From the earliest reviews, people have been praising my plotting. While gratifying, it’s quite ironic because the gift that allows me to see the connections between the plays or ferret out a backstory to a single line also makes me a real nuisance in rehearsals, especially during the table-work.
Table-work is the discussions and readings that precede putting the play on its feet, scripts in hand, to work out the blocking. There’s always a lot of discussion of themes and character motivation and quibbling over the meaning of words.
This is when I’m a pain in the director’s ass, something I’ve been trying to curb. It’s really a flaw in the way my mind works – I see something, a connection, a word that rings some bell in my head, and suddenly I leap from point A to point X, seeing the obvious end-stop, the result that works dramatically and twists the audience’s expectations.
The problem is, I open my mouth before I’ve figured out the steps from A to X. Instead, I point at A and expect everyone to understand the twisted path my brain has taken. If I try and explain X, they look at me blankly and I flush in embarrassment, knowing I’ve made an ass of myself again.
There have been two directors who have been able to make the leaps with me, because their minds work in a similar way – Kevin Theis and Page Hearn. It’s why when they call, I drop whatever I’m doing. Working with them is a pleasure, because I don’t feel like an idiot when I chime in with some half-formed notion.
My wife Jan, an excellent director in her own right, knows me well enough not to discount what I have to say, though usually her vision is so totally clear there’s not much for me to add. I found the same thing working for Bob Falls – that man knows what he’s doing from top to bottom, though he’s never too busy to listen to an idea.
The hallmark of a good stage director is not certainty, but security (I don’t know if the same is true of film, though I imagine it is). Insecurity leads to fear – fear of failure, fear of not seeming to be in control – and that leads to bad decisions and actors who feel stepped-on. Overall, the play suffers. The free flow of ideas is a good thing, and can only benefit the show. And in the end the director can take all the credit. No matter how big a pain one particular actor has been.
