Directing I: The Director’s Vision
S06, S07
Jean Randich
What is action? What is character? What are gesture, timing, rhythm, and stakes? How do actors, playwrights, and directors collaborate in the creation of a story that happens in time and space? This seminar offers theater artists the chance to examine their craft from the inside out. In the first half of this course, nonwriters make up stories, nonactors act, and those who have never directed direct. We begin by exploring the energy in the body, focusing on stillness and release. We continue with physical exercises from both the eastern and western traditions leading into improvisation as a method for tapping the sources of true impulses. We train in Viewpoints as a tool for creating kinetic compositions spontaneously in space. In the text analysis section, we study the expression of action and character through structure and dialogue. We hone our verbal skills through warm-ups, dropping in, and imaging exercises. By midterm, everyone directs a short scene from Chekhov. At the same time, students learn to express character/action through costume, spatial, and sound design. In the second half of the term, students choose a scene from a classic or a contemporary theater artist. Directors and actors work together to rehearse, design, stage, and present a public performance of a short scene.