Advanced Directing

Today was a great class! There were so many instances where I thought to myself, “I could use that in rehearsal” or “this would be great to use when working with kids! I feel like this class helped to cement my knowledge and understanding on the technique. We revisited the viewpoints work in crossing the space. This time, instead of feeling intimidated, I felt free to explore. I made a mental note that this is not a great activity for someone that is insecure or vulnerable. There must be some sense of ensemble and trust within the group for it to be successful. This time, being that we knew eachother better I feel as though the work was better.

I loved the part where we added a word to our movement. The scenes that immerged were so fun! You could literally see new worlds develop right before your eyes! What an interesting way to create a new story! It would allow the collaborators to explore new worlds with new rules! Fascinating! I also enjoyed the ritualistic nature of the whole exercise. It forced participants to honor the “sacred space” and commit fully to their actions.

Next, we brought the work into work with text. We stood in two lines across from eachother and read a small scene in unison. One line was one character and one line was the other. It felt odd. Having to speak in sync with the whole class felt very limiting. We had to think as one unit. It forced us to be in tune with the people around us. I’m not quite sure how this would work in a rehearsal process. I think it would be time consuming, to say the least.

After that, we broke off into pairs and deconstructed the text. I was paired with Pip and we turned the scene into a conversation between a chair and its owner. It was fun and playful and really helped me to understand what deconstructing a scene feels like. There were so many different versions! I love seeing how text could be played in so many different ways!

Finally we did an activity with the text that reminded me of the “shadowing” work that I did in my drama therapy class. We had one person read the text and someone else would speak the subtext. Another version was reading the text and having someone narrate the action. I really enjoyed this! This is a great exercise to bring into class to teach to young actors. It deals with trust, spontaneity, improv, subtext, cause & effect.