play reading

I am teaching two theater classes currently: Introduction to theater, and Development of Drama from the Greeks to Moliere.

In both classes, at different levels, we are discussing how to read a play, and how to see a play.

It is a lot of work to actively read a play.

When reading a play, one must be simultaneously actor, director, designer- all in the mind's eye as one reads the dialogue and stage directions.

When reading an older play, there is also the challenge of putting the play into historical context, and looking for connections to the current era- connections and/or disconnects.

It's a challenge. And I'm not sure how close this literary exercise is to actual theater.

mentoring new directors

Looking for one or two young people who would like to direct! The MYT Playwriting Competition winners will be directed by young artists- mentored in directing by Dr. Lisa Hodge Kander. Is this YOU? Email director@michiganyouththeater.org

comedy

Why is the number 3 funnier than the number 2 or the number 4?

In comedy, things often happen in threes (there is some aphorism about that, isn't there?).

Or, reactions are funnier in three beats.

And repetition is funny. The first time a gag appears, it may provoke a smile or just a notice- but the second time is funnier, the third funnier still- and soon the audience is expecting the next gag- and then if you pull a twist on it- you can bring the house down.

Make 'em laugh!

For the past two weeks, in near record-breaking heat and humidity, I've been spending about 12 hours a day rehearsing.

We open tonight with Taming of the Shrew.

We have two casts: one cast pretty much according to gender expectations: men playing the male roles, and women playing women.

The other is an all-female cast.

I am looking forward to the audience response.

I am nervously awaiting the audience response. With comedy, they gotta laugh. If they don't laugh, you didn't succeed.

The casts are both just about ready-- just awaiting the energy and sense of fun that the audience can bring.

Make 'em laugh, teams!

off book

The first off book rehearsals are awful. Terrible. A disaster. A train wreck.

At least in a teen theater troupe.

I wish I didn't have to be there. There is virtually no opportunity to direct.

But I have to be there.

Because if I'm not there, they won't do it.

And the NEXT rehearsal will be the first off book rehearsal.

scheduling

I've just finished the rehearsal schedule: version 1.0-- for the current production. Scheduling rehearsals for a summer production of a youth theater is TRICKY. Our troupe insists that the last two weeks are clear for our cast members to concentrate on the play. However, when working with teens in the summer time-- with summer vacations, family events, lessons and classes, the process of scheduling involves intricate intellectual acrobatics.

I have completed a schedule that will please no one, and will barely address the needs of the production.

I've covered everything: working with the text, character work, stage combat workshops, blocking rehearsals, working rehearsals, stumble throughs, run throughs and tech. I've set deadlines for props, for lines learned, for costume parades, for set construction.

I've committed approximately 200 hours of my life over the next month and a half.

And I know I will be scrambling at the end...

Goal: for the next show I direct, I will have a set rehearsal schedule that the actors adapt to, rather than the scheduling-- and the director-- adapting to the actors.

Who do you love? THE AUDIENCE!

As I was working with young people, training them for performance, audience awareness had to be a part of the training.

We would do dances on stage: Look Upstage! Step Stage Right! Step Stage Left!

As we worked scenes and blocking, I would hop up and demonstrate positions that would open up actors to greater visibility on the proscenium stage.

"The audience wants to see *these* cheeks," I would say, pointing to my face, "not *these* cheeks!" as I turned around and pointed at the butt cheeks.

Lots of giggles. And they learned.

The short hand shout out of "Wrong cheeks!" would prompt the actor to re-orient, adjust, move to share more with the audience.

They learned.

"You are a sunflower!" I would say, "And the audience is the sun! Ever so subtly you move, you lean, you orient to the sun!"

They learned.

I taught them that without the audience there is no theater. "Who do you love?" I would challenge them.

The shouted response: "THE AUDIENCE!"

The audience, I taught them, wants to like you, wants to love you. Share your character, your voice, your energy, your play, with the audience and they will love you and appreciate you and give back your energy ten-fold.

Who do you love? THE AUDIENCE!

post-play

After a play closes, I am of divided mind.

Part of me is sad, missing the rush and the excitement.

And part of me is ready to rest, to detach, to regroup.

Ensemble

Ensemble is tremendously important to me. The idea of each of us contributing to the greater whole is inspirational; and in my own experience, when this is working, the result is far greater than the sum of the individual contributions. When ensemble is really working, each of us is driven, challenged, LIFTED into doing BETTER than our best work.

Ensemble is one of the guiding principles in how I choose the scripts I choose. Significant acting for everyone. Room to grow.

Ensemble is a delicate atmosphere. It is difficult to foster, easy to destroy. It is based on respect: respect for the art, respect for the process, respect for each artist and for the art in oneself.

Stanislavski described every element of the theater experience, from the hat check girl to the usher to actors to the director to the janitor, being a part of that art. A part of the ensemble.

And we must respect every part. And we must love every part.

Back to the Bard

For the past eighteen years, I have been directing plays. Most of the casts I have directed have been young theater artists, from ages four to nineteen. In the past several years, I have been working with teens and young adults. The favorite playwright of these theater troupes?

Shakespeare.

I am not surprised by this. Shakespeare has been my favorite playwright since I was eleven years old. While many who meet the Immortal Bard in high school lit classes may think of Shakespeare as difficult, boring and irrelevant, those of us who do Shakespeare—experience Shakespeare in production—find excitement, challenge and timely and timeless themes.

Shakespeare’s genius is above all theatrical genius. Shakespeare’s plays, in his own time, were great commercial successes. The plays brought in audiences and kept them coming back. Because of Shakespeare’s genius, audiences continue to be enchanted, challenged and touched by these plays. The young lovers of Midsummer Night’s Dream or of Romeo and Juliet, frustrated by parents and society, are easily recognized by young lovers of any era. Macbeth’s ambition—do the ends justify the means?—or Brutus’ struggle with divided loyalty—is my loyalty to my friend or to my country?—are as timely today as they were four hundred years ago.

Most people will agree that Shakespeare’s plays are some of the greatest in the English language. Many people will also agree that his texts are among the most challenging. Why should anyone attempt such difficult plays with young actors? For me, there are several answers to this question.

Young people deserve the best, and Shakespeare is the best. Any theatrical production requires many hours of practice, design work, set construction. Hundreds of hours are required to mount a production. In my opinion, these hours are better spent on a great script than a mediocre script. Working with one of Shakespeare’s classics, you know you have a script that can succeed – because it has succeeded with audiences for hundreds of years.

These scripts can succeed with young actors. While it is true that Shakespeare’s plays have a reputation for challenging both scholars and actors today, it is also true that many of the roles were written for adolescent apprentices, boys ranging in age from ten to seventeen or eighteen. The scripts are “playable”.

In producing and performing in one of Shakespeare’s plays, young people are learning by doing. It is obvious—and confirmed by numerous studies—that young people performing Shakespeare increase their vocabularies. The richness and quality of Shakespeare’s language not only enrich vocabulary but also encourage complexity of thought. Many studies also show that students engaged in drama improve academic performance in Language Arts and Humanities.

When my troupes have produced one of Shakespeare’s plays, we have learned much more than the lines of that particular script. We have set Shakespeare’s plays in different time periods. As a result, when working on Hamlet set in the Victorian era, we have learned not only about Elizabethan England, but also about the music and mores of Queen Victoria’s time. Setting Julius Caesar in Caesar’s Rome, we learned about costume, superstition and politics. Setting As You Like It in the 1920s, we learned about flappers, flivvers and dancing the Charleston.

Perhaps more important, although more difficult to measure, are the affective benefits of performing Shakespeare. I have seen the young people in my theater troupes grow and mature in many ways. They have grown in poise and self-expression. They have also increased their self-esteem, by undertaking a task that is acknowledged by all to be challenging and succeeding in that task. By working long hours on this task with a group all committed to the same goals, young people learn team work. They learn that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts; that everyone is needed and makes a contribution. In addition, young people seeking to test their limits and find a thrilling challenge can find a positive venue for this in performing Shakespeare. Performing in front of an audience is a challenge, a thrill and excitement. Performing Shakespeare can be a positive way for young people to challenge themselves to excel.

the darkest hour

I'm THERE with this play. EVERY process of play production seems to have it: the point where it all is so horrible you can barely stand it.

The actors are struggling with lines.

As one costume problem is solved, another lighting problem arises.

There are key props that simply don't seem to exist.

And opening night seems just moments away.

This, I always tell my team, is just before it all comes together! Theater magic! Don't give up hope!

And this time, I am praying and telling this to myself as well!

serious as a heart attack

I have recently been reminded how everything in our lives effects our work as artists.

I am approaching the mid-point in directing Ghosts.

And, suddenly, I learn my mother is being rushed to the hospital. She is having a heart attack.

Drop everything and rush to the hospital. Cancel rehearsal that night and the next-- we had a 3 day break scheduled after that, so we could wait and see . . .

At the hospital, helping my mom fill out in take paperwork-- although do we call it paper work any more? It's all on the computer.

We are asked about her advanced directive, or living will, or durable power of attorney for health care? Which she has, and she tells me where to find it, and I go the next day and find it.

The first person listed as holding this durable power of attorney for health care is my mom's significant other, now deceased. The nurse asks me to cross out his name, write "deceased" and initial.

Which I do.

I am now the person named to hold the durable power of attorney for health care. I am the one to speak for my mother, to see that her wishes are known, if she cannot speak for herself.


The nurse takes the copy I have given her and adds it to my mother's chart.

A few minutes later, as my mom is trying to nap, the nurse asks me to come into the hall. I do. She draws my attention to the section on "DNR"- Do Not Resuscitate. Under certain conditions, it is my mother's wish is that no extreme measures be taken to extend her life. If her condition were to be one where there was no reasonable hope of recovery -- this is all carefully defined-- then, my mother's wish is that she be allowed to die.

The nurse says that there are specific papers that are usually drawn up in this case and added to the chart. She asks, should she draw up these papers?

I say, let me think a minute.

And I go and think.

I ask her to wait, please. My brother is in Oregon, stuck on a business trip. I don't want to complete the paper work while my brother is so far away.

Nothing is imminent. (In fact, the good news for this episode is that a week later, my mom is back home.) We can wait.

But I know, in future, this is quite possibly a decision I will have to face.

And, suddenly, Helen Alving's pain and wrenching decision at the end of Ghosts is a little less melodramatic. It is much more serious.

As serious as a heart attack.

dramaturg

The position of dramaturg was unfamiliar to me until I returned to college for my PhD.

A dramaturg is a researcher and reporter. A dramaturg researches a play, a playwright, a time period or any combination of these, to report back to the production. Sometimes the research is directly applied to the production, influencing the design of costumes, set or props; sometimes the research is shared with the audience in a lobby display or program notes. Sometimes the research is shared with the cast and crew to give a richer, deeper appreciation of the play's setting or characters.

This in depth research is a part of my preparation and process in directing.

At present, for Ghosts, I am researching:
- Norway
- the 1880s
- Bohemian Paris
- the status of women at the end of the 19th century
- Ibsen
- meerschaum pipes
- orphanages

that's for a start.

Playwriting workshop!

What:

MYT Playwriting workshop!

Who:
For Creative People ages 12 - 19!

By Instructors Playwrights Beth Kander and Megan Donahue

When:

Saturday, March 10, 2010. 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Where:

Old Town Hall, 486 Mill Street, Ortonville, MI 48462

Learn techniques, tools and tips, formats and formulae- and FUN! for creating great scripts for theater from professional playwrights Beth Kander and Megan Donahue. More info about the playwrights is available at http://www.michiganyouththeater.org/ (click on "Workshops" on the left).

Includes: Improvisation for dialogue, developing characters and conflict, scripting for success and more. This workshop includes follow-up work with instructors via email and online journaling with instructors.

Cost: Only $75 if postmarked by March 16 ($85 after). Lunch is included: cheese pizza, fruit and water. Registration also includes registration in Michigan Youth Theater's Playwriting Competition!

To register: download registration form at www.michiganyouththeater.org

(Click on "Workshops" on the left). Mail form and payment to MYT, 2122 Houser Rd, Holly, MI 48442.

Please make check or money order payable to Michigan Youth Theater.

criticism

In teaching acting, or in giving workshops, I also teach feedback, or specific criticism.



In the Intro to Theater class I teach, the students are required to attend three plays and write reviews of these plays.





My instructions are to choose an aspect of the production, such as acting, directing, scenic design or costume design, and write about how that aspect aided or did not aid in that production's realizing the vision/message of the play.

Each semester, I find ways to further refine instructions to guide students to seeing and evaluating the performer's art.

I am trying to get closer to providing a template for meaningful criticism of the production, not the play; of these particular actors' performances, not the characters.

I try to guide students to choose an aspect of the production, such as scenic design or costume design, where choice of line, color, texture, pattern are easier to distinguish. Do color and shape set a mood of light-heartedness or shadow? Does the costume tell you where the play is, in time and space? Do the setting and costumes work together to tell you if the play is striving for realism, abstraction, or fantasy?

It is easy to get drawn in by the acting, but harder to critique the actor's work. Like the director's work, the actor's work is ephemeral, hard to describe, hard to find that specific moment and describe what made it work.

For me, the best criticism gives the theater artist constructive information about what is suceeding and about what needs improvement in the creative work. While it is nice to hear "You were great!" such grand, vague comments give one no more to build on than a general negative comment.

Ghosts

My youth theater troupe is about to embark on our latest production: Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen, translated by Lanford Wilson.

The small cast, realistic style and incredibly timely themes make this an excellent work for intense acting development and development of ensemble.

Ibsen shocked the world with this play in the late 19th century. In an era notorious for repressing all matters sexual, Ibsen wrote candidly about adultery, syphilis, incest and mental illness. He wrote complex characters struggling with society's stated values of fidelity and loyalty and self-sacrifice-- and the realities of infidelity, pyschological cruelty and betrayal of trust.

I am excited to work with Wilson's translation. Lanford Wilson is an outstanding playwright on his own merits, winning the New York Drama Critic's Circle Award, the Obie Award and the Pulitzer Prize in Playwrighting. One of Wilson's great strength is his wonderful ear for dialogue.

I am planning significant work on actor development and ensemble development during the rehearsal process.

Breathe

Perhaps one of the best bits of acting advice there is: Breathe.

Breathe deep. Breathe often.

Breathe.

Breathing deeply relaxes us, on a cellular level. Inhaling deeply takes in oxygen to feed our energy. The oxygen enters our cells and flushes out the chemicals of fatigue and stress. Exhaling fully releases those chemicals and allows us to let go.

Relaxed and ready posture frees the breath to support the actor's voice and energy.

Both training the actor's body and training the actor's voice begin with posture and relaxation. Postural alignment puts the organs, bones and muscles of the body in optimal position to function well and easily. Relaxation frees body and voice to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the actor, the character, the moment.

I use deep breathing and deep relaxation exercises in teaching acting, and also in building small class ensemble. Breathing deeply slows us down, brings us in sync with one another.

Standing Room Only for Intro to Theater

This week, I am exceedingly busy.

On Monday, I taught the first class for my Monday night section of Intro to Theater.

Tonight, I teach the first class for my Tuesday night section of Intro to Theater.

Tomorrow night, I teach a workshop on using Process Drama to teach Bible stories in Jewish Education.

Thursday night, I will be leading a rehearsal of my youth theater club to prepare them for leading a theater workshop next Tuesday (while I am teaching). After that meeting, I am off to meet with a subcommittee of my teen youth theater troupe regarding our "brand" identity.

Friday, in theory, I have off.

Last night, the class went quite well. However, the room was too small for the class. The class is capped at 45 students; I have permitted overrides that brought the number to 47. However, my overrides were not the reason we were at Standing Room Only last night. The room only had seating for about 25, and there was not enough room to bring in 20 more desks! I told my students I would look into finding another space for the class (which, with the help of the departmental secretary, I have accomplished today).

As always, the first part of the first class was taken up with going over the syllabus and establishing ground rules and priorities. Then, to introduce small group work and peer evaluation, both of which will be elements of future work in the class, I had the class break into groups of 5 students. Each group sent up one of their number to fetch the assignment sheet. Each student of the group took on one of the tasks: reader, facilitator, recorder, reader 2, presenter. The students then discussed a "think" question about theater-- each group had a different question.

Then, the groups reassembled in our (too small) room. Each group presented their question and the results of their discussion. The larger group was then invited to add additional comments.

Following a lively discussion, each student then evaluated the different members of their group on their contributions to the discussion and on their fulfillment of their task. These evaluations were then handed in.

Class went well; I think it will be a good group.