Imagine you're a really crummy director...
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Directing
Forum Discription: For questions about handling shows, actors, crew, board members, children ...or do we repeat ourselves?
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3802
Printed Date: 11/23/24 at 11:06pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Imagine you're a really crummy director...
Posted By: imamember
Subject: Imagine you're a really crummy director...
Date Posted: 2/05/09 at 11:28am
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And you're directing your first show. You don't bother coming up with blocking and you just tell your actors to move around naturally. The problem is that you don't have a lot of seasoned actors, but rather a couple adults and about 7 teenage boys. Now imagine that instead of being the crummy director, you're one of the adults in the show and frustrated. How do you tell the director he's doing it wrong? How well would you receive it? Okay no more beating around the bush.... Our director is also adding and or changing lines in the script, giving lines reads to actors and not waiting til a rehearsal is over before giving notes...he's doing it as we're in the middle of a line sometimes and I'm pulling my hair out!!!! So how would you handle this? How would you need to receive it if you were the director? |
Replies:
Posted By: KEB54
Date Posted: 2/05/09 at 11:58am
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Do you know a director (D1) that also knows your director (D2)? Maybe you talk with D1 and have him set up a lunch date with D2. They can have an informal, over lunch discussion on how the show is going, offer some tips and advice.
I think third party is best from someone not directly involved with the production. Keep your name out of it. ------------- KEB |
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 2/05/09 at 3:35pm
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This is the place to vent and you've got my shoulder to cry on! If you've done enough community theater, sooner or later and probably sooner you go through this and it makes you pull your hair out. Now, on the flip side, I'm not sure everything you're describing is "crummy directing" in and of itself. I don't see a problem with giving notes during a rehearsal but maybe I don't understand what you're describing.
Having been through this before, unfortunately, your options at this point are basically to quit or go with the program. You're not going to turn this guy into a good director, at least in this production, no matter what you do. If you have a low BS tolerance level the ultimate answer is to be more careful about what shows you commit to. If I'm suspicious, I'll talk to a director and ask specific questions. I find it pretty easy to spot the "crummy" ones. Good luck! |
Posted By: DWolfman
Date Posted: 2/05/09 at 4:25pm
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Unfortunately, when I first started acting in community theatre, I found out more about how not to do things than how best to do them. When I had the pleasure of working with a quality director, I added that name to the list of people I made sure to audition for (won't tell you the name of the other list).
As the previous posters mentioned, your options are very limited here and any "pot stirring" may brew up more trouble than it's worth. It would be nice to think the director could change if cooler heads nudged them in that direction, but a quick turnaround is a bit much to hope for.
One organization I've worked with has a director "training" program, letting newbies (those with no experience in directing at all but have expressed the desire) serve as assistant directors, stage managers, or work with summer one-acts before entrusting them with a main stage production and even then they may assign a liason board member to help them in their first production.
Which doesn't help you now, of course. All I can say is that I sympathize and "hope for the best but prepare for the worst." ------------- Even a man who is pure of heart... |
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 2/06/09 at 8:12am
| By the way, just to interject a postive note I'm opening on the 18th in a play directed by a first-time director who is directing his own play. He's one of the best directors I've ever worked with. So, lack of experience by itself isn't necessarily a reason to not work with someone. |
Posted By: imamember
Date Posted: 2/06/09 at 9:34am
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Our director is actually quite a good actor which I think makes it frustrating. He's doing everything actors hate. Adding/changing lines. He seriously added a Seinfeld joke. Giving line reads Interrupting in the middle of a scene or line just to say "Yeah!" which startles you and breaks your concentration. Too lazy to block any scenes, just tells you to move where you feel is natural...but with all the kids "natural" is side by side in a line then he complains that they're in a line but won't block them out of it. He's 5 to 15 minutes every day Admitted that it's hard for him to see the big picture of anything Admitted that he doesn't like the script (hence adding/changing lines) I know I'll just suck it up and stick with it since I'm a board member but it's so frustrating. |
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 2/06/09 at 12:43pm
Oh, I see what you're talking about now. That drives me up a wall, too, when directors want to interject "yeah" or whatnot and expect you to continue on in the moment. I guess you could try to view it as an exercise in increasing your concentration. And I don't envy you as you're in an even trickier position as a board member. It sounds like one of those situations and really your best choice is to grin and bear it. If it would be of any relief to you, one thing I think you would be justified in doing as a board member, though, is putting your foot down on changing the script. If this is something you're using from Dramatists or Samuel French or whatever, he can't do that, it's against your contract, it's a violation of intellectual property rights and in a worst case scenario your theater could be penalized in the future or even lose your rights for this production. By the way, what was the Seinfeld joke he added? "They fooled ME, Jerry." ? 
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Posted By: imamember
Date Posted: 2/06/09 at 12:51pm
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Well Holes isn't through a regular play publisher. It's through a literary agent for the author. There's a scene where Mr Sir is angry with Stanely and instead of giving him a full canteen of water he starts to pour it out onto the ground bit by bit asking Stanley if he wants more. Our director said, Oh there's this great Seinfeld line. When you're done pouring it out just say "ahh, that's a shame". It's little I know but it's part of a larger problem. |
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 2/06/09 at 3:25pm
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Hmmm....
And if Mr. Sachar or his literary agent or anybody who might have professional or personal relationships with them is by any chance now reading this, you will assure them that as a board member you will make sure that you are following whatever contract your group entered into regarding the treatment of his work. |
Posted By: mark_j
Date Posted: 2/09/09 at 12:58pm
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The next time he says "act natural" tell him "if I was acting natural my back would be to the audience and I'd be belching a lot." Maybe that might get his attention...or he could put it in the show. Ask him where would the actors stand where their faces will be seen and they can express their full range of emotions. You might have to put things in actor-speak before his lexical analyzer kicks in and he gives you more direction. (Sorry, computer geek in real life.) If he can't see the big picture maybe ask him where he'd be if he was playing the individual characters. It sounds like his style is he knows what he likes when he sees it, so take advantage of it and explore places with your character until he says tone it back.
mj
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Posted By: imamember
Date Posted: 3/18/09 at 12:49pm
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Update:
The show is over and it actually did very well financially. All the reciepts aren't in yet but I know we were under budget and we brought in more than we had planned to.
That said the director only got worse. He was always very nice to people so I suppose that's a positive note, but he hung out during every performance wandering around from backstage and then into the house, changing seats and wandering the aisles. Unfortunately I smelled alcohols on his breath during every performance.
Irritating things that occured were that he made call time a half hour shorter so if the house opened at 7:30, he'd make call at 7:00 thinking in his mind that an hour is plenty of time. He even said that as an actor he'd show up 10 minutes til curtain if he could. of course he wasn't realizing that you can't do that when you've got 30 people in the cast.
He also had staggered call times. So if a character wasn't in the show until ACT II, their call time would be 9:00 for an 8:00 show. One character hadn't shown up at all during an afternoon matinee performance and no one knew he wasn't there since he didn't come when the actual call time was scheduled. We stalled for 25 minutes after intermission.
He would call everyone on stage four out of the six performances for notes or a pep talk. Keep in mind that call time was 7:00 and house was open by 7:30 at which all the lights go out except for dressing rooms. So people would arrive at 7:00, sign in, start getting make-up on and around 7:15 he'd yell for EVERYONE ON STAGE RIGHT NOW! And then not release people till the house opened. Everyone had to check their props in the dark.
The fact that he was even still giving notes and tweaking after the show had opened was ridiculous. I atributed it to him being slightly drunk.
Now today is the first board meeting after the run of the show and the director is scheduled to come in to talk about it. I'm a board member and also in the cast and I really hope he doens't ask me what I thought. I haven't had a chance to fully debrief the full board as to my concerns. I did send out an email letting htem know I have issues and concerns so they don't ask me what I thought in front of him, but I can't control what he's going to do.
I'll update when it's over
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