Lesson One - Directing

Directing:

Today we are focusing on how to be a director. Directors oversee all of the creative departments of a production. If you’ll refer to the flow chart you’ll see that they are directly under the producer and over the scriptwriter, sound designer, floor manager, recording engineers, and voice actors.

Script Selection:

Most often producers will determine which scripts are being performed. They will then either select directors or they will ask for director volunteers. It is best to select a script that you feel you understand and/or relate to. As a Director, your job will be to hear in your head how the script should be performed and then use your team to make it a reality. If you can’t read a script or don’t have an idea of what you think it should sound like, that is not the script for you to direct.

Auditioning and casting:

The main focus of auditioning and casting should be finding the best fit for a show. This sounds simple, but in working with a company, you may find yourself not wanting to hurt feelings or afraid of insulting the wrong person. If and when these concerns arise, you must take a breath and reorient your thoughts. “Are they the best person for the part?” should always be your guiding star.

NOTE: If a person is skilled but not reliable, that is a cause for them not to be the best person for a part. ARTC has a three rehearsal rule where no one is allowed to be cast in any capacity in a show unless they have showed up to three consecutive rehearsals.

ARTC is currently transitioning to a more traditional way of auditioning, and that’s the way you’ll be learning too. All directors should hold auditions. Even if you think you know who you’re going to cast, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Before auditions you should carefully read through your script in its entirety. As you do so, try to start imagining specifics about your characters. Write down a few adjectives for each character that you can use to guide your auditioning actors. Make note of the scenes that best exemplify those characteristics.

Also make notes about which characters might pair well if you need one actor to play multiple parts. For example, many characters who have small lines far apart from one another might be good to cast as one actor. Alternatively two characters who have to speak to or around one another, would not be good to cast as one actor.

After you’ve completed this process, use the script’s character list (can be found on the title page when script is in ARTC format) to go through and find the best side for each of the characters listed. A side is a small portion of script. Small is relative, if your play is 60 minutes long, a page would probably suffice. If your play if 5 pages long a few lines would probably do best.

In ARTC, most of our auditions are cold reads. This means the actors do not get the sides before auditioning. Print or highlight the sides you want read. Bring them to rehearsal, and have the actors read them one at a time for you. It’s easier if you focus on one character at a time. If time does not allow (or if you come to prefer it) you may audition multiple people at the same time with one side.

It’s best if you have either a recording device or a discrete way to make notes during auditions. I highly recommend a clipboard. You should make note of the actor’s name, contact info, what part they’re trying out for and what you thought of their audition. After you’ve heard all your auditionees, take time to consider your options, then post (or have your floor manager post) your casting choices publicly.

Your casting choices should include Foley actors and understudies. You should consult your Sound Designer when casting your Foley Master and Foley Actors.

At ARTC, we usually use internal emails and/or shared Google docs to post casting decisions.

Overseeing the different departments:

One of the most challenging aspects of being a director is overseeing all the different departments. This is because most people who like being directors (myself included) have some level of control issues. This is where having a trusted team in place really pays off. UTILIZE your Floor Manager, Sound Designer, and Producer to help you create the best show possible. You should check in with them at the end of each rehearsal to see where they’re at and if they’re having any problems or concerns. Other than that, you should trust them to do their jobs and focus the majority of your energy on performance notes.

Utilizing your Floor Manager:

At ARTC, the Floor Manager also wears the Assistant Director’s hat. Anytime you have a thought or make a note about the show, you should clearly communicate it to your Floor Manager. They are your communication hub. They will make notes of everything you say to your actors, and everything you say to them. Also keep in mind, that’s a lot of work. Make sure they have one note written down before you move onto the next.

Running Rehearsals:

As I said in script selection, it’s important to have an idea of how the script should sound in your head. You should know what the characters are feeling in which scenes and have an idea of what you’d like your team to do to create your vision. However, that idea should be malleable and should allow for your team’s input in refining it. Wonderful, unexpected things can come out of rehearsal. Feel free to play around with lines and scenes. See what sounds best to you. As a director, your job is to be a decision maker. The process of how you come to your decisions is how you put your own flair into the show.

As director, you are responsible for determining rehearsal time and space. You should be communicating with your producer and floor manager to make sure you get the rehearsal time you need. If the predetermined rehearsal schedule does not have time for everything you need to complete, you need to make arrangements for additional rehearsal time.  

NOTE: If there is singing in your script, you will need extra rehearsals. To avoid scheduling pitfalls, you should plan the extra rehearsals from the beginning rather than waiting to see if they’ll be absolutely necessary. It’s easier to cancel an extra rehearsal than it is to schedule one.

Standard rehearsals:

• Readthroughs: These are usually only held the first time we read the script at ARTC. It’s exactly what it sounds like. The director and the cast sit down and read through the entire script. SFX or MUSIC cues are read out loud rather than performed.
• Start Stop (Blocking rehearsals): All the departments will perform their tasks as they think they should. The director will interrupt the read many times to give notes and feedback. The Floor manager should be making notes of all of these items and later sending the type-written version to the team. You should decide anything that needs to be choreographed here too.
  • Items that may need to be choreographed: Who’s on what mic when, sharing of mics, approaching and leaving mics, working around a large Foley effect, Wall-ahs, and rearranging for changing departments mid show.
    • Wall-ahs are mumbles or noises that groups of off mic actors make to add to ambiance.
• Polishing Rehearsals: Having received all the major directing notes, everyone should have an easily readable marked up script. Tweaks may still need to be made, but for the most part it should be coming together at this point.
• Cue to Cue (Technical rehearsals): These focus on technical aspects more than dialogue. Only lines directly before and after SFX or Music cues will be read. Timing and troubleshooting are the goals of this rehearsal. WE will usually do a cue to cue again in the performance space, once again to troubleshoot any environmental problems.
• Dress Rehearsals: Every department performs their duties to the best of their abilities. All effects, all cues, all notes included. It should be as close to a live performance as possible. It’s called Dress rehearsals, because in traditional theaters it would be done in full wardrobe, and make up.

Communicating directions: Finally we come to the crux of the director’s job: communicating your thoughts to others. One of my favorite stories Matt Goodsend tells is the time he got a director’s note asking him to sound, “More on fire.” He recently told me that my director’s note to him of, “Could you sound more like a nature show?” is now also on his memorable list. Finding ways to communicate what you hear in your head can get interesting, and diverting if you let it. I have found that one of the best tools for communicating such things actually came out of my time in therapy. It’s called the feeling wheel and it’s a wonderful thing.

Look at words that are right next to each other on the outer rim of the color wheel. What is the difference between those words? Capture that nuance when you speak to your actors. Use the words on this wheel as a reference to help them understand what you expect their characters to be feeling.

Imagine someone saying. “I’m fine. Really I am,” in a tone of voice that indicates a word on the wheel. Now imagine it in the the word directly next to the first word. What changed? How would you communicate that change? Could you communicate the change without using either of the two feeling words? Can you think of popular points of reference that exemplify that word?

I recommend first telling you actor using the precise word on the wheel what emotion you’re hoping for them to capture. Then employ the other techniques listed to help further exemplify the feeling word you gave them.

EXERCISE: Dice Game

• Use three six sided dice. One of the dice should be discernible from the other two. You could also use one six sided dice and one 12 sided dice.
• Roll the dice, but don’t let anyone see what you roll.
• On the discernable six sided dice, 1 is sad, 2 is mad, 3 is scared, 4 is joyful, 5 is powerful, and 6 is peaceful.
• If using two additional six sided dice, add the dice together. Unless it’s a double 3 or 4. If it’s a double 3 or 4 consider the sum to be one. Reading clockwise from the outside to the inside pick that number from the words.
  • For example the order of mad would be 1)Distant 2)Sarcastic 3)Frustrated 4)Jealous 5)Irritated 6)Skeptical 7)Hurt 8)Hostile 9)Angry 10)Selfish 11)Hateful 12)Critical.
• Try directing the person to your left to say the line, “I don’t know why he’s here today.” In the tone of your feeling word, without using that word in your directions.
  • Advanced Variant: Whisper your directions so that the only thing the guessers have to go on is the actor’s performance.
• Then have the rest of the group guess what feeling word you were trying to get the actor to portray.

The point of the game is that even after you use the word, emotions are displayed differently by each person. Finding new ways of communicating the same thing will very much help you in giving directions to your team.