This was a great example of questioning ones
pre-conceived ideas about one's work. I take it for granted that one should
learn the lines in a script exactly as written, but for someone totally new to
the theatre, this might not be self-evident.
Musicians improvise all the time, as do dancers - why not actors?
My first idea was to not only help Winnie get a clear image
of Kay, but to also encourage her to make the "character" of Winnie clearer as
well. Winnie is naturally an incredibly warm, open, friendly and relaxed
presence - exactly the opposite of the Kay we wanted to create. So I told her
that one way we could increase the contrast with Kay would be up the "Winnie"
energy. We played with that a little
and it seemed like that was going to help.
Since I don't attend every rehearsal, Jim's been keeping me
updated on what's going on with the process, especially in terms of what's
happening with each actor. Generally, I
just serve as a sounding board - it's a way for Jim to process the work, and on
occasion, I can offer some perspective, either because I've worked with that
actor before, or maybe I can suggest another approach that he might not have
thought of.
As I mentioned in my last entry, Jim has a very gentle
approach to directing, which is at odds with what is often the public
perception of the directorial persona.
I think there's still an image out there of the
dictatorial director, the guy who gets a thrill out of telling other people
what to do, and when they don't obey him, he throws fits until they are scared
into submission. This is a bit of a
caricature, to be sure, but I have worked with directors whose behavior wasn't
to far from that.
As I've said, the director's role is one of the hardest to
define. No two directors are the same in how they approach a play, and
directors often approach different plays in different ways, depending on the
type of play, available time, and experience level of the actors.
Some directors come into rehearsal with a very clear
picture in their mind about how the play will look when she's finished. She has the blocking all planned out ahead
of time, very specific ideas about the actors' performances and the various
design elements. In the extreme, this
can be an unsatisfying experience for the other artists because the director is
barely engaging their creativity. Everyone becomes puppets for the director to
control. On the other hand, if this approach is done with a certain
sensitivity, it can result in the realization of a very strong, clear singular
vision. You know this director's work
when you see it.
That's a little what the first few days of rehearsal can
feel like, especially to me when I'm not actually directing, but just
observing. It's like slogging through ankle-deep mud. Up a hill. In the
rain. But not as interesting.
I don't mean to say Jim and the actors aren't getting a lot
of very important work done, but from the outside, a rehearsal can be a fairly
boring process to watch during the first few days. Here's what happens:
The first day of rehearsal of the first show of the season - even though I've been working on this show (Well) and thinking about this show for months, this first day, when all the actors are together for the first time, this feels like the "real" work starting up again. And it's one of my favorite parts of making theatre.
At least, that's how the saying goes (with
varying percentages). While it's impossible to truly quantify the value of
casting, it's safe to say that choosing actors is one of the director's most
important jobs.
The job of a theatrical director is probably the
most mysterious and hard to define of any role in the theatre. You can hear the playwright's words and you
can watch the actors' performance and you can see the sets and costumes and
lights and props that have all been designed and created by various artists and
technicians, but when you go to a play, which part of the production can you
directly attribute to the director?
Even given the parameters for script selection I've described, that still leaves hundreds, maybe even thousands of possible plays to choose from. Where do I start?
Aside from giving a great audition, Winnie did something very smart. A few days after the audition, I received a lovely, hand calligraphied note, addressed to me and my wife thanking us for the audition. Nice touch – very classy, very professional.
No, I haven't overthrown the petty dictator of an oil-rich
Middle Eastern country. I've finished casting Well. (I know, I know, we
all have our own ambitions.)
As you may remember, I had cast three of the four ensemble
roles in Well and I was still looking to cast the African-American
woman's role. I had auditioned one woman so far, but I wasn't sure she was
right and I wanted to explore a few other options. However, rehearsals start in
four weeks, so time was getting tight.
Maybe it's just the perfectionist in me (not a particularly
useful quality, since in the arts, where perfection is impossible, I'm pretty
much doomed to failure on that front), but I find the process of assembling a
season of four plays to be pretty much excruciating.
Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it is
hard. Really! Okay, enough whining. Here are a few of the things I have to
consider when choosing a play:
There are some roles in theatre that can be played by a wide range of physical types or ages. There are plenty of roles where race isn’t an issue. Even gender can sometimes be switched.
But other roles just don’t have much flexibility when it comes to casting. Think of Nick in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Because of what other characters say about the character, the actor really has to be (or seem to be) in his twenties, he has to be blonde, he has to be quite handsome, and he has to be built like a football player. As good an actor as, say, Dustin Hoffman may be, he will never be cast in that role (even when he was a young man).
Interestingly, the easiest role to cast in Well is the African-American man.
Essentially, there’s only one choice. His name is Edgar Davis . Now the fact that he’s a black man in his 40’s might be enough, but fortunately for me, he’s got a few other things going for him. Like the fact that he’s a great actor. And he’s very, very funny. And he’s worked with us before (he was in last season’s production of Inspecting Carol- he was hilarious). And while he lives in Hardwick, which is a bit of a haul, he has a pretty flexible schedule and so he’s pretty much available whenever I need him to be.
It's about 6 weeks till rehearsal starts and I
still haven't completed casting for Well . Now, there's no cause for panic at this point; I mean, there have
been shows where I wasn't able to finish casting until after rehearsals had
started, so there's still time. Let's just say I'm getting...curious about how
I'll solve this particular problem.
The next morning at around 10 o'clock I get a call from
Jim. He has decided to go with Lisa
1! He tells me that he had thought
about it and decided that her audition was so strong, it just made sense to go
with her. Also, it turns out that she
is friends with Dee, so Jim called Dee to get her take. Dee assured Jim that she was an incredible
actor and could do anything we asked of her.
So that's it, right?
We have our New York actors cast.
Jim and I were ready for dinner - and a
drink. After six hours of auditioning,
even though we mostly just sat and watched others work, we were exhausted. But of course we hadn't just sat and
watched. Every moment we were watching,
we were also evaluating, comparing, working to stay engaged and attentive, and
Jim always had to find something to say to each actor in an attempt to get the
best possible performance out of them.
Truth be told, as good as the first callback pairing was,
while "Lisa 1" definitely gave us exactly what we were looking for, "Ann 1"
wasn't quite right. Something about her voice bothered me, and she wasn't quite
able to make the adjustment Jim had asked for.
She would be fine if we had no better choice, but we were glad we had a
few others to see.
Jim and I have been at it for 4 hours, and we
just finished our protein bars during our 10 minute lunch break. We're about to see our first Lisa/Ann
pairing.
The whole audition process is really a bit
absurd. Imagine you went to a job
interview where, at your first meeting, your prospective employer asked you to
give a demonstration of you doing your job, working with a complete stranger (that's
the reader, Dee), in front of an audience. And then, once you've taken your
best shot for 2 or 3 minutes, the employer asks you to try it again, only this
time do it a completely different way.
Thank godness for JetBlue. Because of their new schedule, I can leave Vermont at 7:30 a.m.,
get to New York in time for auditions to start at 11:00, see actors till 5:00, meet
with my director and designer over dinner (that's another story) and catch the
10:55 flight home that night. It's a
long day, but it's efficient.
As I said, casting is one of the most important decisions I
(and the director) make, and I'm always a bit nervous about the process. Out of
the thousands of actors in NYC, will we find the right type? Will they be willing to come to Vermont for
the salary we can offer? Will they be a sane human being? And how will we find
just the right fit? (BTW, I use the term actor for both men and women.)
Welcome to a new feature on the Vermont Stage website, the
Director's Blog. From time to time,
you'll find postings here describing the behind-the-scenes process of creating
live theatre. Usually, the postings will be by yours truly (Mark Nash, VSC
Artistic Director) but on occasion we'll have another director or an actor or a
designer post a guest blog. Enjoy!
Where Do Actors Come From?
Well, you see, when a man and a woman love each other very
much...
