Violently Happy
Monday, June 21
Thanks for the messages, and Shout Outs to Frank (Thanks for the Partridge Family voice mail!!!) Nicole, Flo, Kiki Newtonkl, Nicki (Hey Gurl!), Ira, Mom and Dad and of course the girls (Webster and Sy) Love you All!
Slept in a little today, and got to the convention center in time to see one play before the Master Classes started. The schedule is Short Plays in the morning, Master Classes and Concurrent Sessions at 11:00, then lunch, then the long Play Labs in the Afternoon. Break around 5:30 until 7:30 for the evening performances, then a reception after, then for the night owls the Fringe Festival with open mike play readings (short plays of course!) poems, or whatever. Today's Master Classes are playwrighting with Romulus Linney and Directing with Lloyd Richards. I picked the Directing class because I'd been in a writing workshop with Romulus over the weekend, and well, Mr. Richards is a LEGEND.
Notes... keep in mind these are from a professional director and you playwrights out there KNOW that not eveyone does these things.... :)
Playwright and director and TD/set designer should meet first thing and make sure they are all on the same page with the same vision.
Directing is problem solving. Don't negate any good ideas - accept a thought and transform it constructively into the play.
Directing is not about telling people what to do, right from wrong, but understanding their process, why they make their choices, and working within THEIR process to bring out the vision.
Mr. Richards told a great story about playwrights and critics. He had arranged for a meeting with himself, a playwright and several critics, but told the playwright not to speak to the critics before he got there. When he arrived, he found the meeting had already started and as he walked into the room the playwright (who was in a wheelchair) was facing the critics with a briefcase in his lap and the critics were all seated in front of him, totally silent. The playwright had the briefcase open, and there was a pistol inside (which the critics could see) and he was sitting there, patiently waiting for his comments. Excellent, and we all want to shoot critics, don't we????? He was wonderful. I met him after the class and we had a nice chat (he's at least 82) and I got a photo with him.
I'm working up the nerve to approach Albee and Kushner. They're wandering the halls now. Go BIG, right??? One Bigwig a day. I'm still feeling the Richards aura.
Ciao for now.
Thanks for the messages, and Shout Outs to Frank (Thanks for the Partridge Family voice mail!!!) Nicole, Flo, Kiki Newtonkl, Nicki (Hey Gurl!), Ira, Mom and Dad and of course the girls (Webster and Sy) Love you All!
Slept in a little today, and got to the convention center in time to see one play before the Master Classes started. The schedule is Short Plays in the morning, Master Classes and Concurrent Sessions at 11:00, then lunch, then the long Play Labs in the Afternoon. Break around 5:30 until 7:30 for the evening performances, then a reception after, then for the night owls the Fringe Festival with open mike play readings (short plays of course!) poems, or whatever. Today's Master Classes are playwrighting with Romulus Linney and Directing with Lloyd Richards. I picked the Directing class because I'd been in a writing workshop with Romulus over the weekend, and well, Mr. Richards is a LEGEND.
Notes... keep in mind these are from a professional director and you playwrights out there KNOW that not eveyone does these things.... :)
Playwright and director and TD/set designer should meet first thing and make sure they are all on the same page with the same vision.
Directing is problem solving. Don't negate any good ideas - accept a thought and transform it constructively into the play.
Directing is not about telling people what to do, right from wrong, but understanding their process, why they make their choices, and working within THEIR process to bring out the vision.
Mr. Richards told a great story about playwrights and critics. He had arranged for a meeting with himself, a playwright and several critics, but told the playwright not to speak to the critics before he got there. When he arrived, he found the meeting had already started and as he walked into the room the playwright (who was in a wheelchair) was facing the critics with a briefcase in his lap and the critics were all seated in front of him, totally silent. The playwright had the briefcase open, and there was a pistol inside (which the critics could see) and he was sitting there, patiently waiting for his comments. Excellent, and we all want to shoot critics, don't we????? He was wonderful. I met him after the class and we had a nice chat (he's at least 82) and I got a photo with him.
I'm working up the nerve to approach Albee and Kushner. They're wandering the halls now. Go BIG, right??? One Bigwig a day. I'm still feeling the Richards aura.
Ciao for now.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home