As actors and directors prepare to work together for the first time, it’s natural for a cast member to wonder, “Will this director collaborate with me or will I be told ‘It’s my way or the highway’?” Directors, of course, know actors are preposterously and uniformly easy to get along with. Right?
Six local theatre directors, several of whom are among this year’s Ovation nominees (the awards will be handed out on Jan. 17, 2011), talked about how they relate to actors. Since most directors say they employ a collaborative spirit, I looked for someone who would be willing to admit they’re as autocratic as the day is long.
No such luck.
John de Lancie
John de Lancie
The closest I came was not close enough. John de Lancie often is associated with the omnipotent and mischievous Star Trek character Q but has directed operas and several plays for, among others, LA Theatre Works.
“My being autocratic,” he says, “is not about doing things my way but, rather, it’s about articulating a vision up front and getting to the acting work immediately. How I organize rehearsals is dependent on how much time is allotted. LA Theater Works gives me two days. For operas, I’m given two weeks.”
Not much time, considering. De Lancie adds, “Working efficiently is the name of the game. Even so, I like to keep my rehearsals short and focused. It gives the actors time to do their homework. Film actors and opera singers arrive at rehearsals off book. If we could gently nose theatre actors in that direction we could get further in the rehearsal process.”
That said, de Lancie is a big believer in the actor’s maxim: “If you force me to perform during rehearsals, you will compel me to rehearse during performances.” First and foremost, rehearsals are about digging a deep foundation. I go so far as to discourage performing during rehearsals. “Don’t act what you don’t know.” As the director, my job is to make sure we all ‘know’ and to then get out of the way as soon as possible.”
De Lancie eschews multiple table reads. “Why? Because actors need to get on their feet. That’s why it’s called ‘Acting’ and not ‘Reading or Talking.’ Long table reads are enervating.”
After establishing a shared vision and getting a fair amount of technical issues (beats, events, etc.) out into the open, “we get on our feet so that everyone’s good ideas can be translated into action. That’s where the rubber meets the road. That’s where you find out if things work or not. And while I have a very clear picture of how the scene might ultimately ‘look’ I don’t arbitrarily block.”
If the foundation has been properly laid, he says, blocking is usually organically discovered by the actors as they explore the scene. “I want the actors to own their choices. I want my job with the actors to be that of an ‘encourager.’ I want them free of me as soon as possible. Remember, after the actors are nicely telling the story, I still need to focus on whether the lighting is telling the story and the costumes, etc. etc. In the end, I’m forever the uber-audience member looking for a coherent, unified and hopefully thrilling experience that is only achievable when everyone and everything on stage has a shared point of view.”
De Lancie has found leisurely ambling towards that “new world” doesn’t work as well as “tearing roughly through the gates” – especially when the production is under serious time constraints.
Shirley Jo Finney
Shirley Jo Finney
While John de Lancie “wants to get the production on its feet as soon as possible,” Shirley Jo Finney uses table reads “to understand the play and who I’m working with.”
Ovation-nominated for her direction of the Fountain Theatre’s The Ballad of Emmett Till, Finney likes to gather casts around the table for a couple days. “Most of my work,” she says, “is developing new material so we’re at the table until we understand what we’re working toward. The production is the star.”
She wants to know how the material speaks to each actor as individuals. “We share that common experience [of a table read] and that’s where the ensemble is built. Who are these human beings who have to share intimate moments with one another? This is where trust is built.”
When Finney, who received an MFA from UCLA in 1973, reads a script, it hits her viscerally. She has spent much of this year working on The Passion of Winnie, an opera about controversial South African politician Winnie Mandela. It premieres on Freedom Day 2011 in Johannesburg. Her direction is informed by her love of people. “I don’t claim to know everything. I work from a real organic sensibility. I will talk feelings and emotions. What human experience do we want the audience to leave with? Fear? Family? Phobia? We set that intention and then work with a design team to create the color palette, the music of the piece.”
For her, it isn’t so much what is said but what is left unsaid. “I like to work on the meta. My journey is about the mind-spirit. How am I affecting another human being? That’s an inner journey.” And it’s one that guides her when she encounters an actor whose “inner journey” is on a different plane than her own.
“I look for the person’s strengths and to pull the best of that person into the role. The ensemble will keep that actor on point. I can’t dwell on the weakness. Directing,” Finney believes, “is a study in human behavior as is acting.”
Finney’s entrance into The Ballad of Emmett Till took her – and so many others – by tragic surprise when original director Ben Bradley was found murdered in his apartment, one of the first homicides in Los Angeles this year. “We always want a lot of lead time when we rehearse a show,” says Finney. “But I got a call on New Year’s Day from [Fountain Theatre’s artistic director] Stephen Sachs to become a surrogate for a wounded group. All my years of my own mythology helped me to create a safe space. You never know how you’ll step up.”
Janet Miller
Janet Miller
Janet Miller agrees a director is responsible for creating a safe space for actors. “As director it’s up to me to set the working climate. It is very important my actors feel safe and supported.”
For Miller, the line between directing and choreographing often is blurred. Sometimes it’s merged. A self-described straightforward director, she received an Ovation nomination this year for choreographing The Marvelous Wonderettes at Musical Theatre West. “There is a difference, yes, but for me, the approach is the same. How can I best tell the story, whether it is through dance or movement, blocking or scene work.”
She is fine with tables reads when time and resources permit. On most occasions, she says, there isn’t the luxury either so, “I like to get my actors on their feet as soon as possible so we can start the blocking process and address questions and concerns as we work through the text physically.”
Miller started out with an interest in choreography, so when she directs straight plays, “I block my actors as I feel the movement of the characters inform the story and their relationships on stage. Since I am looking at the ‘big picture,’ just like choreographing a dance piece, it becomes quite clear to me where the characters move in order to tell our story cleanly.” She admits she directs without much fuss or bother, or “Big Concepts.”
She will give actors leeway to try their own ideas. “I let them try it and if it works well for my actor, I will need to adjust my thought process by letting that piece of the story sit until the next time we revisit it. Other times, I know their idea will not work with the story we are telling.” That’s when discussion is in order. “Usually a happy medium is reached.”
And if not? “I just say, ‘Let’s leave it this way for now and we will see how it works as we progress.’ Other times I just say ‘No’ but with a smile.”
Michael Michetti
Michael Michetti
For Michael Michetti, it’s all about getting to the end result. “Sometimes I’ll have a disagreeable actor in a totally agreeable production. He or she will have a different idea about something. The balance is honoring the actor’s process and making sure the overall vision is maintained. It’s not about making good friends – it’s about making good art.”
Michetti garnered two Ovation nominations this year: one for directing Carousel at Reprise and another for Tom Jacobson’s The Twentieth Century Way, a two-man tour de force with Will Bradley and Robert Mammana at Boston Court. It subsequently traveled to the New York International Fringe Festival.
“I put a lot of thought and pre-planning into a show,” Michetti says. “I also encourage my actors to fully participate under certain guidelines. I hire smart and facile actors and give them my rules of the world so they can make smart choices within those rules.”
Those rules, he says, depend on the play. “If it’s something based in history or a different time period or style, then I come in with a lot of research. I also tend to do a lot of table work. If I have the time, I’ll sit around a table for a full week with actors and discuss themes, research and style. Once we’re all on the same page in approach, then it goes up on its feet.”
When he directs for Reprise, Michetti is under a time crunch, usually two weeks to fully mount an off-book production. “At Reprise, we start on a Tuesday morning and I like to talk for an hour or so about the show and then do a table read. This freaks people out because there’s so little time to rehearse but I feel it’s very helpful in getting actors to discover more about their characters and intentions.”
Michetti, however, is not an actor. “It would be arrogant of me to assume I know everything about a character. [Bradley and Mammana] would make observations that would inform Tom [Jacobson] and me. Really smart actors advocate a change and sometimes expose a misunderstanding in the writing.”
Jon Lawrence Rivera
Jon Lawrence Rivera
Another Boston Court production this year earned an Ovation nomination for Jon Lawrence Rivera. The director helmed Luis Alfaro’s Oedipus el Rey. “On a scale of 1-10, I would be a 7 or 8 in terms of being collaborative,” Rivera says. “Maybe less so with my students at USC.”
If Rivera has a five-week rehearsal schedule, he will spend the first week seated at a table to talk about plot history, the world of the text, the relationships between characters “and the history that’s not on the page.”
A lot of his work, he says, is exploration. “I work instinctively and emotionally.” And when an actor doesn’t catch on to a character’s history, Rivera says through a laugh, “I try to get them to an understanding. ‘Let’s just try this and you can prove to me it’s all wrong but I need you to at least try it so I can see it.’ I may even try something I know is wrong just to get the actor to where I want him. Just prove me wrong, I tell them.”
Rivera this year moved from the testosterone-driven Oedipus el Rey to the subtle, pristine Calligraphy at LA Theatre Center. “I can’t impose a Latino aggressive quality in this work. It’s Japanese and so different with four women. I have to find the right tone for each piece and work with the actors accordingly.”
Oanh Nguyen
Oanh Nguyen
The Chance Theatre’s Oanh Nguyen likes to spend no more than two or three days on table reads. “I like to do a lot of the work on our feet.” He tells actors, “Let’s learn from the words and the air between the words. There’s spatial value at play – how far away actors are from one another equates to how comfortable they are. You can’t always see this on paper when you’re seated.”
Nguyen’s Ovation nomination is for directing Tommy, which gets another run in February 2011 at Orange County Performing Arts Center. Most of the cast, he says, will return.
“I think as directors we always try to create a safe place to explore,” says Nguyen, “but it’s easier said than done. Some actors are more comfortable talking about themselves and their characters around a table; others, on their feet. And some are more comfortable talking privately after rehearsal.”
Nguyen’s goal with a cast is finding clarity. “It’s all sort of a multi-layered theatrical event. I work really hard to make sure we all live in the same play and, believe me, that’s not a no-brainer. I decide what the show will look like and create the rules of the world of the play. This is especially important in an intimate space like the Chance.”
Blocking gets his eye. “I know that normal people don’t walk facing out. We don’t live in a proscenium world and we have to make sure the audience is paid attention to.”
And if push comes to shove between actor and director? “If there’s a moment of contention between actor and director, the actor always wins,” says Nguyen. “You have to trust their instinct. They bring so much to the table. Usually you find something that sheds new light on what you want.”
He recalls a mistake he made in his early directing days. “A play called Warsaw Ghetto.
An actor who played a Nazi soldier said he didn’t want to make him into a monster and I agreed wholeheartedly. But he still had to be scary. We went through the rehearsal process, the show opened, got great reviews. I came back three weeks later to find the actor had drawn Frankenstein-like scars on his face. I should have waited until after the show to ask him if he remembered what we had talked about but…. It took him about 30 seconds to realize he should remove the scars. And he did.”
Janet Miller leads rehearsal
Shirley Jo Finney sums up her approach to directing as a joint effort toward finding the truth. “I don’t care how you get to it. It’s not by starting at page one and ending on the final page. It’s looking at the lives before the first words appear on the page.”
She teaches directors how to work with actors. “We are mythmakers. It isn’t just people on the stage but it’s the audience, too. I see myself through those actors if I’m in the audience. Bottom line, if I pay for a ticket, I want to have an experience!”
“As an actor,” says John de Lancie, “the best thing a director can say to me in the first few days is that I’m ‘wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!’ I know I have a lot of miles to go but in the beginning, I’m just a Piper Cub that has to get off the runway. Once I’m up in the air, we can pile on the baggage and I won’t crash but until I’m clear of the ground just lather me with compliments even if they are not true in the moment. I want it as an actor and I do it as a director. It takes a lot of courage to perform and the very least a director can do is to be clear, encouraging.”
Another trick of good directing, he says, may be found in an anecdote from his days at Juilliard. “The place was run by John Houseman. One day I got on the elevator. It was just Housemen and me. He said, ‘John, do you know how I became successful’? I said, ‘No, John. How?’ ‘I hired the best people, I let them to do their work and it all came back under my name.’”
That’s how.
