Day Five at the LCT Directors Lab

Time is becoming more precious as I take the opportunity to hang out with my colleagues after the official day is done.

In brief, then, here were today's activities.

We are near the end of the first week and so this week's projects are in presentation mode. The new realistic family drama was given a reading (at the table with all of us surrounding), which was sensitive and moving. In response to a question of mine, the director and playwright shared one result of their work this week: some re-writes focused specifically on revealing aspects of character earlier in the play than originally written, in order to provide more context, irony and color for the audience as the play unfolded. Also, one tiny change in the action from the first reading I attended had an enormous impact on the perception of one character and deepened the theme of the play.

The Tectonic-influenced project about marines lost in Iraq was presented in snippets of a few of the "moments" they have worked on, in addition to little scenes with more text. It was heartbreaking (and all true). I spoke with the director later in the evening and learned a bit more about how their process works, and was pleased to learn more. It really is a way for a whole group to provide what would normally be left entirely up to the director to think up, so the results are potentially more rich. Also, the actors had a sense of ownership over "externals" which was strong, particularly after only four days.

I was shown the space in which I am to rehearse Macbeth Act III next week. It is non-traditional and this seems to be by design. It is not at all what I was thinking about (which was a traditional rehearsal room) and so I simply have to "let go of my thoughts" about this for now. What is it? A long, narrow inside loading ramp leading from the offstage of the Beaumont to a lower level. And this: "Don't touch those chairs with the towels on them; they are for South Pacific."

Before Oedipus chorus rehearsal tonight, Anne showed up and addressed two issues that have been percolating within the group: (1) directors not assigned to projects want space and time to create their own discussions or rehearsal investigations, and she said she will try to accommodate them; and (2) some directors have been frustrated with being in the Oedipus chorus and many have decided to skip it entirely because (a) the process has been frustrating at times (before the director finally arrived and we were just working with the choreographer, the assistant and dramaturg I think) and (b) it has been unclear to several of us how serving as dancing actors furthers our development as directors. She gave us the opportunity to say what we thought about all this and then described a lab exercise in an earlier year in which all the directors participated in a 7-hour structured writing exercise, passed their writing to other directors who then provided written comments and criticism, with the result that many people felt either insulted or misunderstood. She said this is exactly why we are doing this: to stand in the shoes of our non-directorial collaborators. In this instance I would say this not only includes actors, but choreographers as well. Those of us who were there lightened up considerably. I think our choreographer grew from this experience also.

Contrary to what one might think, a bunch of directors thrown together are not inclined to try to direct one another (in fact, much less so than some actors I've known). I think we all have a respect for the need for one voice in the room to arbitrate. What we do seem to want (and are not shy about expressing) is a need for specific goals related to rehearsal tasks. Duh! (but good to experience).

The conversation at O'Neal's was lively. I learned about the Philadelphia theater scene, including the that the current mayor there has a healthy attitude toward arts funding, and that most theaters in Philly co-operate quite a bit with one another (there are about 120 theater companies there). I also learned more about the Tectonic methods (as part of a lively debate I listened to). I hesitate to write more about it now, since my experience with it is only theoretical. One of the other Macbeth directors and I spoke at length about the challenges of having our space expectations completely subverted.