Have a good connection with your actors. In the overall view of things, I think I might have been a bit too nice with everybody, but I still got what I wanted.
- In the beginning of the process, I made it clear to everybody that if they were ever uncomfortable with anything, whether it be how to say a line, blocking, or motivations, that they should come to me, and we’ll work through it. They were hesitant at first, but then, they were comfortable enough that they could freely say, “Hey, could we work on this?” or “Hey, I don’t feel comfortable doing this, is there something else to I can do?” And that really helped me with finding the true problem spots and remedying the problem at the spot.
- Also, because it was such an easy going experience, the energy was usually great. There were a few rehearsal where people were sick. That will inevitably happen with all productions, and it effected some of the runs, but even then people had fun and enjoyed the process. I think this positive attitude showed clearly on the stage. It really helped the energy and the general level of commitment from the cast.
- There were times, I won’t lie, that I was scared I was too nice. A few rehearsal beginnings were elongated because my cast loved being around each other and just wanted to talk all the time. It was very hard to wrangle them in from time to time, even with Nikki’s help as stage manager. There were also times when my cast showed up just in time for rehearsal or a bit late, and I would be very passive aggressive about it. I’m not sure if I was threatening enough. I wasn’t scared of people disliking me, because everybody understands there’s friend mode and director mode, but I was scared of breaking the secure atmosphere that had developed. Because of all the positive energy, my actors weren’t afraid to try new things and explore different actions. It was a very fine line to walk.
- I still had a nasty habit of saying ’sorry’ a lot. That’s me in general, though. If you talk to me for an extended period of time, I will probably say sorry at like three times every ten minutes. I do think I gave off more confidence however. I wasn’t afraid to ask for what I wanted from them, and I wasn’t afraid of people not taking me seriously. That’s something I’ve come a long way from since my first directing experience, and even my directing show last semester, and I’m very proud of that growth. That’s the one thing I really wanted from this class: confidence. And I got it in spades.
Have your tech ready by tech week, because you never know what’s coming up. I personally didn’t have any designers, (something I was upset about, and something I will never do again - but it did help me grow).
- The one thing that really upset me over tech week, was the fact that it really wasn’t a week. More like tech couple days. From Wed. on, we had, or had anticipated, an audience every night on. And while they were informed that it was a rehearsal, not a show - I still feel it would have been distracting and ignorant to side coach, play bullshit, whatever with an audience right there. So all of that had to happen early on, along with the incorporation of all technical elements.
- One thing I would recommend to everybody is to take some time out of your schedule, and ask somebody who knows about the technical aspects of the studio to give you a basic run down. If I had not done this I would have been up shit creek. But the fact that I had previous asked how to run the board, I had asked Nate how to program it, and I had Anthony Lombardi help me trouble shoot - it saved me. This was my fist lighting design ever. Probably my last, because it is not my specialty. And while I thought it was a good job for what I needed, it could have been much better. But like I said, it was better than nothing. And if I can do a lighting design just from taking a few hours to talk to people, I think anybody can, to prevent disasters from happening in the future.
- I had done basic costume design for my shows before, but this was the first time it was an elaborate one. I had discussions with Anthony over email, and we both were pretty set on the idea that suits were essential for Phil and Allen. I also planned this out way early on in the rehearsal process. This left me a lot of time to do some goodwill searching, (as did my Gram). Will’s entire black suit cost around $12. Cameron’s white suit was a bit more ($80, which considering I got a full suit that was fitted to Cameron, it was a good deal). I also then had time over Spring Break to construct Hank’s apron. Aside from that though, everybody brought their own costumes for the other roles. I showed my designs and said the images that I associated with their characters design, and they ran with it. So while I did design, my actors should take part of the credit. But the good thing about do this early, was that we had working costumes even before “tech week”. By the time we had our first audience, during rehearsal, they had been comfortable with this.
- There were some issue with sound design just about every night. While the sound design was done, I had to use my computer a lot. For some reason, the sound board cd player would not read the disks I bought, twice. And for those of you who don’t know, it is better to use a cd than a computer or iPod. They still work, don’t get me wrong, but you get an slight annoying buzzing sound in the background when you use it like this. With making a cd, you’re fine. So while I had sound all tech, I had a working cd by Thursday. That’s something I wish I would have planned out better. Plus there were many times that the sound board was acting finicky. I’m not sure what was up with that - I’m not here claiming to know all that there is to do with the tech elements. Geoff and Simone seemed to have a better grasp and fixed it a few times for me. I think somebody had been messing with the wires and connections though, I can’t be certain. However, despite all this craziness, I had spent time working the transitions with music, since that was an integral part the the beginning middle and end of the show. I do love the way each song set up the play and the atmosphere (thank you Pandora for doing my job for me!). For those of you who don’t know about this site, Pandora.com is a radio page that lets you type in an artist, and they’ll only play songs similar to that style. All I did was type Flogging Molly, and most of my work was done for me. J
- Another thing I wish I had more time to work on was hair and make-up. While Joe was the only one really getting make-up (old age, and graying his hair), I would have loved to do more design. I was not sure what to do with Will’s crazy hair - it never listened and was always in his face. So towards the end, Simone gave him a chop - which I thank her for, as I am completely incompetent when it comes to styling hair. And because there was such a problem there, I had no real time to address anybody else’s styles. I think, by taking on too many design elements, this is the one section that completely got swept under the rug.
- After this long rant, I want it to be clear, that while I say to go out and learn the tech briefly(which is a good thing to do), make sure you know how to work everything properly before attempting anything. There is a certain order things need turned on and off, and there were a lot of times I’ve been in the Studio that it was done improperly. (side-note: That may have been why the sound system was acting up) Make sure you know how to operate the equipment so we have nice things in the future to keep!! Ok, I’ll come off the pedestal now.
Having a good stage manager is a great damn thing!
- Nikki was originally one of my auditioners who stepped up to the stage managing plate after the casting process. I could not have been more grateful. There were many times, (especially with a cast of people that were already good friends), when we would get completely off topic and crazy. She had the perfect sight for when we needed to just take that break and vent, and when we should get back on topic. She also stepped in a lot when people couldn’t make it due to illnesses or other excused absences, and she never complained. Along with that, she would join in the warm-ups, and helped with energy, and gave a new sight to things during the process. She would be my bouncing board for a lot of the process, and I think seeing a production from somebody else’s point of view is always a good thing to have. Gets you out of your own head, especially on a project you are already so close to. I really valued her opinion in that respect. Honestly, I think with my ADHD and absentmindedness, and the nature of my cast, if I had not had her there, we would not have come as far as we did. She has my complete gratitude for all her hard work.
And now, my thoughts on the outcome of the show:
. I was really pleased with the overall feel of everything. One thing that I really love about theater is the way it puts the audience in the atmosphere with the characters. And that’s something I think I accomplished pretty well. What I had wanted was the music at the beginning, and Hank’s demeanor as Sam, along with the dim lighting - still set in preshow, to give the feel of the bar. I wanted the audience to be there. That was also why I had Hank smoke the cigar (it never called for it, but it fit since there is a line about Sam smoking). I wanted the set to fit as many senses as possible: sight, sound, smell. I maybe should have gave the audience some rootbeer and made their seats sticky, but that would have been overkill. But for me personally, smell is really something that stirs up memories, and can bring you into a scene more than anything else. The sense memory behind it is tremendously great, and it’s something I wanted to incorporate.
. I found that giving my cast a few quick notes before the show was helpful. I forgot to do it the second night, and while it didn’t really take away too much, it was still something that bothered me. I don’t mean to say give notes like - change this, do it this way. That’s just crazy talk for before a show. But short stuff, like remember volume, keep your head up, find the humor, hold the still points; those were helpful. It was really just little stuff to keep in mind while out there. Along with that, I wish I would have worked more on holding for laughter. Some of my cast had a purely instinctual way of handling it, and others needed more guidance, and I really missed out on addressing that.
. If I had more time in the process, I wish I could have worked with Simone a bit more on finding the humor of her part. It was so angry to take most of it to anger, which is what was done. And it was done very well on her part. Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy with the outcome, but had I more time, I would have loved to play with levels there. I also wish I had more time to work with Cameron. I like to think that each director imparts some knowledge and technique onto their actors, and I don’t feel like I had enough time to do that in his case. I have worked with some of the cast before, and I feel like I still had left an imprint, but Cameron is still new here. He has a great sense for this type of thing, and he was amazing to work with (he was always a little ball of energy - it was fun to mold him into the character), but I don’t feel like I had spent enough time with him to impart too much. That was the nature of this beast though - with a larger cast, sickness, and stress from classes, the process got a bit rushed towards the end. One thing I would have liked to do with his portrayal of Allen, was to clearly define the still points. Being the little ball of energy that he is, he was always bouncing around the stage, and I wanted to take more time to chill him out and find spots to rest. We did work on it a lot, but that was one area I don’t believe I got his full potential out of.
. My favorite parts of the show were the transitions. Hank is a genius, and I encourage all of you to try and work with him if you have the opportunity. I basically gave him a Commedia set-up. I gave him a scenario, told him what needed done during the transition, and I showed him where to put everything, and then he ran with it. Hank took every direction I gave, and added his out style to all of it. If I could work with people that were all like Hank, my job would do itself.
. Another pleasant surprise was Will taking the initiative to do a Brooklyn accent. I was very up front with him: I encouraged him to try, and I would support him in his decision to do it, but I could not give him director notes on it, aside from words becoming unintelligible. I will admit, and those of you who took dialects last semester will bear witness, I have no ear for dialects, at all. But Will really felt the character needed it, and I loved the choice as well, so he took it and went. I was impressed by his courage in this, and I loved him for taking those chances for me.
. I also really loved the moment when Allen first entered the bar. The smoke and lighting worked out just the way I wanted to (which took much work). There were problem with this though. Originally, Joe never sang choir music in the background. That came from the issue of the fog machine. When it was pumping out fog, it was a very noisy little machine, and we were brainstorming ways of overcoming this. And then Joe started singing angelic music, and I did the awful director habit of screaming “Keep it!”. And it turned out to be one of my favorite moments.
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All in all, I think my show went over really well. My last post was a worry for nothing post. The energy was amazing both nights, and everybody put their all into the show. I was very happy with the outcome, and I think it showcased beautifully the progress I’ve made in establishing my role as a director.
