All this week LA STAGE Times will present coverage of Directors Lab West 2011 with reports from DLW production coordinator Doug Oliphant.  Click here to view all DLW 2011 updates.

Monday, June 13 and Tuesday, June 14

Directors Lab West Sessions 2011

Each year the Lab chooses a theme around which all its sessions are based and a play around which many group workshops are organized. For 2011 the theme is “Exploring the Bigger Picture” and the play The Good Person of Szechwan.

Space:  The Final Frontier

“For our new offices we should have decided on a sliding window between our offices…with bullet-proof glass.” – Geoff Elliott (A Noise Within)

Day 3 of the lab kicked off with back-to-back dual artistic director partnerships, the first being Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott of A Noise Within.  Convening at the Theatre @ Boston Court, the Elliotts spoke to the Lab about their transition out of their old space in Glendale and into their new home in Pasadena.  One of the standout differences between the two venues is the prospect of the new audience they could draw from in Pasadena.  While A Noise Within has developed a very strong following during their Glendale days, the idea of a new audience that comes from a city with a tightly knit community seems a better fit for them—especially if you consider that they are one of the last remaining companies in the country with their own resident repertory company.  A Noise Within’s success since its inception in 1992 is truly a testament to excellent collaboration between artistic partners and dedication to both the artistic integrity of the work and the task of running a business.  Los Angeles has a lot to look forward to with this company and the work it will be able to produce in a more efficient and attractive space.

Exploring the Bigger Picture of the Smaller Space

“Scheduling a season by passion is a very exciting place.” – Jessica Kubzansky (Boston Court)

While lacking the marriage that may aid the Elliotts in creating a split artistic partnership, artistic directors Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti of Theatre @ Boston Court make their company run through mutual respect and admiration they share for each other’s work.  It also certainly helps them that their strengths lie in different areas, and they can therefore divide the position’s workload up and play off each other’s strengths.  A huge advantage they shared with us was their ability to do outside work, or rather freelance work outside of their own theater.  Should a freelance job present itself to one of them, the other assumes all AD responsibilities and vice-versa.  Kubzansky and Michetti went on to talk about the 8-year history of the theater, their mission to create “passionate, artist-driven theater that challenges both artist and audience,” and where they hope to take the theater in the future.  We ended with a tour around the space. Even after eight years, both Kubzansky and Michetti admit they giggle to themselves often over how lucky they are to have fallen into such great positions.

Upside Down You’re Turning Me

“We replaced the songs in Musical Theater with circus acts.” -Rex Camphuis (Troupe Vertigo)

Members of Troupe Vertigo perform for the directors at their Cirque School space in Hollywood

The day of artistic partnerships continued as we all piled into cars and drove into Hollywood for a visit to Rex Camphuis and Aloysia Gavre’s Cirque School, home to their theater company Troupe Vertigo.  After having so many thought-heavy sessions where we would sit and try to follow every word the presenter would speak, so that we too may one day be able to follow their path to artistic directorship, Camphuis and Gavre’s story was so far removed from the traditional theater career path it gave everyone a great sense of freedom to sit back and let the spectacle of their careers entertain you.  Not only did they have visual representation in their presentation on the Troupe’s history, but they had three performers with them (Gavre being one of them) who demonstrated some of the incredible acts their company can perform.  Their contortionist did an amazing routine where she served wine with her feet!  Rest assured that everyone’s fantasies were fulfilled, as a man with rippling muscles and dashingly good looks danced a salsa acro-dance with Gavre — and in the least likely position any of us will ever find ourselves in, ended the act with a gentle kiss.  Needless to say, our entire group was eager to skip upcoming sessions to come back to Cirque School and take classes—their motto “Anybody with any body” is a great representation of the generosity of this group and their ability to take an individual and work with what they’ve got.

The Gods Have Spoken

“Won’t cake stealing damage the reputation of the shop?” – Line from Good Person of Szechwan

Closing out the day, we all headed back to the Playhouse for a practical session where the labbies would have to create a performance piece.  This may seem simple to most, but please remember that this is DIRECTOR’S conference, and therefore attempting to create a performance piece with a group of strong-minded directors is far from simple.  The steering committee divided up the group into four smaller groups who had about an hour to go off and create their piece.  They were given a few requirements—incorporate a line from The Good Person of Szechwan, keep the piece under five minutes in length, relate it to the theme ‘Exploring the Bigger Picture’ and include a line or moment from the previous night’s Tony Awards.  A true test of collaboration, the directors went off and some became actors, some had more influence in the direction, some got to do more of the playwriting aspect, but everyone had to get off their high-horse and work together.  In performance, everyone’s creativity shone and the evening proved to be a major success as each group grew a little more connected with one another and opened themselves up to work in ways they aren’t accustomed to working in.

Theater through an Interpreter

“You should see deaf people at home. We are very noisy people.” – Tyrone Giordano (Deaf West)

Deaf actors Catherine MacKinnon and Tyrone Giordano teach the directors basic ASL signs

Tuesday morning offered an experience unlike any I have ever had the chance to witness—a practical workshop on working with deaf actors and translators.  This being something completely foreign to me, I was initially hesitant, thinking I wouldn’t find practical use in this as working with deaf actors isn’t in the line of work I do.  I know I was not alone in these thoughts, but after you got past the fact that these actors were deaf, past the fact that their physical voices came through an interpreter, and past the fact that this may not be “in your line of work,” you were completely captivated by the usability of deaf actors in theatre.  Tyrone Giordano and Catherine MacKinnon lead us through American Sign Language, translated by Lindsay W. Evans, addressing the use of deaf actors in American theater.  Deaf West is the central hub for work in Los Angeles, but they hope that over time people will be more open to the creative potential a deaf actor can offer a production, and directors won’t be afraid to take that risk when casting.  Giordano engaged the directors in learning a handful of practical signs to communicate with actors, including “speed up,” “slow down,” “more urgent,” and “breathe” and followed with a performance integrating both voice actors and deaf actors.  I was amazed at how my opinion of the deaf changed after this workshop, and through the chatter I caught afterward, I was not alone.

Another One Bites The Dust

“But one day the lights will go out and theater will still exist.” – John Patrick Shanley to Alexis Jacknow DLW ‘11

A roundtable discussion.  Thank God.  This year’s group of Lab attendees has quite a few strong-willed directors, artistic directors, and visionaries.  That being said, they’ve been getting progressively more and more anxious to express their opinions and not just have everything spoken at them.  Well, their day finally came, as we gathered in the library of the Playhouse for a roundtable discussion with the state of American Theater as the jumping off point.  Both the Intiman and Florida Stage recently closed their doors to the public within the last few months, and countless numbers of small theaters and companies close each and every year.  What started off as a relatively calm discussion soon turned into a 10-deep queue of furious hands reaching high in the air, opinions exploding inside the silenced directors.  One-on-one battles broke out between artistic leaders in our group, eyes were rolled, weight shifted in seats. Sighs of frustration, applause, unnecessary head nodding in agreement with others, and even the occasional “Amen” came out as people took sides and battled it out. Perhaps the funniest thing (as I kept myself  removed as just an active observer) was seeing everyone’s frustration with the fact that they didn’t know all of each other’s names yet, and decided among themselves that before anyone would speak, they had to state their name and what city they came from.  I’m not sure many conclusions were drawn from this discussion, but it certainly opened up a ton of questions and got the entire group thinking.  Mission accomplished.

Welcome to the West Coast

“Subscribers are the fossil fuels of the American theater.” – Marc Masterson (South Coast Rep)

With their voices finally heard, the labbies took a back seat once again as Marc Masterson, formerly of Actors Theatre of Louisville and now the new head of South Coast Repertory came and spoke about his transition and what he hopes to bring to the West Coast.  At a quick glance, this session could seem like another artistic head lecturing a group about his journey to the top, but Masterson couldn’t be more different.  He’s a listener first and an artistic leader second.  He helps make everyone else around him the best at their jobs they can be, before moving forward and leading in his own position.  And by looking at his past, that was what he needed to do in order to be successful.  He took over ATL after the previous AD had run the theater for over 30 years (a very similar situation now with SCR).  The unfaltering loyalty the Louisville staff had to those leaders who came before him gave Masterson two choices—fire the staff and start fresh, or listen to them.  He chose the latter, and through a series of meetings with no more than 10 of them at a time, he listened to their requests, what they saw in the future for the theater, and complaints they had about how things were being done previously.  After six months of this, everyone seemed to be screaming for Masterson to start paving the way, and now having heard them all, he made his “podium-pounding speech,” detailing out his plan for the theater’s future, incorporating many of the ideas of his staff, and in turn received complete support from his entire team.  From there, he went on to lead ATL through many successful seasons and plans to bring a lot of what he learned there and in the many years he spent with his smaller theater company in Pittsburgh, PA to SCR.

The Method Gun

“Everything is better with a tiger.” –Rude Mechs

Traveling to the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, the Lab attended the Austin, TX based Rude Mechanicals performance of The Method Gun.  Having performed only months ago at the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, this company presented the SoCal audience its wildly theatrical show about a company of actors who rehearse and present a stripped-down version of A Streetcar Named Desire.  Without giving anything away to those reading who haven’t seen the show, and also not to review the show, I will say that it’s well worth seeing, regardless of your taste in theater.  Through style alone, this show certainly explores the bigger picture and re-invents what we can do in theater.  Sometimes crossing into performance art territory, this show will visually impress, creatively challenge and redefine what your expectations are when you go out to the theater.

**All photography by Helena Geefay

Directors Lab West is a forum which brings theater directors together with peers and seasoned professionals for an opportunity to collaborate and grow together as artists. Directors Lab West is modeled after the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab in New York City. Like its NY counterpart, the Lab is a series of discussions, working sessions, panels and symposia with some of the nation’s and region’s leading directors, playwrights, designers and other theater practitioners. DirectorsLabWest.com