In my theatrical career I have worked with good directors and bad directors. I have worked with directors who had a clear vision for the production and directors who did not have a single clue what they want. I have never worked with a director so focused on developing a sense of ensemble amongst the cast as Amy has done with us and plans on doing when we start rehearsals. Personally, I think it is an ideal model to follow and is an idea borrowed while working on a play I recently directed: Laundry and Lies.
This was not my first official go-round with directing it was however, my first time directing for a official venue like Studio. From the very beginning of rehearsals I always tried to give my actors the utmost respect and adopt a “no worries” attitude. Also I made sure we did a group warm-up every day that included ensemble building exercises. I stole the 12-6-4 exercise we did with Amy, group counting, and some exercises of my own concoction. It made rehearsals fun and when it was time to start working everyone was willing and ready.
I did everything I could to make sure I was developing a solid trusting relationship between me and my cast; more importantly between the cast members themselves. I have work on productions where there was no sense of ensemble between any of the people working together and it was a miserable experience. Know that Amy is all about building the ensemble in an effort to bring about a better production make me even more happy I signed up for this project.
I understand where Gary is coming from when working with a variety of directors. I think the class in general has brought a different sense of attachment to the play. Because we are putting this production together under the guise of the classroom rather than rehearsals, I find the ensemble work much more useful. Normally as an actor, I would never seek my cast members advice or critiques---I find giving or receiving criticism with fellow actors completely unprofessional. But through this process, I loved getting my classmates input! It created a totally different kind of ensemble that I really haven't had with any other cast. I feel like there is a new kind of trust between all of us as we have worked on this project and I am glad that you focused on that with your show. It was a wonderful product!
ReplyDeleteWhat I really loved the day I got to watch a rehearsal of your show, was the obviousness of the sense of ensemble. You never told me you had been using the techniques from class, I never saw you say anything particularly pertaining to it to your actors, but how well they worked together stood out. During performances neither actor seemed the slightest bit nervous, if there was ever a line mess up or prop mishap, it never read to the audience. That's just good theatre! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteBut I think it is so cool haw all we have learning in this class really impacts all that we do on stage.
While I still consider myself to be very new to the world of theatre, I understand completely what Gary is talking about when he mentions the differences in directors. It is really astonishing how some directors don't do much of anything to improve the ensemble experience within a cast. I didn't get to see Laundry and Lies, but I know Gary well enough to trust that his work with his cast, and making them a solid ensemble, was visible to the core for all audience members. I'm sorry I didn't get to see it, but I heard it was great!
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