Now that we are back in NYC, I have had a chance to reflect on the last two weeks and prepare for the Addams Family fun to start next week.It’s hard to believe it went by so fast.After having submitted an application so long ago and finally being notified in May, all of a sudden Wonder Week and the Retreat were over before we knew it.
Everyone we met with was so generous with their time and excited to meet the “new batch” of Drama League directors.It helps a lot that so many distinguished people have come through this program – the field clearly has respect for it.People were also very honest with us, about both the challenges and the opportunities of professional directing.
So ... now I guess it's up to us. We will all ship out in the next few weeks to our various assignments (well, I will only ship out to a rehearsal studio on 42nd St...) and then come back together in December for DirectorFest.
Well, it's been an unforgettable few days. The beauty of our surroundings, the generosity of the actors, the hospitality of Lloyd and Suzanne, and the support and guidance of Davis McCollum (our mentor director), David Adjmi (our playwright-in-res) and Roger have given the four of us immense room to experiment and grow. I have never been in a directing class or lab where I wasn't directing either other directors or acting students. the fact that we got to work with 8 professional actors who came out here purely to support our work was a gift. And, although it sometimes made us all a little panicky, being cut off from New York was essential. I can’t remember the last time I haven’t checked email or voicemail for 4 days (thank goodness for the vacation auto-responder).
Some parts of the week were certainly challenging -- we had to direct monologues and scenes in a very short amount of time, some actors had only been "cast" at the 11th hour and hadn't even read the play... plus our work was competing for our attention with the amazing surroundings, the food, and hanging out with the actors and other folks up there. (“I COULD work on my Arthur Miller pitch … or I could take a walk through the woods …”) But the supportive attitude of the group made me always feel like I could try anything.
We used every square inch of space at Stump Sprouts in our pursuit of the perfect environment for each scene. I directed Megan's Sam Shepard monologue in the basement of the farmhouse, surrounded by discarded logs and bits of insulation and under dense cobwebs -- one of the more unpleasant places I have been, but perfect for the scorched-earth setting in Cowboy Mouth. I also directed Susan in Daniel MacIvor's See Bob Run in a gravel pit by the main road -- an evocative choice since it is the actual setting of the play, and gave us the chance to creep up on the character and discover her mid-thought. Both Megan and Susan really trusted the experimentation, and we made some interesting discoveries in a few short hours.
For our scenes (we each did two from Adjmi's Marie Antoinette), the four of us went even further. It was fun, after spending a week getting to hear each other's "spiel" multiple times, to finally see each other's work. We set scenes in windows, on the roof, around the tractor, in a portable puppet theatre, running through fields, in a sauna ... We managed to create some compelling moments of theatricality with zero rehearsal, budget, or equipment except what we could get Lloyd to scrounge up from the toolshed. Some memorable moments -- Laura's final scene, lit by car headlights and performed partly on the roof of the shed, with the lights cutting out just as the guillotine dropped over Marie's head ... Ed's brilliant use of the stairwell landing in the barn as a multi-leveled performance space for Marie and her sheep/wolf persecutor ... and Mike's beautifully meta-theatrical staging of Marie's "hameau" fantasyland, in which the audience was the costumed (and scented) characters and Marie and Lamballe watched us from within a screened-in porch. My own finest moment, I must admit, may have been the sheep puppet I constructed, rigged, and operated using only a Coleman cooler, a plastic flower pot, and fishing line. It got exit applause.
Ed Iskandar with mentor director Davis McCallum at Stump Sprouts. Ed had met Davis before -- Ed was an intern at Signature Theatre Company, where Davis was directing Chuck Mee's play Queens Blvd (the musical).
Playwright David Adjmi with actress Susan Louise O'Connor at Stump Sprouts.
Wonder Week was exactly what Roger said it would be -- a chance to meet more people in five days than you normally would be able to in five years.It was inspiring, occasionally intimidating, and always exhausting.We also got to know each other a lot better as a group (the "Fab Four" as Roger refers to us) and we saw a ton of theatre.
We met with a casting director, an agent, four different artistic directors, a literary manager, an SDC union rep, a program director at New Dramatists, a Broadway producer, and probably a few more which I can't remember.We had dinner with the design team of Lifetime Burning directed by DL alumna Pam McKinnon and then went to see the show at Primary Stages.I loved this, because I was able to look out for design elements in the show that otherwise I might have missed (such as the brand of shoe a character was wearing, or the angle of the window frame), and know the "back story" of how those choices were made.Another great session was with Jon Marans and DL alumnus Jonathan Silverstein, the playwright/director team of The Temperamentals at The Barrow Group, which we also saw.Jon and Jonathan were very open about their collaboration, which obviously paid off in the creation of a really fluid and clear production.
The week also gave me a chance to get to know Mike, Laura, and Ed better.It's remarkable to me that we were all picked by the same panel for this fellowship, and yet we are all so different.We have different backgrounds, different kinds of work we are drawn to, and different goals for our careers.But the collegial, non-competitive atmosphere of the fellowship has helped us become something pretty rare -- an ensemble of directors, a group I know I can turn to for support and advice.I can't wait for DirectorFest so we can actually share work with one another.(There are times when four directors doing something together can be exactly what you would think it would be... Try sending four directors into Staples to choose one packet of Thank You cards ... it almost came to blows.)
We also saw a ton of theatre, including many shows I have wanted to see for a while. It seemed like every show we saw was directed by a DL director.In addition to the two shows mentioned above, we saw Toxic Avenger and Click Clack Moo (both directed by DL alumnus John Rando and associated by DL alumnus -- from last year! -- Wes Grantom), In the Heights, Next to Normal, The Bacchae, Shrek, The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side (at PS122), One of the highlights for me was watching the put-in rehearsal at Billy Elliot (the resident director BT McNicholl) is, you guessed it, a DL alumnus).I was especially fascinated because I am about to start working on what could be (knock on wood) a long-running show, and I am fascinated by how you maintain the original piece but give new actors a chance to explore for themselves.I was surprised to learn how committed the Billy Elliot director was to giving each new actor a chance to find his own performance, rather than just rehash what the last guy did.
Despite occasionally feeling like contestants in Next Top Model (in a good way), Wonder Week was a lot of fun and a great look (a "look-see"?) into the world of professional theatre in NYC. Up next ... our Berkshires retreat!
And we're off!Wonder Week, and our Fall Fellowships, officially began yesterday.However, it feels like it's been building up for awhile, starting with the Drama League Awards Luncheon in May and tickets to several shows last week, including Mary Stuart on Broadway followed by a lovely dinner at Sardi's with Board Member Herb Blodgett.Already I feel honored to be a part of this family – exactly what I was looking for in New York.
Yesterday afternoon the four of us (Ed, Mike, Laura, and myself) convened at the Drama League office to meet the staff and talk a bit about the next few months.The Drama League staff was lovely and welcoming, deeply supportive of this project and excited for our fellowships.We practiced our "spiels" and told favorite vacation stories. (I learned that Laura has an island full of relations in Italy, Mike was deep-sea night diving at age 12, and Ed can recite a very special interpretation of "Oh Captain, My Captain."Compared to that, my obsession with visiting every panoramic painting in the world seemed completely dull.)
We then discussed how Wonder Week worked ("career speed dating" as Laura put it), and what we should expect.It's truly amazing the caliber of people on the agenda for the week, plus a bunch of shows I am excited to see.We also chatted about next week's directing retreat, our assistantships (everyone has really great assignments this year -- I will be working on The Addams Family musical in Chicago and on Broadway), and DirectorFest in December, during which each of us will direct a 30-minute piece on an Off-Broadway contract.
From the DL office we trekked uptown to a welcome dinner at Bobby Flay's restaurant hosted by board member Harry Neyens and his partner Jim Kilpatric, as well as special guest and DL alumnus Alex Timbers.The food and conversation were both amazing, topped off with a surprise gift -- a signed Bobby Flay cookbook! (Very useful the next time I have a dozen deep-sea scallops and some fresh-roasted ancho chile powder).The book will fit nicely in my DL tote bag (as soon as I get one...)
David Chapman, Laura Savia, Ed Iskandar and Mike Donahue
The Drama League Fall Directors Project
The Fall Directing Program begins in mid-Aug with an orientation week in New York City. The Fall Directors meet with members of the professional theatre community, attend theatre,participate in workshops and seminars relevant to their future careers. Our Directors then fill assistantships all over the country. The Directors are David Chapman, Mike Donahue, Ed Iskandar, and Laura Savia. This blogs serves as an archive of their adventures and experiences.
