Day Eight at the LCT Directors Lab - Evening

I took part of the afternoon off, since I've decided not to observe other Macbeth rehearsals.

Sessions initiated by Lab members are starting to happen. The first I attended was on the Tectonic/moments process and last week's rehearsal project. The director and writer were very helpful in contextualizing the process and explaining it further. In particular, one might jump to an erroneous conclusion that since the text is "secondary" in the working process of making moments and building the production with non-textual elements, narrative is also somehow secondary in the final product. It was stressed that this is not the case. While the work is not necessarily realistic or naturalistic in its theatrical expression (although psychologically realistic acting is and can be a big part of the acting), telling a story theatrically is at the heart of it. Questions of authorship were raised that helped to provide insight into the spirit of collaboration that, ideally, is a big part of this work--as was the lengthy process overall, which can be financially and personally daunting for the artists.

Tonight was also one of two "Directors on Directors" evenings in which several Lab participants are sharing information about directors who are strong influences for them. I attended one session on the American actor and director Joseph Chaikin, and one on the French-Canadian actor/auteur Robert LePage. They could not be more different.

About ten to twelve of us went to PJ Rourke's and talked and talked. Now the conversation is not only about theater, but includes more fun gossip and talk about life in general. Real friendships may be forming, or at least seeds are being watered that that might grow beyond the Lab.