role on and off the stage was very important Encouraged long explorative rehearsal periods Konstantin Stanislavky(1863-1938)

7. The Directing ProcessIn the Beginning • Script analysis • Explore the world of the play in terms of character, language and environment • Dramaturg • Assists the director in researching and thinking about the play, the playwright, the audience, and questions of style

8. The Directing ProcessStructural Analysis • Theme • Characters • Language • Environment • Plot • French scenes • Beats

9. The Directing ProcessConcept to Casting • Production Concept • The primary metaphor, symbol, or concept that is essential to the production of this play • Production meetings serve to bring the production team a central point in the collaborative process • Casting • Cast to type • Cast against type • Gender-neutral casting • Cross-gender casting • Color-blind casting

10. The Director in RehearsalFocus • Shared focus • Stealing focus or upstaging • Profile • Stage areas • Triangulation

11. The Director in RehearsalPicturization

12. The Director Collaborates with Others • Assistant director • Stage manager • Assistant stage manager • Movement coach • Fight director

13. The Director Collaborates with Others (cont.) • Vocal or dialect coach • Music director • Choreographer • Assistant choreographer • Dance director

14. Types of Directors:Interpretive • Interpretive directors attempt to translate the play from the page to the stage as accurately as possible • “The director must be the master of theatrical action, as the dramatist is the master of the written concept.” --Harold Clurman, American director

15. Types of Directors:Creative • Creative Directors create “concept productions” based on their unique ideas or interpretations of a play script • “The director builds a bridge from the spectator to the actor. Following the dictates of the author…[and] must present a certain image which will aid the spectator not only to hear the words, but to guess the inner, concealed feelings. --V. E. Meyerhold, Director and designer

16. Types of Directors:Contemporary TrendsEnsemble Directors, designers and actors work with playwrights in the development of a play from its very conception

17. Curtain Call “I know of one acid test in the theatre … When the performance is over, what remains? … It is the play’s central image that remains, its silhouette, … this shape will be the essence of what it has to say.” Peter BrookThe Empty Space