Just a quick announcement: we have our set designer for DirectorFest, the wonderful Julia Noulin-Mérat! Julia is a fantastic designer of theatre, opera and television, and has actually worked with The Drama League before! (She's designed for the summer fellowship at the Hangar, the summer that Kate Pines (pictured below in one of Ed's posts) was there!). If you'd like to find out a little bit more about Julia's work, check out her wonderful website. We're all very excited to collaborate with her! (Stay tuned for the rest of the DirectorFest design team to be announced!).
Also this week, we've found out who our casting directors will be - this is one of the opportunities presented by DirectorFest that I'm most excited about, for I've never before cast a show with a casting director - I'll be working with Cindi Rush (we each work with a different person), and I can't wait to start working with her!
Sunday I drive to PlayMakers in North Carolina - and rehearsals begin a week from today - so more on NICHOLAS NICKLEBY soon!
Cheers,
Mike
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Inside Dallas Theater Center's new Home
What distinguishes the new Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, soon to be the permanent home of the Dallas Theater Center, is the philosophy of complete adaptability. The configuration of the theatre in relation to its audience can be determined on a play by play basis, and the change can be executed within four hours. Balcony levels can shift or disappear into a ceiling storage area, per the needs of the production. Voms can be installed, or eradicated. An orchestra pit can be magically created under the lip of the proscenium, if so needed. It is going to radically alter the DTC's approach to scheduling its seasons, allowing designers and directors to manipulate the space to create the relationship they want between the text and the audience. For more information on the architectural philosophy, check out the project website. For now, a sneak preview inside the new home of the Dallas Theater Center:
Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty (center) schedules for the week ahead with Production Stage Manager Melissa Daroff (left) and Music Director Lindy Cabe (right) while cast members check out the model on the floor of the brand new Wyly Theatre.
Above, the view the actors have of the three-tiered house from the stage in its thrust configuration.
The sun sets on the new Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre. The walls of the building are made of windows, which can be shuttered totally for performances in the building.
Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty confers with a construction worker on the thrust stage.
Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty (center) schedules for the week ahead with Production Stage Manager Melissa Daroff (left) and Music Director Lindy Cabe (right) while cast members check out the model on the floor of the brand new Wyly Theatre.
Above, the view the actors have of the three-tiered house from the stage in its thrust configuration. 
Here, we can see some of the incredible adaptability of the space. The thrust stage can disappear completely, creating space for additional seating. On the ground level, we can see an exciting depth and height of stage to use.
The sun sets on the new Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre. The walls of the building are made of windows, which can be shuttered totally for performances in the building. 
Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty confers with a construction worker on the thrust stage. (posted by Ed)
Play Practice
Some pictures from the first day of rehearsal (or "play practice," which is how the company refers to it!) on Kevin Moriarty's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
Above, Puck tries to mount Oberon, while Hippolyta and Theseus practice a quick turn around their throne. In the distant left, a game of hackysack, and in the distant right, Helena runs some of her lines.
Above, Lysander (on the floor) and Demetrius find themselves in fisticuffs over Hermia.
Egeus (here interpreted as a mother, over the traditional portrait as father), claims her right over her daughter's choice of husband while Lysander looks on.(posted by Ed)
Looking Ahead: DirectorFest
The Fall Directors Fellowship will culminate in DirectorFest in December. Drama League will produce an Equity showcase for the four fellows through an evening of one-acts. Each director will choose their own one-act, which will have its own union stage manager, and a cast of up to four actors. However, we will all share the same team of designers, who will design for each individual show, as well as attempt to come up with a vision for the whole evening. For all of us, this is a unique opportunity. Acting showcases are commonplace; all around the country, conservatories produce an evening in which their actors and actresses show off their chops in a program of monologues and two-person scenes (sometimes in ensemble pieces). Agents, casting directors, personal managers and producers attend, and out of that platform, these emerging artists finagle their entry into the industry. DirectorFest will provide the four fall fellows one of the only directing platforms of this nature. It will be an evening in which we can present a flavor of what we can do to interested industry professionals. We hope that something will emerge out of this presentation, or out of the various relationships that we are forging in our assistantships, which will lead us to the next thing and then to the thing after that, in the time-honored tradition of building a career in the arts.
Choosing a one-act which will give us the right vehicle to showcase what we can do with actors, with design, and with an industry audience is a predictably hectic race. This is what my station at the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library looked like after a day of reading published one-acts:
There are two other avenues open to us in one-act selection. We can either work on a new play with an established collaborator, or find an unpublished or underproduced one-act in the vaults of an emerging playwright. Three out of four plays have been approved by the artistic producer for the evening (Roger Danforth), so stay tuned for the program for this year's DirectorFest, coming soon!
(posted by Ed)
Choosing a one-act which will give us the right vehicle to showcase what we can do with actors, with design, and with an industry audience is a predictably hectic race. This is what my station at the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library looked like after a day of reading published one-acts:
There are two other avenues open to us in one-act selection. We can either work on a new play with an established collaborator, or find an unpublished or underproduced one-act in the vaults of an emerging playwright. Three out of four plays have been approved by the artistic producer for the evening (Roger Danforth), so stay tuned for the program for this year's DirectorFest, coming soon!
(posted by Ed)
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Last week I got to sit in on a portion of the New York auditions for BEST OF BOTH WORLDS, which will be my second assistantship. I will be assisting Diane Paulus, a DL alumna who is in her first season as Artistic Director at the American Repertory Theater in Boston. The auditions were amazing. The show is an R&B/Gospel musical adaptation of Shakespeare's THE WINTERS TALE, so the auditioners came in with and R&B or Gospel song. The voices I heard blew me away. One of the roles is for a young boy, and the child actors/singers who came in were adorable and astounding.
It was also great to meet Diane for the first time. She was so welcoming to me, and struck me as an inspired leader and a great listener. It was really helpful to hear her describe what she was looking for in some of the roles; that started to give me a sense of her point of view on the production, and her priorities in how we tell this story.
I also got to meet casting director Stephen Kopel, and the authors: Randy Weiner, who wrote the book & lyrics, and Deirdre Murray, who composed the music. It seems like an incredible team.
I head to Boston in about 3 weeks, and can't wait to get started.
(posted by Laura)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sneak preview of DTC's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Below is a picture of the final look for DTC's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," directed by Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty. This will be the first production in the so-brand-spanking-new-it-might-topple-on-us Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, a flexible formation space which will be in three-quarter thrust for "Midsummer."
(posted by Ed)
(posted by Ed)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Midsummer in Mid-Fall
Work has officially begun. I am putting in some hours at the artistic office working under Kevin wearing his Artistic Director hat. We have half a week to finish pre-production arrangements on "Midsummer" before the beginning of rehearsals. The "Midsummer" company will unite members of the Dallas Theater Center resident acting company with local Equity actors, MFA acting students from Southern Methodist University and talented members of a local performing arts high school. One of Kevin's goals in his second year as Artistic Director is to stimulate a Dallas-centric community of artists within his company, and this production will be a very important first step in creating that space.
In my own pre-production preparation, I am in the process of comparing the production script (edited by Kevin) with a facsimile of the unedited First Folio 1623 text. I have a hard copy of the facsimile in front of me, and I am crossing out the lines that Kevin has cut in pencil as well as writing in word changes and additions. This gives me a visual representation of what Kevin has chosen to prioritize. The goal is to identify every change that he has made to the script. These changes are evidence of his point-of-view on the script, proof of what he believes is important, and what he thinks is superfluous. This is a critical first step in engaging with the version of the story he wants to tell in the production. For every Assistant Director, the number one goal is to figure out what story the Director wants to tell, so that we can help with how he wants to tell it.
Some cuts are relatively simple:
You can see that an entire chunk of dialogue between Lysander and Hermia have been cut in an effort to expedite the exposition that the audience is certain to be familiar with. See if you can spot the extremely famous line that Lysander will no longer say in the production!
Other edits are more complex, such as this one:
What looks like a relatively simple tweak has eliminated an entire character. This happens to be the only mention of Philostrate, a gentleman-in-waiting who is sometimes doubled with Puck (as Theseus is sometimes doubled with Oberon and Hippolyta with Titania). Kevin's production does not involve any doubling, and so this relatively minor character has no real function. Out he goes!
I am also sleuthing around for the various pre-production materials that exist. Typically, the Director has been working with his associates and his designers for months before the Assistant Director arrives. While assisting is still a universally agreed-upon method of apprenticeship in the professional theatre, it is also a role that still makes a lot of directors uncomfortable, and some times more of a hindrance than a help if the relationship between mentor and mentee sours. I am studying ground plans and set sketches, looking at the costumes currently being worked on in the shop and listening to an iPod playlist that Kevin has put together for the show, all in an effort to get on the same page. One of Kevin's trademarks is the use of contemporary pop music in classical productions - the juxtaposition of the here and now with the then, which immediately and concisely contextualizes our attitudes with theirs. Which means that I am entirely un-hip in comparison, and am doing some frenetic catching up with my pop culture know-how before I make some embarrassing reference to Miley Lavigne transition music!
(posted by Ed)
In my own pre-production preparation, I am in the process of comparing the production script (edited by Kevin) with a facsimile of the unedited First Folio 1623 text. I have a hard copy of the facsimile in front of me, and I am crossing out the lines that Kevin has cut in pencil as well as writing in word changes and additions. This gives me a visual representation of what Kevin has chosen to prioritize. The goal is to identify every change that he has made to the script. These changes are evidence of his point-of-view on the script, proof of what he believes is important, and what he thinks is superfluous. This is a critical first step in engaging with the version of the story he wants to tell in the production. For every Assistant Director, the number one goal is to figure out what story the Director wants to tell, so that we can help with how he wants to tell it.
Some cuts are relatively simple:
You can see that an entire chunk of dialogue between Lysander and Hermia have been cut in an effort to expedite the exposition that the audience is certain to be familiar with. See if you can spot the extremely famous line that Lysander will no longer say in the production!
Other edits are more complex, such as this one:
What looks like a relatively simple tweak has eliminated an entire character. This happens to be the only mention of Philostrate, a gentleman-in-waiting who is sometimes doubled with Puck (as Theseus is sometimes doubled with Oberon and Hippolyta with Titania). Kevin's production does not involve any doubling, and so this relatively minor character has no real function. Out he goes!
I am also sleuthing around for the various pre-production materials that exist. Typically, the Director has been working with his associates and his designers for months before the Assistant Director arrives. While assisting is still a universally agreed-upon method of apprenticeship in the professional theatre, it is also a role that still makes a lot of directors uncomfortable, and some times more of a hindrance than a help if the relationship between mentor and mentee sours. I am studying ground plans and set sketches, looking at the costumes currently being worked on in the shop and listening to an iPod playlist that Kevin has put together for the show, all in an effort to get on the same page. One of Kevin's trademarks is the use of contemporary pop music in classical productions - the juxtaposition of the here and now with the then, which immediately and concisely contextualizes our attitudes with theirs. Which means that I am entirely un-hip in comparison, and am doing some frenetic catching up with my pop culture know-how before I make some embarrassing reference to Miley Lavigne transition music!
(posted by Ed)
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Dallas, Texas!
After a predictably frenzied exit from New York on Sunday, I got on an airplane and found myself greeted by a blazing late summer afternoon in Dallas, Texas soon after. The furnace was soon forgotten in the air-conditioned luxury of the Dallas Theater Center guest artist apartments, a half hour's ride from the Dallas / Fort Worth airport but a mere fifteen minutes' walk from the DTC offices and rehearsal rooms.
I have come to Dallas during a moment of real change. I will be assisting Artistic Director (and DP Alum) Kevin Moriarty on "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which will be the inaugural production in the new state-of-the-art Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre. Construction is still furiously underway, and the creative company expects to move into the building right before "Midsummer" tech. So, it appears we'll be teching a new production as well as a new building!
I am remiss in mentioning only the air condition in the guest artist apartments. As these pictures will show, I am being pampered to an inch of my life. Hard wood floors, high ceilings, leather sofa, full kitchen, in-room dish washer and laundry and dryer, two walk-in closets, ensuite bathroom, and every amenity you could possibly want. Of course I posted my glee on Facebook, which got an immediate response from producer Stephanie Ybarra (currently a part of Drama League's New Directors / New Works program) --- apparently, this is a real upgrade from the time she was a staff member at the theatre! It's pretty clear that Kevin and his team at DTC care a great deal about the comfort of the artists who come to work with them. Here's to a great journey forward.
(posted by Ed)
I have come to Dallas during a moment of real change. I will be assisting Artistic Director (and DP Alum) Kevin Moriarty on "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which will be the inaugural production in the new state-of-the-art Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre. Construction is still furiously underway, and the creative company expects to move into the building right before "Midsummer" tech. So, it appears we'll be teching a new production as well as a new building!
I am remiss in mentioning only the air condition in the guest artist apartments. As these pictures will show, I am being pampered to an inch of my life. Hard wood floors, high ceilings, leather sofa, full kitchen, in-room dish washer and laundry and dryer, two walk-in closets, ensuite bathroom, and every amenity you could possibly want. Of course I posted my glee on Facebook, which got an immediate response from producer Stephanie Ybarra (currently a part of Drama League's New Directors / New Works program) --- apparently, this is a real upgrade from the time she was a staff member at the theatre! It's pretty clear that Kevin and his team at DTC care a great deal about the comfort of the artists who come to work with them. Here's to a great journey forward.
(posted by Ed)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Life after August: Osage County
So, it's intermission at the final dress rehearsal of Superior Donuts, Tracy Letts's follow-up to August: Osage County. David and I are profusely thankful to board member Bonnie Comley, one of the producers of the show, for the ultra exclusive tickets. It appears that half of Broadway is watching the play (the entire cast of Mary Poppins is beside us, and In the Heights is downstairs!). The line before the show stretched to the avenue corner. Getting to see a show still in the process of finding itself is a real gift ... You get to see the problems being worked out right in front of you. Lights are literally being adjusted, sound cues are being fiddled with and most intriguingly, the actors are playing to an audience for the first time and factoring in this oh-so-important partner into the rhythm of the scene. From the response of the first-time audience at this final dress, Mr. Letts has another crowd-pleasing hit on his hands!
(posted by Ed)
One Degree of Separation
The Fall Fellows attended a meet and greet with the new Drama League board at their first meeting of the year. They took a really personal interest in all of us doing various aspects of the program. One of the huge boons of such a gathering was actually getting to know each other -- two '09 Summer Fellows were in attendance, as well as the current New Directors / New Works producer-director team. One of the things we quickly discovered was that we were all one degree of separation away from one another (a degree that has now evaporated!). So-and-so's friend was at Williamstown this summer with so-and-so's ex roommate who used to be so-and-so's collaborator in grad school, now united by Drama League! Below, some photographic evidence of the One Degree of Separation factor in play.
Summer Fellows Jesse Geiger and Sherry meet El Hoyo director Jerry Ruiz and producer Steph Ybarra at a convenient pub-next-door. Fall Fellow Ed also enjoyed the meeting --- behind the camera! Jesse and Ed discover that they will be Resident Directing Fellows together at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2010, which is also where Jerry and Steph are headed in a week to do the second leg workshop of El Hoyo.
Fall Fellow Ed with actress Sheri Graubert at Stump Sprouts (they worked together on a monologue from King John) ... Sheri also happens to be a DP Summer Playwright alum. Her one-act play was produced at The Hangar this past summer directed by none other than DP Summer Alum Jesse (see above picture!).
Current Fall Fellows Mike and Ed meet in Williamstown (Mike was part of the directing corps, and Ed was enjoying a fun visit), with DL Summer Playwright Alum Chris Dimond, who went to grad school with Ed, Kate and Dan.
DP Fall Alum Dan Rigazzi at Williamstown where he directed a fellowship project written by Chris Dimond (see picture above) hanging out with DP Summer Alum Kate Pines, who previously directed a Chris Dimond play during her residency at The Hangar and then went to school with Dan, Chris and Ed.
Fall Fellows Ed and Laura hang out at the Stump Sprouts retreat. Laura had previously done a residency at Williamstown with Kate, who then went to school with Ed, Dan and Chris, completing the One Degree of Separation cycle!
(posted by Ed)
Summer Fellows Jesse Geiger and Sherry meet El Hoyo director Jerry Ruiz and producer Steph Ybarra at a convenient pub-next-door. Fall Fellow Ed also enjoyed the meeting --- behind the camera! Jesse and Ed discover that they will be Resident Directing Fellows together at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2010, which is also where Jerry and Steph are headed in a week to do the second leg workshop of El Hoyo.
Fall Fellow Ed with actress Sheri Graubert at Stump Sprouts (they worked together on a monologue from King John) ... Sheri also happens to be a DP Summer Playwright alum. Her one-act play was produced at The Hangar this past summer directed by none other than DP Summer Alum Jesse (see above picture!).
Current Fall Fellows Mike and Ed meet in Williamstown (Mike was part of the directing corps, and Ed was enjoying a fun visit), with DL Summer Playwright Alum Chris Dimond, who went to grad school with Ed, Kate and Dan.
DP Fall Alum Dan Rigazzi at Williamstown where he directed a fellowship project written by Chris Dimond (see picture above) hanging out with DP Summer Alum Kate Pines, who previously directed a Chris Dimond play during her residency at The Hangar and then went to school with Dan, Chris and Ed.
Fall Fellows Ed and Laura hang out at the Stump Sprouts retreat. Laura had previously done a residency at Williamstown with Kate, who then went to school with Ed, Dan and Chris, completing the One Degree of Separation cycle!
(posted by Ed)
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Fab Four at Bar Americain
(from left to right) Ed Iskandar, Mike Donahue, Laura Savia and David Chapman enjoying dinner together at Bar Americain ... and receive signed Bobby Flay cook books!
(posted by Ed)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
yes, yes
Just a quick note to add on to Mike's wonderful post:
The dinner party at Ed's place was fantastic. I think it's the first time the four of us have been alone together without any appointments or assignments. And it was easy to see what a great boon resource these friendships are going to be during the next chapter of our careers, and beyond! I was able to bring up a particular stumbling block I've been hitting in my rehearsal process lately, and I had three amazing listeners who actually knew first-hand what I was talking about and could answer me thoroughly, personally, and with no BS or judgment. That, for a director, is really rare and priceless. And the e-mail flurry continues -- sending scripts, casting ideas, and ticket discounts back and forth, as though we've known and worked together for years -- I love it!
(posted by Laura)
The dinner party at Ed's place was fantastic. I think it's the first time the four of us have been alone together without any appointments or assignments. And it was easy to see what a great boon resource these friendships are going to be during the next chapter of our careers, and beyond! I was able to bring up a particular stumbling block I've been hitting in my rehearsal process lately, and I had three amazing listeners who actually knew first-hand what I was talking about and could answer me thoroughly, personally, and with no BS or judgment. That, for a director, is really rare and priceless. And the e-mail flurry continues -- sending scripts, casting ideas, and ticket discounts back and forth, as though we've known and worked together for years -- I love it!
(posted by Laura)
Dinner at Ed's
From left to right: David Chapman, Laura Savia, Ed Iskandar and Mike Donahue
A little story behind this picture: David was brave enough to fiddle with the camera settings for an auto-picture, but it took a few tries before we got the posing and the framing and the photographing just right ...
(posted by Ed)
Enjoying Each Other
Mike Donahue and Laura Savia enjoying Happy Hour at Bar Americain!
(posted by Ed)
Moving with Wonder, Tractors, Great Food & NN!
Hi Everyone –
Mike here – it’s been about a week since we got back from the retreat, and we’re in the thick of our fall fellowship! So much has happened already, and the rest is in full swing – David and Laura have done a great job detailing much of what we’ve been doing, so I’ll just fill in a few things along the way –
For me, Drama League has been my way to move to New York – I went straight from college to grad school, and since graduating from Yale in 2008, I’ve been living on a Fulbright in Berlin, seeing over 130 productions, observing rehearsals at all of the major state theatres, and developing my own work. After a summer at Williamstown, I finally moved to NYC the day before we began Wonder Week! (Well, technically I just a week ago moved into my apartment in Carrol Gardens, where we’re still painting and building dining room tables out of floor boards from barns being dismantled in upstate New York – for the first week of Drama League, Ed and I were roomies at the Pod on East 51st, living in bunk beds with our own flat screen TV’s!).
Wonder Week was jam packed with meetings and shows, and as someone who’s been away from New York ‘til now, one of the most important parts of the fall fellowship – a few highlights were meeting with the SDC, and with agent Val Day – coming out of grad school, I had a lot of questions about working with agents & our union, when to get an agent / when to join the union etc., and it was great to have an opportunity to speak with people who could really advise us. Also: being introduced to New Dramatists – what an amazing place! Though I’ve just moved into my new apartment, I can’t wait to *actually* move into the library at New Dramatists to start reading plays! During Wonder Week we also saw some really exciting productions, met with Drama League alums, directors / producers / artistic directors, and (another highlight) sat in on a put-in rehearsal for BILLY ELLIOT!
After Wonder Week we piled into our cars and drove to the Berkshires (to a farm, Stump Sprouts!) for our retreat. With a great group of actors, director Davis McCallum, and playwright David Adjmi, we pitched Arthur Miller plays (mine: ALL MY SONS, which Davis is actually directing later this year at PlayMakers), directed monologues (I worked on two from AS YOU LIKE IT, one of which we staged in a bathroom, with an Orlando who was forced by his brother to de-clog a toilet with his bare hands following a raucous party the night before) – and we staged two scenes from David Adjmi’s MARIE ANTOINETTE (for sure, the highlight of the retreat!).
The site of my Drama League scene!
I think Stump Sprouts allowed us to do a kind of work we could not have accomplished had we just been in the city for a few days, working in a studio, living in our separate homes, and constantly plagued by cell phones and internet – there’s something about living and eating together, away from all the distractions, with just each other and the work, that creates a kind of ensemble, trust, focus and sheer willingness to take risks that is just invaluable – not to mention the opportunity to stage David’s wonderful writing on top of tractors and running through fields in the middle of the night! As a director who’s especially interested in creating “events”, in working with environment, in constantly exploring, and in playing with the relationship between audience and actor, the chance to really stage scenes moving across landscapes and in and out of buildings was thrilling. (Thanks in no small part to David’s incredible generosity, and all of the invaluable feedback from David, Davis & Roger!). In short, the retreat was an opportunity to work in a safe space the likes of which I haven’t had since grad school – and it was a much-needed chance to see the work of my fellow fellows!! All three – most. talented. All three very different, but clear, strong and exciting work! It’d be great to have even more time to play together, but I’m thankful for the time we did have and look forward to sharing our work with one another again this December!
Indeed, Drama League has given me a community of directors in New York who are all at similar places in their careers, but with vastly different interests, perspectives, and paths. Directing can sometimes be isolating, and it can be hard to find a community of other directors who are willing to really talk through things – and in Drama League, I’ve found three directors whose opinions and insights I value and trust – not to mention three people who are great to hang out with! (I think it was our first night of Wonder Week, when our board member Harry Neyens and his partner Jim Kilpatric most generously hosted us for dinner at Bobby Flay’s restaurant that we realized our similar love of food – and knew that we would all be fast (and foodie) friends!).
And so last night we had our first of what I hope will be many dinner parties. I had just finished auditions for a new show by Erica Lipez I’m putting up in the city later this month and was in the midst of casting decisions, and in addition to the fantastic food (Ed made a delicious chicken sausage & lamb curry, and an amazing gluten-free fresh blueberry bread pudding!), it was great to have a group of directors with whom I could discuss pros and cons of various casting dilemmas.
And – last night, the first major round of paper work for NICHOLAS NICKLEBY arrived in my inbox, so it’s time to really start up on my fall assistantship at full! I’ll be headed to PlayMakers in North Carolina for more or less all of October and November to assist Joe Haj and Tom Quittance on a 6.5 hour adaptation of NN – the script’s about 400 pages long, the novel nearly 800, we’ve a cast of 25, and we’ll have at least two if not three rehearsal rooms running simultaneously (Joe & Tom will be co-directing the ENTIRE show) – so it’ll be big! And I can’t wait – I had a wonderful conversation with Joe and Tom over the summer about the show, and the way they want to work on it – they’re both very process-oriented, which I love, and I already know this will be a great, once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience! Right now, I’m about to start going through the script with the complete casting breakdown to figure out who can possibly understudy what…!
Otherwise, we’re just a few short days away from selecting our one acts for DirectorFest (more on this to come for sure, but basically, we each direct a 20 to 30 minute piece with 3 actors – we each work with a casting director, we’ve a team of designers, and Drama League rents out an off-Broadway theatre for us!). I’ve got a few scripts I’m looking at, very different from one another, with different sets of challenges – but I’m excited about them all (just had a reading of one last week)!
Off to Boston tomorrow to audition/cast a show I’m doing this winter with the A.R.T. Institute / Harvard, and I’m taking my NICHOLAS NICKLEBY script, novel and paper work, and my DirectorFest scripts, all in hand – so – more soon!
Cheers,
Mike
Mike here – it’s been about a week since we got back from the retreat, and we’re in the thick of our fall fellowship! So much has happened already, and the rest is in full swing – David and Laura have done a great job detailing much of what we’ve been doing, so I’ll just fill in a few things along the way –
For me, Drama League has been my way to move to New York – I went straight from college to grad school, and since graduating from Yale in 2008, I’ve been living on a Fulbright in Berlin, seeing over 130 productions, observing rehearsals at all of the major state theatres, and developing my own work. After a summer at Williamstown, I finally moved to NYC the day before we began Wonder Week! (Well, technically I just a week ago moved into my apartment in Carrol Gardens, where we’re still painting and building dining room tables out of floor boards from barns being dismantled in upstate New York – for the first week of Drama League, Ed and I were roomies at the Pod on East 51st, living in bunk beds with our own flat screen TV’s!).
Wonder Week was jam packed with meetings and shows, and as someone who’s been away from New York ‘til now, one of the most important parts of the fall fellowship – a few highlights were meeting with the SDC, and with agent Val Day – coming out of grad school, I had a lot of questions about working with agents & our union, when to get an agent / when to join the union etc., and it was great to have an opportunity to speak with people who could really advise us. Also: being introduced to New Dramatists – what an amazing place! Though I’ve just moved into my new apartment, I can’t wait to *actually* move into the library at New Dramatists to start reading plays! During Wonder Week we also saw some really exciting productions, met with Drama League alums, directors / producers / artistic directors, and (another highlight) sat in on a put-in rehearsal for BILLY ELLIOT!
After Wonder Week we piled into our cars and drove to the Berkshires (to a farm, Stump Sprouts!) for our retreat. With a great group of actors, director Davis McCallum, and playwright David Adjmi, we pitched Arthur Miller plays (mine: ALL MY SONS, which Davis is actually directing later this year at PlayMakers), directed monologues (I worked on two from AS YOU LIKE IT, one of which we staged in a bathroom, with an Orlando who was forced by his brother to de-clog a toilet with his bare hands following a raucous party the night before) – and we staged two scenes from David Adjmi’s MARIE ANTOINETTE (for sure, the highlight of the retreat!).
The site of my Drama League scene!
I think Stump Sprouts allowed us to do a kind of work we could not have accomplished had we just been in the city for a few days, working in a studio, living in our separate homes, and constantly plagued by cell phones and internet – there’s something about living and eating together, away from all the distractions, with just each other and the work, that creates a kind of ensemble, trust, focus and sheer willingness to take risks that is just invaluable – not to mention the opportunity to stage David’s wonderful writing on top of tractors and running through fields in the middle of the night! As a director who’s especially interested in creating “events”, in working with environment, in constantly exploring, and in playing with the relationship between audience and actor, the chance to really stage scenes moving across landscapes and in and out of buildings was thrilling. (Thanks in no small part to David’s incredible generosity, and all of the invaluable feedback from David, Davis & Roger!). In short, the retreat was an opportunity to work in a safe space the likes of which I haven’t had since grad school – and it was a much-needed chance to see the work of my fellow fellows!! All three – most. talented. All three very different, but clear, strong and exciting work! It’d be great to have even more time to play together, but I’m thankful for the time we did have and look forward to sharing our work with one another again this December!
Indeed, Drama League has given me a community of directors in New York who are all at similar places in their careers, but with vastly different interests, perspectives, and paths. Directing can sometimes be isolating, and it can be hard to find a community of other directors who are willing to really talk through things – and in Drama League, I’ve found three directors whose opinions and insights I value and trust – not to mention three people who are great to hang out with! (I think it was our first night of Wonder Week, when our board member Harry Neyens and his partner Jim Kilpatric most generously hosted us for dinner at Bobby Flay’s restaurant that we realized our similar love of food – and knew that we would all be fast (and foodie) friends!).
And so last night we had our first of what I hope will be many dinner parties. I had just finished auditions for a new show by Erica Lipez I’m putting up in the city later this month and was in the midst of casting decisions, and in addition to the fantastic food (Ed made a delicious chicken sausage & lamb curry, and an amazing gluten-free fresh blueberry bread pudding!), it was great to have a group of directors with whom I could discuss pros and cons of various casting dilemmas.
And – last night, the first major round of paper work for NICHOLAS NICKLEBY arrived in my inbox, so it’s time to really start up on my fall assistantship at full! I’ll be headed to PlayMakers in North Carolina for more or less all of October and November to assist Joe Haj and Tom Quittance on a 6.5 hour adaptation of NN – the script’s about 400 pages long, the novel nearly 800, we’ve a cast of 25, and we’ll have at least two if not three rehearsal rooms running simultaneously (Joe & Tom will be co-directing the ENTIRE show) – so it’ll be big! And I can’t wait – I had a wonderful conversation with Joe and Tom over the summer about the show, and the way they want to work on it – they’re both very process-oriented, which I love, and I already know this will be a great, once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience! Right now, I’m about to start going through the script with the complete casting breakdown to figure out who can possibly understudy what…!
Otherwise, we’re just a few short days away from selecting our one acts for DirectorFest (more on this to come for sure, but basically, we each direct a 20 to 30 minute piece with 3 actors – we each work with a casting director, we’ve a team of designers, and Drama League rents out an off-Broadway theatre for us!). I’ve got a few scripts I’m looking at, very different from one another, with different sets of challenges – but I’m excited about them all (just had a reading of one last week)!
Off to Boston tomorrow to audition/cast a show I’m doing this winter with the A.R.T. Institute / Harvard, and I’m taking my NICHOLAS NICKLEBY script, novel and paper work, and my DirectorFest scripts, all in hand – so – more soon!
Cheers,
Mike
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Mike and Davis at the Retreat
From left to right: Mike Donahue and Davis McCallum (Mentor Director)
(posted by Ed)
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Getting Started
Hi Everyone - Laura here.
I couldn't agree more with everything David has said. These experiences have blown my mind, and I have been continually struck by what a singular opportunity this fellowship is. Where else can you become part of a small "ensemble" of directors, work with actors of such a high caliber, be welcomed into the theatre community by such an established and generous community of alumni, staff, and board members, and be challenged to do the best work you possibly can??
The staff and board were gave us such a warm welcome throughout our Wonder Week and retreat. And I must second David's comment that being cut off from New York for four days was just about the best thing that could've happened to us.
So my schedule is slightly different from the other Fab 3 this year, in that I already completed one of my two assistantships. I had the incredible opportunity to serve as the assistant director on TWELFTH NIGHT for the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park, directed by Daniel Sullivan and featuring a cast of some of my all-time favorite performers.
The best thing that came out of this assistantship was a rekindled love of Shakespeare. I hadn't worked on Shakespeare since college, and never as in depth as in this process. I got to watch this outstanding cast, each of whom came from a very different theatrical background, come together to deliver a smooth, buoyant, ensemble-driven production. Watching Dan, who has directed a lot of Shakespeare (and two other TWELFTH NIGHTs), Barry Edelstein from The Public, who literally wrote the book on performing Shakespeare, and the inimitable vocal coach Liz Smith gently guide this cast through the process was amazing. The work on the text was in depth, so that the cast had a real ownership of the words. But there was also room to play and discover live, spontaneous moments in rehearsal. There is a lot of music in the script for TWELFTH NIGHT, and our production took full advantage of that. The band Hem composed gorgeous music, which I never tired of hearing -- of course having it sung by Raul Esparza, Anne Hathaway, David Pittu, and Audra MacDonald didn't hurt.
This was a huge show with a cast of 26, a stage management team of half a dozen, and a house of 1800 seats -- definitely the largest production I've ever worked on. For me, it meant that there was always something to do, which isn't always the case for an assistant director. I had daily pow-wows with stage management to update them on text, props, costumes, or music, changes. I took down blocking, attended production meetings, and kept track of details pertaining to everything from marketing to the set design. By the time we moved into tech (or as I like to call it, Monsoon Season) at the Delacorte, I had a good handle on all the elements of the show, and was able to make myself useful.
I got to watch this show go from casting to rehearsal to tech and finally to being received by packed audiences every night. And now, it seems that I've got Shakespeare back in my life to stay. Both monologues I was given to direct at the retreat were by the Bard (one from TWELTFH NIGHT, in fact). I'm currently directing an Opera/Theatre event called "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," for the Old Vic New Voices Network, and my second Drama League assistantship will be assisting Diane Paulus at the A.R.T. in Boston on a gospel and R&B adaptation of THE WINTERS TALE called BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!
So my Drama League experience is off to a tremendous start. And my new pals Mike, Ed, and David are rocking my world. Our shared loves of theatre, travel, and most importantly FOOD have made us fast friends. It's strange to be without them after our two intense weeks together -- but we already have multiple dinner parties planned.
Next up: picking my Directorfest piece! Too bad Shakespeare didn't write any one-acts....
(posted by Laura)
[photo: the retreat company at Stump Sprouts]
Laura and Stafford at the Retreat
From left to right: Laura Savia and the dishy Stafford Clark-Price (Actor)
(posted by Ed)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Puppet visit!
Yesterday was sort of a first day for me with The Addams Family. I met with Heidi Marshall, the Associate Director (and, yes, a DL alumna), and we went to visit Basil Twist’s underground workshop/lair where all the puppets for the show are being constructed. I can’t describe in detail anything they were building, but suffice it to say, it’s amazing stuff and I am so excited to see how it will be incorporated into the show.
Our first day of official rehearsal is next week, but I got a taste of the show when I participated in a mini-workshop in June. It’ll be unlike anything I’ve worked on before – in style and scale.
More to come!
(posted by David)
Our first day of official rehearsal is next week, but I got a taste of the show when I participated in a mini-workshop in June. It’ll be unlike anything I’ve worked on before – in style and scale.
More to come!
(posted by David)
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