In the Thick of It

I suppose there are many times when working on a project that one feels that they are deep into the process and look forward to coming out the other side to completion. It’s a bit of a “can’t see the forest from the trees” moment. In making a theatre production, there are three times when I feel that way as a director.

Current conceptual image for Act One of The Seagull in the Multi-use Community Cultural Center by Vince Salpietro, Scenic Designer

The first is during the design process, particularly scenic design, which is where I am right now. It’s complicated by the fact that I am directing three Anton Chekhov plays in succession, each one set on a country estate. The houses are not the same, and certainly the tone (and time of year) of each play is different, yet there are both indoor and outdoor settings in each play. We are performing in a small venue with limited technical resources, so how do we immerse the audience in the world of the characters and forward the dramatic action? Doing it without repeating the designs? These are the essential questions we are creatively solving now. I’d say that we are 85% of the way there for The Seagull, our first production, 25% toward final designs for The Cherry Orchard, and just starting out on Three Sisters. It's an exhilarating challenge that will ultimately be helped enormously by costumes, lighting and sound. Oh, and fine acting!

How do we immerse the audience in the world of the characters and forward the dramatic action?

The second time a director feels adrift is right in the middle of the rehearsal period. The first two weeks are usually all about staging and vision. The director has the upper hand to the actors as to knowledge of the play and where a particular production is “going”. Then comes the ownership transition when the actors gain confidence in their roles and start leading the process by their character choices and commitment to their scene partners. Relationships grow, and the play starts to find its own voice. The director then becomes a careful guide, giving feedback that supports and enhances the paths of actors now emerging in front of them. After all, it’s not the director onstage in front of an expectant audience – it’ll be our standard bearer, the actor.

Relationships grow, and the play starts to find its own voice.

The final wave of “OMG what have I done!” inner screaming (never show it!)  comes when we finally have moved from the rehearsal studio to the stage where we add scenery, props, lighting, music, sound and costumes. Each of these elements has been created independently, though coordinated, and now we put them all together. What results is usually a car crash…until it isn’t. One definition of Art is “making order out of chaos”, and this is where the director mimics an orchestra conductor by detailing all of the hundreds of nuanced timings so that their vision comes together. Not to say that the director does it alone! All the designers and the show’s stage manager (who calls the cues) are refining their artistic input as we move page by page through the play. It’s also a time for the actors to regain their footing in new surroundings with new clothes, etc. We generally lose the story for a few days for all this to coalesce. Okay, here’s an admission - my spouse can recount the many nights when I came back from a dress rehearsal saying that the production would never succeed, it was an unmitigated disaster. She would calmly remind me that I frequently said the same thing before terrific productions opened…It’s a fascinating and painstaking process.

What results is usually a car crash…until it isn’t. One definition of Art is “making order out of chaos.”

And it’s why I chose this life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And it’s why audiences attend: to witness craft and artistry in storytelling. Make sure you have your tickets!

Classically yours,

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Dramaturgical Dip: Chekhov’s Era

by Claudio Nolan

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