DIRECTOR VS. PLAYWRIGHT PART 1

The only reason I’m calling this “Director Vs. Playwright” is to attract people with a sensationalist headline. And also ‘cause Alien Vs. Predator looks boss.

So instead of presenting this essay in the neatly planned-out format I projected weeks ago, I’m just going to post it in ragged bits as I finish them.

First of all, two things in regards to Anthony’s comments: 1) I’ve never had an experience like Laura was describing where a director excluded me or simply didn’t know how to deal with me. Her comments just made me think about the inherent tension of the director-playwright relationship. 2) I’ve never had a professional production of any of my plays, so I can’t speak to the playwright’s role in that process. My discussion will be based on the no-money Off-Off Broadway model, the only model many playwrights will ever know. Under this model I’ve been through thirteen productions and worked with ten different directors.

So how do you pick a director? Well, everything depends on your position to the project itself. I’ve been paired with directors through three different processes:

1) I instigated the project as a producer (with coproducers) and we approached a director or directors we wanted.

2) I submitted the play to a festival, it was accepted, and was then assigned to a director.

3) A director read a play of mine and approached me about directing it.

Option 2 is the most worrying because it offers the playwright the least control. You won’t have even had a conversation with the person before they’re directing your play.

With options 1 or 3, there’s a chance you know the director, know their work. Great. You can make at least an educated guess as to whether they’re right for your play or not. But if you don’t know their work, all you have is the interview and heresay.

And the interview is largely – though not entirely – useless.

A couple years ago my coproducers and I needed a director for a full-length play of mine that I was also producing. I met with a candidate recommended through a colleague. He was smart, personable, and insightful about the script.

For a variety of reasons I wasn’t able to attend many of the early rehearsals. I began getting troubling reports from actors about the slow progress of the project. We were less than two weeks away from opening and not one jot of blocking had been done. All the rehearsal time had been spent on discussion and sensory exercises. I spoke privately with every member of the cast, and then my coproducers and I met privately. We decided we had allowed the director ample latitude and now we needed to protect the project.

The director was replaced. The whole business was stressful and unpleasant.

The point is that the interview can only tell you one thing: whether or not the director-candidate is pleasant to be around (which, to be sure, counts for something in a rehearsal process). You can’t tell if they’re competent. A person can often manifest an intelligence and insight in a conversation that they can’t deployed in action.

It’s worth pointing out that this is as much a problem for directors as it is for the people selecting them. What can a director bring to the table – the literal table, the interview table? An actor can audition, a designer can hand over a portfolio, and a playwright can present a script. A director can give you a videotape or two (from which you’ll glean nothing useful), a resume, and some recommendations, but they can’t actually manifest their talent for you right in that room.

So the best they can do is just direct a whole bunch of plays, anywhere they can and as often as they can, and try to build up a reputation. This is where you come in, Off-Off Broadway playwrights.

You’re going to need talented directors, and you’ll need them to work for free or for next to no money. The only way you’re going to find them is by going to plays. Off-Off Broadway plays. No doubt you have friends in shows. Probably you get half a dozen email invites a week. Go see some of them. It’ll be a huge time/funds drain. Do it anyway.

When you see a well-directed play, hang out afterwards. Get the person you know in the show to introduce you to the director and members of the production company. Don’t talk yourself up – ask about them. Theatre-folks aren’t reticent, and they’ll remember you positively if you show interest in them.

Get on their mailing list. Every time you do this you’ll up the number of invites in your in-box. Do it anyway. You need those invites. They’re your windows into what everybody’s up to, and after you’ve looked in enough of these windows for a certain period of time, you start to see names recur and you come to realize that Off-Off is a more comprehensible ecosystem than it seems at first glance.

Go see more plays. Watch for directorial quality, sure, but more specifically, watch for obsessions that align with your own. A director you can’t pay will be most powerfully lured by shared obsession.

Chat with the directors. Tell jokes. Network. I’m not kidding. Nobody will give your script a quality read unless they know you a little bit and have reason to believe you’re not an idiot or a psychopath.

Even with all this time and effort put in, there’s still a trial and error element. You’re going to have to have some unhappy experiences with directors before you can know for sure what kind of working relationships you want. Everybody’s different. Maybe a rehearsal process involving two solid weeks of discussion and sensory exercises sounds good to you, while for my coproducers and I it was a firing offense. You have to have some unsatisfactory experiences to be sure.

Next up – once you’ve got a director, you’ll often find the li’l buggers want REWRITES. That’s next…

--SlowLearner

Comments

[Mike Mariano]

This is excellent, Mac. I never realized how little I've read about the role of the playwright that you describe above. A playwright is a theatre artist like any other, but most books and articles only talk about a playwright's relationship to a piece of paper. Keep this going!

[George Hunka]

There are a lot of playwright/directors out there, too. Do you prefer to work with a director or without, and why?

[Mac]

In general I like to work with a director just 'cause I'm not very good at directing. Though I did a decent job with "V" last year, so I may try again with another small project. In general, until I develop solid leadership skills and visual/spatial sense, I prefer to work with thos who've already got 'em.

Your question brings up some other pertinent issues, though, and I'll try to make them part of this series. Most specifically: many people say it's ALWAYS better for the director to be someone other than the playwright. Is this true?

[Catherine]

Can't help myself, have to comment on Mac's last question: Is it ALWAYS better for someone other than the playwright to direct the work?

Hi. My name is Catherine. I'm a friend of Mac's, and a playwright.

Hi Catherine.

Hi everyone.

I was sitting in a directing class this past spring when someone mentioned working on a project where the playwright was the director, and the entire class, teacher included (who happens to be artistic director of a major LORT theatre), let out a large, heaving, groan. I couldn't help but be offended.

Now, I'm not overly interested in directing. In fact, I kind of hate it. I was just taking the class because I'm in the midst of writing a dissertation and the class seemed, well, more interesting than my dissertation. But I find it exceedingly hard to believe that the playwright is always the worst person to direct the play. I can imagine that some playwrights suck as directors, but I think that has more to do with individual personality than the traits inherent to "being a playwright."

I think the argument most often levied against the playwright as director is that they don't have any objectivity. My response to this is twofold: one, a strong subjectivity, otherwise known as "vision for the play" sometimes makes for a wonderful director. I'd rather have someone who's invested in the play, knows it better than anyone else, even has an angle into it, than a dissinterested party. Two, some playwrights can actually be objective about their work, especially after a couple of productions. Wonder of wonders.

In short, I think being a good director is about having good communication skills, a strong visual sense, and dare-I-say organization. If a playwright possesses these qualities then, direct young people, direct!

That is all. Sorry for the rant on such short acquaintance.

Cheers,
Catherine

[Isaac Butler]

somehow the comment I wrote never ended up here, or perhaps Mac deleted it (although that would make no sense, as as far as I can tell, there was nothing offensive in it), but I will have a full response to Catherine's comments on my blog tomorrow.

[Mac]

I definitely didn't delete any comments, and I'm pretty hard to offend. That sucks!Nothing worse than writing a considered response and having it disappear. I hope this isn't a frequent problem with my site...

Anyway, Catherine, to read Isaac's response, click on "Isaac Butler" on my homepage. I'm gonna go see if it's up now!