It'll be auditioned along with the other one-acts, plus another show the company's putting on, and then we'll somehow pull our cast from that, and get 1 night a week rehearsals for about 3 months (seems like plenty of time) then combine with the rest of the show for tech rehearsals before it goes up.

 

I assume there's not much I can do until I choose/am assigned a script, but once I have that in hand, I'm looking for any advice for getting started.  I don't think I'll have an actual SM, but the producer's offered any help needed in that direction.

 

Well, it sounds like a fun project.

 

I think your rehearsal period is kind of problematic with a 10-minute show and one night rehearsal a week for 3 months.  Assuming that you have 3 hours per night, I don't know how you're going to let it progress organically.  I mean you have to let the actors go away and absorb and practice some of it and then come back to rehearse (as in "re - hear").  I would rather see one hour a night for three nights a week rather than one three-hour block.  I mean, in one hour you can run the entire play twice a night with notes and discussions. 

 

Are the actors going to be cast in multiple plays? You have to coordinate with the other directors so that you can vary types and size of roles for each actor cast. 

 

There is going to have to be one director that coordinates/directs the production as a whole. He/she's going to have a vision.  Make sure that you share and understand that vision.  Is there a common theme? Is it a circus theme with 3-rings? Are all the plays by the same author? Will there be intermissions between each play? That is something you can do now before you know what script you're directing.

 

That may include set pieces and lighting.  Are you going to have a bare stage with set pieces?  Are there certain color themes?  Drops? Flats? Platforms/levels?

  

As far as a SM, it has been my experience that there is one SM for the production and not individual plays.

 

So ask the main director or the producer about the production as a whole and what his/her vision is.  Your question may help him to focus and you may be able to help with some creative ideas.

 

 

As far as I know, actors may be cast in multiple plays, but it will be avoided if possible, to get participation as wide as possible.  There's a distinct possibility (probability) however, that the various mini-directors will appear in each other's one-acts.

 

The final one-act is much longer than the other three, and I think the director of that will be acting as the overall coordinator for the show.  Two of the three short plays have been selected, and they're by the same author, as is at least one of the scripts under consideration for the third, I've read all of those already to become familiar with them.

 

There will be an intermission between the three short plays and the longer one.  The long one at the end is essentially a bare stage, I know.  As for the short pieces, I've been told that a set can be built "within reason" -- there's an existing one with a couple levels that I believe will still be around for that show (if it survives, that'd make the 4th show running on that stage for that set, with changes).

 

One night a week may be all I can get to at least at the start -- I'm acting in another production through April myself.  I figured that still gave a good 5-6 weeks to pick up the tempo before the show goes up.

 

Like I said, there's a significant chance of cross-polination of the mini-directors ending up in each others' shows, maybe if there's a reciporical casting, we could work something out.

 

There will be a live musician to tie the bits together throughout the show.

 

Thanks again for the suggestions so far.