This may not be an easy one to answer. Out of curiosity, I was wondering where others draw the line between what is director's choice in a show and what is the actor's choice. (Such as defining a relationship with another character) I know this can run the spectrum from a director making essentially every choice to a director that makes choices only when absolutely necessary.

What are your general guidelines/boundaries as a director as to who gets to make which choice?    

I completely agree that the director has last word. I'm more curious as to who you give the first word to.

It's the director's call. Period.

First of all, I'll cast actors who I'm pretty sure can fill the requirements I have for the role.  Then, during first read-thru we (the entire cast) discuss each scene and what the cast thinks is going on between the characters.  I listen and sometimes learn from these talks, but I also guide them with remarks of my own.  During blocking a great deal of motivation is made clear just by the characters' relationships to each other on stage and their actions and reactions - stand, turn away, move forward, step back, etc.  The actors work with the movements I give them and work toward an understanding of the character.  They ask questions.  I give recommendations.  I try to stay away from line readings, but I will tell them the emotion I want them to convey - which leads into working with the concept that more often than not "less is more."  I want my actors to contribute as much as they can to the character's development so it will be "their" character.  But the final determination will always, always, always be mine.

(Needless to say, we don't have to take this careful an approach with a Neil Simon show.)

I was doing a show once wherein an actress had decided that her character and another character in the show had had an affair - with no shred of evidence in the text or the action of the play.  I told her "No.  No affair.  Not even a kiss. It would totally destroy the balance of the show and completely undermine one of the leads - not to mention the audience's satisfaction in having the lead return to her estranged husband."  She screamed that I was stifling her artistic soul and quit the show 5 days before opening.  I replaced her with a marvelous actress who understood what I was looking for and gave it to me.  Actress #2 was wonderful, and actress #1 was not missed at all.

Well now that some directors have spoken I will speak more from the actors perspective.

   Certainly it is most important to be "on the same page" or share the philosophy of the director with regard to characters. And good directors usually do this by discussing characters and philosophy of the show in the early stages of rehearsal or even in auditions. In some of my most favorite shows I have spent a significant amount of time in these types of character and philosophy discussions. And these people were very good directors.

   However, there is an old joke that goes something like this : What do you call the medical student that graduates LAST in his class: Answer..... Doctor.


   The analogy is that there are some good directors and some that are not so good. There are some directors that spend a lot of time analyzing the characters of the show and some that don't .

   Let me give two examples from my personal experience. A few years ago I auditioned for and got the "lead" in a very well know musical being done by a community theater. In the rehearsal schedule it was decided to work on the dance and music first for the first three or four weeks and then start blocking scenes . The director was someone I had worked with before as an actor but not as a director. Well one things leads to another and the actual blocking really doesn't start until the fifth week. About the time we start blocking I receive a curious e-mail from the director saying that because "the show will run too long" that some of the dialog of the show is being cut. As it turns out most of the lines that were cut were my characters lines which amounts to to, at most, 4 or 5 minutes of spoken dialog but a significant part of the "heart and soul" of the character. I , of course, protested and many grounds through a very long e-mail addressing my concerns. My e-mail was answered with a trite two line response saying that the lines were cut .

    At this point I gave serious consideration to quitting the show but at this point we were about 4 to 5 weeks from opening and there were some other people in the show who I really enjoyed working with so I decided not to leave.

    Then, during the course of the rest of the blocking of the show there were times when I was directed by this director to perform in such a way which I felt was at odds with the true nature of the character. And there were other aspects and scenes of the production which were at odds with what was the true nature of the production. To make a long story short.... I did my scenes MY way. Although I dropped the lines the director wanted me to cut I played the character in rehearsals during the production according to what I felt was the true nature of the character. Although I'm sure the director wanted to get rid of me she couldn't.... it was a sizable role that I sang well and it would have been pretty hard to find anybody else ... but I'm sure they sent out a few e-mails trying to find someone.

Oh,yes, by the way, the director has the FINAL say. I'm sure she would never cast me again but there is obviously no way I would ever want to work with this director again.

   My second example is much briefer and to the point. Again I was cast in a "lead" in a well know musical being done by a community theater. At the first rehearsal I was give a photocopy of the script which contained numerous deletions, changes , and additions to my dialog and to other characters. By chanced I also was able to check and at that point this particular group had not been officially been granted production rites for the show. Both the changes to the script and the possibility that the group had not, as yet, received production rites were a concern to me and I sent an e-mail to the director ( nicely ) expressing these concerns.

   The e-mail response was that I was "fired". Oh, well. There's always another show.

So, yes..... the director always gets the last word..... but sometimes it's better that your not even around to hear them.     

Read an article recently having to do with Clint Eastwood and his "style" of directing as described by Matt Damon.

   I don't know the exact language of the quotation but it was something very close to this:

" As a director I try to do my job, let the actors do theirs, and then sit back and relax and just let it all happen."

If it's good enough for Clint Eastwood it's good enough for me.