Directing Contemporary Theater

Regardless of the genre, playwright, or period, the director's job is to create a unified vision for a production that inspires collaboration among the artists and a transformative experience for the audience. This 5-week class is for directors of all levels to actively and collaboratively refine their approach to contemporary text, explore the rehearsal process, and experiment with form in a safe environment.

This class might be for you if you:

• Are an experienced director wanting to expand your versatility and refine your technique as a director by working on your feet with actors.
• Are a newer director looking to get experience, but don't have a venue or opportunity to safely experiment.
• Want to create work guided by John in a safe environment where exploration and experimentation are encouraged.
• Are ready to dedicate at least 3 hours of out-of-class time per week to rehearse with your actors.

In this class, you will:

• Focus on communicating with the actor, creating relationships that will bring out their best possible performances and the best representation of your vision for a piece.
• Spend the first class session delving into a scene together, provided by John, where he will demonstrate how to conduct scene study and you’ll discuss how to approach contemporary text.
• Prior to the first class, receive audition self-tapes from actors that you should watch before the first class session. Cast actors and create a rehearsal schedule for each of your pieces, using actors from the audition self-tapes or that you bring in from your own community of artists.
• Each director will choose and work intensively on two contemporary scenes over the course of the class. The limited class size of 8 means that you will show work every other week in order to incorporate notes and feedback on your feet with your actors when you present.
• Give constructive feedback to your fellow directors (as led and modeled by John), honing your ability to analyze what is working well and what is not working so well in a scene.

By the end of this class, you will:

• Understand how to effectively discover and communicate your artistic vision in the rehearsal room.
• Be able to focus on the actor in any project, knowing that the success or failure of a piece is predicated on your relationships with your actors.
• Possess a foundation for approaching contemporary text, and the tools to approach any rehearsal process with confidence.