Shakespeare

Many years ago I directed a production of Twelfth Night with actors aged 7 to 17. After the show, an audience member- someone I knew well- asked in all seriousness how long it had taken me to "translate" the script.

He understood everything being said so well that he assumed I had changed the script.

I hadn't changed the script. The actors, Shakespeare and I had all done our jobs well enough that the audience entered into the world we created together and understood the characters, action and dialogue.

The audience enjoyed the show. They forgot it was Shakespeare. They forgot it was youth. They just had fun watching the comedy.

That's how it should be. Shakespeare is a theatrical genius; just do the *show*, and the audience will have a blast.

And wonder later how long it took you to translate the script from Shakespearean to understandable.

Why do theatre?

I believe that theatre has the power to transform lives. It certainly transformed my life. Theatre's power comes from its immediacy and its vital human connection. There is intimacy and relevancy in sharing the human story through theatre.

In my research as I teach and learn, I found this wonderful video that captures much of what I believe theatre can do. The video can be found at http://www.ted.com/talks/patsy_rodenburg_why_i_do_theater.html

How I write plays

There are many different ways to write plays, and sometimes I think I’ve tried them all. Some of the ways that I have started plays are adapting classics to modern relevance; writing parodies of current fads; and taking real people, relationships or events and adapting and fictionalizing them. I have also tried “now for something completely different” and gone for something original and outside my experience.

In The Faust Project, I led a group of teens in exploring Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus and Goethe’s Faust. The Faust legend is the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil for all knowledge and power. Our group analyzed the plot and characters of the two plays, then researched what we thought would be forbidden knowledge today. Then we wrote a play with similar characters and plot but set in today’s world.

In creating the interactive play Julia, I took the plot and characters from Julius Caesar, and adapted those characters into the modern day in an urban teen girl gang. In Shakespeare’s play, Brutus is led by Cassius to betray his friend Julius Caesar, for Caesar, in becoming emperor, has challenged the very meaning of the Roman republic. Brutus is torn by conflicting loyalties: loyalty to friends, loyalty to Rome (his country/community), loyalty to his own ideals. In Julia, Julius Caesar became Julia Sierra, who is capturing media attention and trying to bring her gang “legit”, threatening the relationships and community of their world. Brutus became Ruth, Cassius became Cassie.

In each of the above cases, I took an established play, borrowed the plot and the characters to fit the needs of the new play I was creating. It is important to note that I didn’t just take a play and change the names; the characters changed to fit the new setting and the new conflicts in the new play.

I had lots of fun in writing Nightlight: Vampires Afraid of the Dork, a parody of the Twilight series. Again, using the characters and storyline from an established work, I twisted and tweaked for humorous effect- real groaners, I am not kidding. For instance, Bella Swan became Smella Duck, and her father, Charlie the police chief, carried donuts and Dunkin Donuts coffee with him everywhere. Jacob Black, member of the tribe, became Jacob Schwartz, who commented that he was not related to Sitting Bull, although they were both Sioux (pronounced “Sue”), Sitting Bull was a member of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux, while Jacob was a member of the Yo Mama, She Gotta Sue.

CHEESY. Yes, but it got a laugh. In writing a parody, you are making fun of what you are satirizing by exaggerating and twisting out of shape.

Another great source, because you know it so well, is your own life and relationships. Ruth and Naomi is a play I am writing that started with examining the relationship that I had with my mother-in-law (of blessed memory). Our relationship started out as a difficult one; we came from very different backgrounds, and I was marrying her youngest son, her baby. Over time, we came to have a great relationship built on mutual respect. The beginning, however, was undoubtedly rocky. And I thought: what if? What if a mother-daughter-in-law relationship had that same rocky start- but the son/husband died? And what if the women were still tied together by an unborn child? So my play Ruth and Naomi got its start.

The play Ruth and Naomi also uses another technique: your own take on Biblical or mythical tales. In the Book of Ruth in the Bible, Ruth loves her mother-in-law so much that Ruth leaves her own homeland to follow Naomi. In my play Ruth and Naomi, the two women dislike and distrust one another, but each has an investment that keeps them bound together even after the death of the man they shared.

Finally, there are the works that are completely original. In my play Hootchy Kootchy Coo, a group of strippers discover that one of their troupe is pregnant. She is determined to keep the baby, but she really needs the job. The unlikely group become friends as they band together to hide the pregnancy and “cover” her stripping acts until the baby comes and transforms them all. In this play, I am interested in exploring the concept of women as sexy and women as mothers: two roles that in our society seem opposed and irreconcilable.

An idea can come from anywhere. It might be a childhood story, a family incident, a scrap of conversation overheard at a coffee shop. In your mind, a story begins. Write it down. Challenge your characters with obstacles to overcome in achieving their heart’s desires. Soon, you will have a play!

the value of the director

Sometimes I have my doubts as to my value as a director; or indeed, the value of a director at all. Sometimes, doesn't it just seem that a good script and a good cast could do it on their own?

WELL-

1. Choosing an excellent script and casting it well are two of the director's most important tasks- sooo even if it seems they direct themselves, in fact the "click" that happens is due to the director.

2. When the director doesn't fulfill the tasks of directing- reading, interpreting, communicating the script to the many and varied artists-of-the-theater actors, designers, promoters- the entire fabric falls apart.

This was well demonstrated to me recently by one of the student teams doing the group project in my intro class. The director did not have a grasp of the play, and therefore all the different projects of scene design, costume design, poster design were disjointed, unconnected, lacked relevance and significance to character, plot or mood.

Once again, bad art illuminates the almost invisible *good* art of directing.

An Introduction to Theatre

I've been teaching Intro to Theatre for some time now. Recent events have me musing on what the purpose of such a class might be.

One important purpose is to develop new audiences.

Theatre has so much to compete with for entertainment in today's world. Television - now cable, high definition, 3-D! Movies- in theatres, on DVDs, STREAMING!

Not too mention sporting events of all types. And video games! And social networking!

What chance does theatre have? Without a live audience, there is no theatre.

And that is what we must capitalize on: theatre is live- intimate - in person. The physical, sensual presence of the live actor engaging with the energy of the live audience is something that technology cannot replicate.

Introduction to theatre- when it includes a requirement to GO and SEE SOME SHOWS- is an opportunity to bring this live experience to those who may never have tried it otherwise.

And once there- good theatre will do the rest.

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.

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.

Casting

Casting is one of the most difficult of the director's tasks. Getting the right actor into the right role is a critical decision for the success of the production. In fact, one old saw has it that "80% of good directing is good casting."

So how do you do it?

Because I work in youth theater, and because
-process
-learning
-freedom to create
-empowering young people

are all high values, I often invite input from the soon-to-be actors on the audition sheet. I ask the auditioners to list their top 3 choices, if they could be ANYONE in the play. I state that while there are no guarantees, I will take their interests into consideration.

In more recent years, I have given the option to just list "small, medium or large" part. I have also started including a question allowing actors to note parts they would NOT want to play.

This has been very helpful for me. Often, the young people have a far more keen insight than one might expect into what they are ready for or will fit for them.

Still, since I often direct Shakespeare, where there are about 6 or 7 male parts for every female part, and because I am directing youth actors where there are 4 or 5 female actors for every male actor, I still have my challenges.

Even though I ask for the top THREE choices, I will still get auditioners filling out forms that say 1. Kate 2. Kate 3. Kate.

I agonize over casting. I spend a long time over it. Lately I've taken to creating a spread sheet of all the characters, then listing under each character the actors who would like to play it.

At least then I can get a visual.

AND I also, more often than not, have two complete casts per production. Double the rehearsals, double the fun...

This helps a bit more than it impedes the casting process.

So:

I have a list of characters; I have a list of actors who want to play the characters. I also have my "feel" for each of the characters. Orlando should be taller than Rosalind. Rosalind should be playful and witty.

At some point, I have to bite the bullet. Letting all the above information roll around in my head and my heart, I then write out the cast(s) that work for me and with my group. Then I double/triple/quadruple check, to make sure that I haven't cast brother and sister in roles where they have to kiss each other, to make sure that I haven't cast someone in THE ONE ROLE THEY WILL NOT DO, to make sure that I have respected scheduling conflicts to the best of my ability.

I take a deep breath.

And I send it out.

Almost invariably, by a few weeks into rehearsal, no one can imagine the play being cast any other way. Each actor comes to love his or her role.

ALMOST invariably.

Yet, every time, it is a struggle.

So, when you see the role you've been cast in, and it isn't your top choice, take a moment to realize in many, many places, there are those who aren't cast at all. And, for a caring director, this casting process was a difficult one, invested with love, care and artistic vision-- and a bit of pain and worry, too!