Chapter 8

The Director's Impact

I.    Background

        A.    Has Artistic responsibility for entire production

        B.    Playwright's words are the seminal creation: begin the process

        C.    Director shapes the performance by communicating his interpretation of the script to designers and actors

                1.    Where the actors stand

                2.    When they say their lines

                3.    Which doors they enter and exit

                4.    Which gestures they make

                5.    What the characters look like

                6.    What the scenery looks like

                7.    Where the spotlights should focus

        D.    The word "direction" has 4 functions

                1.    Guidance (how to get from point A to B)

                2.    Instruction (how to bow to a king)

                3.    Explanation (defining words and ideas)

                4.    Inspiration (exciting the actors)

II.    Evolution of the Director

        A.    Relatively new position in theatre

                1.    For centuries theatre had no directors.

                        a.    Ancient Greece, playwrights supervised their own productions--paid by state

                        b.    2000 years later, the playwright was still the director

                                I.    Shakespeare was a writer, actor, and share-holder so he could tell the other actors what he
                                        had in mind

                        c.    Even today some playwrights direct their own plays, although rarely. 

                                I.    David Mamet directed his hit Oleanna and Martin Charnin directed Annie

            B.    Function of director moved out of the playwright's hands when theatre became a profitable business and
                     decisions made had a monetary impact.

                    1.    Change began in Shakespeare's time but didn't become the norm until 18th century

                    2.    People realized that audiences would pay to see famous actors. As they grew in importance they
                            commanded the right to say how things would be done.  Over the years, function of director shifted
                            from playwright to actor.  For 200 years, theatre was directed by actor-managers who ran the
                             business and were its main attraction. 

                    3.    Actor/managers directed the productions to suit their own ego and playwrights revised their plays to
                             ensure that the actor-manager had the starring roll.  It was financially beneficial but artistically
                             disasterous.

                    4.    One of greatest American actor-managers was Edwin Booth, brother of J.W. Booth.

                    5.    A modern example is Tony Randall who founded the National Actors Theatre and produced for
                            Broadway

            C.    Toward end of 19th century the actor-manager was supplanted by a new worker in theatre: the director

            D.    George, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (1874) first director

                    1.    Small Duchy in Germany

                    2.    Made all the laws

                    3.    Collected all the taxes

                    4.    Ran the Duchy to suit himself

            E.    Andre Antoine-Theatre Libre

            F.    Constantine Stanislavski-Moscow Art Theate

            G.    Determinism

III.    Duties of the Director

        A.    Selecting the Script

        B.    Researching the World of the Play

        C.    Analyzing the Script

        D.    Selecting the Key Collaborators

        E.    Conceptualizing the Production

        F.    Realizing the conception in sight and sound

        G.    Casting the roles

        H.    Rehearsing the production

                1.    Staging

                        a. Blocking

                2.    Coaching

                3.    Structuring the dynamics

                        a. like conductor

                4.    Standing in for the audience

                5.    Orchestrating the final rehearsals

        I.    Being the spiritual leader

        J.    Cashing the Check!

IV.    Interpreter or Creator?