Beginnings

When, exactly, does the theatrical production begin?

With the playwright’s final draft of the script? This is a blue print only; the show itself will be a completely different production with each cast and crew. Theater is a collaborative art. Still, the playwright is the genesis of the play, without a doubt.

Does the production begin with the first production meeting? The director and the designers gather to share the vision for the production. The artists who will collaborate to shape the visual and aural impact of the production share their ideas and insights about this play. This particular incarnation of the show begins to be realized with this first production meeting.

Or does the production begin with the first rehearsal? The actors gather with the director and production stage manager to share a close reading of the script- out loud—together—for the first time.

Any of these might be considered the beginning of the production.

Our first rehearsal for Unshelved was this week. Frigid temperatures and piles of snow did not deter our intrepid cast from meeting – for the first time.

A first rehearsal is something like a first date- but you already know that you are married. You’ve already committed. There is no turning back!

For the director, seeing the actors assembled and hearing them read together for the first time is exciting—but it can also provoke a bit of nervousness. Will the right relationships happen with these actors? As a guest director, I traveled to Chicago months before rehearsals were to begin for the auditions and casting. Time constraints meant that although I saw each of my actors several times, I didn’t have the opportunity to see these actors working together. I knew, I had every confidence, that this was my Audrey, this was my Bill, this was my Rye, this was my Eloise. Yet I hadn’t seen Debra working with Mike; I hadn’t seen Johnny working with Michelle.

Will this assembly work?

I am happy to report that this assembly will work, and work beautifully.

For more information on how you can engage with this production- at every "stage" of the process- click here.

*Use discount code "Audrey10" when ordering your ticket to save $10!

The journey begins

Tomorrow is the day for the auditions/orientation for Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechuan presented by Full Impact Theater. I have "come out of retirement" to direct this show, long one of my favorites.

Tomorrow is the "beginning" although as the director, I've already been doing a lot of work. I've been researching the play, the era and place, and my particular tweaks on them. I have met with my production assistants. I've visited the two different stages on which this production will be performing.

So, maybe I began when I agreed to direct this play, some months ago.

Or maybe I began back in the 1990s, when I mused aloud how much I'd like to direct this play. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my troupe plotted behind my back to see if they could get together a group of alumni from my youth troupe to surprise me with a production-- but alas, too many had graduated and moved to diverse and distant destinations.

Or maybe I began in 1976, when I attended a summer intensive program at American University in D.C. In  one of our classes, we workshopped this play and I fell in love with its possibilities.

Bringing this play to life, beginning this particular production, who knows when it started?

Tomorrow, though, is a new step.

Everything's an Audition

Recently I was discussing the proposed rehearsal schedule for the musical I will be directing this summer.

"You don't have an audition day," said one of the music directors.

I noted that I intended for the music and dance directors to arrange their auditions to meet their needs. I said, "But I don't need one for acting. We will be working with the team for two weeks before casting, and that is all I will need."

I said that, especially for young actors, auditions aren't necessarily useful. I pointed out that some don't read well cold, and then do well on stage; that some read beautifully at auditions, but then do not connect with the other actors in rehearsal or performance. In playing together, in those first weeks, we get a better feel for the team as a whole, for how we work together.

That's my preferred method of working through casting, as I have noted.

Besides (though I didn't say this at our brief production meeting), everything is an audition.

When you walk in, you make an impression. When you introduce yourself, you make another impression.

Visiting with other actors as you fill out paperwork, you make an impression.

How your treat the stage manager makes a huge impression. How you greet the auditors, how you thank the auditors and leave, these actions make additional impressions.

There's more. How you work with the team for this show is an audition for the next show. How you react when you don't get the part you want- or how you react when you do- this is an audition.

It's true beyond the world of theater, too. Any time you interact with others, you are making impressions- auditioning, if you will.

I don't mean that you are, or should be, always "on." Quite the contrary- what a director is looking for, what a potential new boss is looking for, is the real you.

Relax, and be yourself.

Because that's who I'd like to get to know.

beginnings: a class act

My friend Lisa B- and there are a lot of Lisas in my story- asked how I got started with my youth theater troupes. How did I fund them?

So, it's as a good a place as any to begin to answer Lisa's questions, and start to outline the journey I have had with youth theater.

I had joined a 4-H club for home educators. This was a general 4-H club. Each of the project leaders- and I was now one- was to lead a project during the year. I created and directed a skit, based on my skill set.

It was fun, low key, well received.

Another 4-H club was doing an adaptation of Midsummer Night's Dream- could I come and give some advice? So I did.

And I thought: I love Shakespeare! Why haven't I done Shakespeare with my kids?

So I founded a 4-H club, Class Act Drama, to introduce kids ages 5-19 to theater arts. I founded this club in 1992.

The advantages to starting this troupe as a 4-H club were several. Because 4-H is an established youth organization, we started out with some name recognition, and connections to a larger organization and its resources. As a 4-H club, we had access to group insurance for $1 / member, for liability purposes.

Also, the structures and forms of the organization gave us a place to start for internal structures. Later, when I founded the independent group Michigan Youth Theater, I borrowed heavily from the 4-H forms for media release, for medical/insurance info and release, for set up for database info.

For this organization, we charged minimal dues- $5/child*- which covered the insurance costs, and paper, copying and so on. We were able to get free rehearsal spaces, in part thanks to the 4-H label.

When it came to our first production, Taming of the Shrew in spring of 1993, each of the families chipped in for each of their kids' costumes. We found a theater that would let us use their stage- on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday- for $100.

I put up the $100, figuring I might never see it again.

However, I was paid back. This, and every production that has been seen through to performance, ended in the black.

Our funding came from: volunteering and donations from participant families; "well-wisher ads" in the program; admission donations for the performance; donations for the refreshments.

Well-wisher ads are greetings from parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or friends- one-liners in the program such as "Gloria, you will always be our star!- love, Gramma and Gramps"- for $5. These ads- and later, actual ads from businesses- have always covered the cost of the program, and then some.

Refreshments were donated by the participant families, so any money collected for them was profit for the troupe.

Class Act Drama went on to produce several plays, present workshops, visit television studios and more.

As Class Act grew, I learned more and more about how to run a successful theater troupe. We also developed a core group of young theater artists and their families who were ready to try for the next level of theater excellence.

So we decided to found a new troupe, independent of 4-H, for older youth who wanted a more intense, professional level experience. We created Michigan Youth Theater.

*For Class Act, and for Michigan Youth Theater, I established from the outset that an inability to pay would never be an impediment for participation. Family discounts and scholarships were set up for each organization.

beginnings and endings

As the current chapter in my theater life draws to a close, and new chapters are waiting to be written (literally- written!) I reflect back on some of the beginnings.

Although I fell in love with theater earlier, my first on-stage experience didn't happen until I was a freshman in high school when I landed the lead role in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". Incredible casting, since at that point I was not blonde, voluptuous or preferred- but to be fair, my romantic lead was nothing like a gentleman, either.

It was an odd beginning for the woman and theater artist I have become: "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" is a fluffy little comedy about sex appeal being the way to get a man; about a woman's assets being her- well, physical, not spiritual or mental, attributes.

One of the girls in the cast, a senior, tried to teach me how to walk with a wiggle in my non-existent hips.

The theater department found a blond wig for me.

I was costumed in red satin "flapper style" dresses, though I had nothing whatever to flap.

For the woman I am now- a believer in the complexity and depth of all human beings, a devotee of Shakespeare and others who explore the infinite variety and diversity of the human experience- it was, to say the least, an incongruous place to start.


But.

I made them laugh, and I was hooked.

audition/orientation

The announcements have gone out.

They look like this:

It's time!
Time to kick off the MYT 2009 season with our spring production of
Shakespeare's
Twelfth Night!
Rehearsals: March & April Performances: April 30, May 1 & 2
Audition/Orientation:Monday March 2
4:30 - 5:30 OR 6:00-7:00Holly Academy School820 Academy Road Holly, MI. Pick one session or the other to try out for the show.
Mandatory meeting:
Wednesday, Mar 46:00 pm- 8:00 pmMandatory all company meeting. If you want to be in the show, show up! Bring a parent and all your paperwork and fees. There will be design presentation and sign up for production tasks-- and snacks, of course!
Cast list will be posted Thursday, March 4. ALL PAPERWORK AND FEES DUE BY WEDNESDAY. You will not be cast if the necessary paperwork is not turned in.
First read through:
Saturday, Mar 711:00 am- 2:00 pmRead through script; measurements taken; and snacks, of course!
MYT membership dues: $25. Show fee: $40. Discounts available for multiple family members. Financial aid forms available. Please email me at lisajhk@comcast.net if you have any questions

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Here is where I trust the universe to send me what I need, or at least what I can work with.

new direction

I'm about to begin my newest project. I will be directing Twelfth Night. This is my third time directing Shakespeare's comedy.

In my recently completed doctoral studies, I have learned the importance of writing it down. History is quite literally written by those who write.

So I will be writing from the beginning with this project.