Day Three at the LCT Directors Lab

This morning I observed two rehearsals, one for a new family drama. They were doing very thoughtful table work in a relaxed and concentrated way. The second one was for Oedipus. They were working through all the same questions we did at NC Stage in January when I directed a staged reading of the play--it was fun to watch other people go through almost exactly the same process, particularly the actor playing the title role.

In the afternoon I spent some time looking at the work of recently graduated MFA designers at "Ming's Clambake". Ming Cho Lee came and spoke with us for 45 minutes, which was far too little time, particularly since he seemed willing to speak with us longer--but we are bound to a schedule.

After telling us about the history of the origins of the Clambake, Ming spoke at length about the ways in which technology is "driving him crazy." He made two main points. First, that students have become lazy and confine their research to the Internet, which means that you always find only what you are looking for, never running into unexpected and related materials on the same shelf in the library, and rarely looking at information in the context that only books can provide. In addition he said that relying on the computer for "images" means that students rarely spread research out in front of them, comparing, absorbing, seeing relationships, creating a "world." This truncated research aspect leads to quick results and less give and take and fewer conversations with directors. His second point was about the gratuitous use of technology on stage, and his point was very clear: when an overuse of technology dominates tech rehearsals, the actor always loses.

He said he has also instituted a rule in his own teaching that students may not seek to have their designs approved by directors "piecemeal." He said that lazy designers show research to directors and consequently get boxed in by a director's attachment to a particular image, rather than forcing the directors to respond to a complete, well-thought out design presentation that reflects a process of discernment and a point of view on the part of the designer. He stressed that designers must make the effort to present their work fully (with models, renderings, etc.) and that the risk is valuable and necessary--especially since the design also has to be realized on stage and has to work. He said that at the "second conversation" with a director in which he shows his work, he is always "having kittens".

In the evening we had our first Oedipus choral rehearsal.