My Thoughts on DIrecting

Theatre is a live event designed to guide the audience through a narrative, and the audience is metaphorically a participant in this event. My focus as a director is to innovate this theatrical form. Beyond immersing the audience in the story, I strive to create theatre that challenges the audience on their role in the arts. The art of directing is to create a world where the audience suspends all belief to follow this narrative while also creating a safe and equitable rehearsal environment for all artists to collaborate.

In order to honor the narrative of each piece with which I engage as a director, I lead the rehearsal room on a text-first basis. All choices must be honored by the text. I emphasize a mechanical understanding of every beat, character, line, and stage direction. From what perspectives does the playwright write? How does each event serve the next? What aesthetic elements does this piece invoke? It is my job to find this information and translate it for both the artists creating the piece and the audience watching it.

As a director, I believe that every piece of theatre should be able to clearly tell us what is happening, even if there is no dialogue. Movement is a visual language that transcends verbal language barriers, and if onstage movement is not both logical and visually engaging, it creates a disconnect with the world of the play. I also believe the power of improvisation in the rehearsal space. Improvisation exercises are essential tools in the rehearsal room to truly inhabit the character emotionally and mechanically. As the actor discovers more about the character through these exercises, they will be able to address the emotional needs and desires of the character

As a director, I am also a collaborator. I believe in being a guiding hand for my team. It is my job to set designers up with information that is detailed enough to create a specific unified vision, but loose enough so that as artists they are free to create and explore with their talents. Working with actors requires the director to have the patience to discover the character, the excitement of finding each individual moment, the ability to be challenged, and most importantly, be wrong. A director is a human and is not infallible, and carrying that humility into the rehearsal space when you have misread the text is essential to build trust with your team. 

Lastly, I want to allow the audience to escape from their individual lives and become part of something bigger than themselves each time they enter the theatre. I want them to feel as if something like this would not happen without them. Each piece spoke to them and told them to take action to better themselves and their world. If I have accomplished that as a director, then I have done my job.