Notes on Directing : 130 Lessons in Leadership from the Director's Chair

by Unknown

• ISBN13: 9780972425506
• ISBN10: 0972425500
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2003-04-01
• Publisher: INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP

Table of Contents

Preface	xvii
Notes on Notes on Directing	xxiii
More Notes on Notes on Directing	xxv
Understanding the Script	1	(8)
Read the play	1	(1)
Take a break and read it again	1	(1)
If you have any choice, try to fit the designers to the work	2	(1)
Don't finalize the designs too early	2	(1)
Read each character's part through as if you were playing it	2	(1)
Don't overstudy	2	(1)
Learn to love a play you don't particularly like	3	(1)
Identify the story's compelling question	3	(1)
Realize that the human experience is one of suffering and the resolution of suffering	3	(1)
Appreciate that character is the result of conduct	4	(1)
Understand that plays depict people in extraordinary circumstances	4	(1)
Recognize that the struggle is more important than the outcome	4	(1)
Realize that the end is in the beginning	5	(1)
Express the core of the play in as few words as possible	6	(3)
The Director's Role	9	(8)
You are the obstetrician	9	(1)
Just tell the story	9	(1)
Don't always connect all the dots	10	(1)
Keep the audience guessing	10	(1)
Don't try to please everybody	11	(1)
You can't have everything	11	(1)
Don't expect to have all the answers	11	(1)
No actor likes a lazy director, or an ignorant one	12	(1)
Assume that everyone is in a permanent state of catatonic terror	12	(1)
Lighten up	12	(1)
Don't change the author's words	13	(1)
You perform most of the day	13	(1)
It is not about you	14	(1)
The best compliment for a director: ``You seemed from the beginning to know exactly what you wanted.''	14	(3)
Casting	17	(6)
Directing is mostly casting	17	(1)
Don't expect the character to walk in the door	18	(1)
Put actors at ease, but don't befriend them	19	(1)
Don't act with auditioners	20	(3)
First Read-Through	23	(4)
Don't start with a great long brilliant speech	23	(1)
Don't let the actors mumble through the reading	23	(1)
Talk it out after the reading	24	(1)
Ask basic questions	24	(1)
Mark the waves in a scene	25	(2)
Rehearsal Rules	27	(6)
Work from your strength	27	(1)
Rehearsals need discipline	27	(1)
Plan the schedule a week at a time	27	(1)
Don't keep actors hanging about needlessly	28	(1)
Don't apologize when you don't have to	28	(1)
Make sure stage management get proper breaks	28	(1)
Say thank you	28	(1)
Include the crew	29	(1)
Always read the scene by yourself just before rehearsing it with the cast	29	(1)
Don't bury your head in the script	29	(1)
Treat difficult moments as discoveries	30	(1)
Don't work on new material when people are tired	30	(1)
End rehearsals on an upbeat note	30	(1)
Don't be grim	31	(1)
If you choose to allow outsiders to see a late rehearsal	31	(2)
Building Blocks	33	(6)
Every scene is a chase scene	33	(1)
The strength of the characters' wants equals the strength of the play	34	(1)
Ask: Is it nice or nasty? Big or little?	35	(1)
Every actor has a tell	35	(4)
Talking to Actors	39	(14)
Discussion about character is best done piecemeal, as the work demands	39	(1)
Start nice	39	(1)
Make a strong entrance	40	(1)
The actor's first job is to be heard	40	(1)
Sincerely praise actors early and often	40	(1)
Talk to the character, not the actor	40	(1)
Always sit and read a scene before blocking it	41	(1)
Do not expect too much too soon	42	(1)
Never, NEVER bully	42	(1)
Keep actors on their task	42	(1)
Never express actions in terms of feelings	43	(1)
Tell actors: ``Watch their eyes''	44	(1)
Actors are notoriously inaccurate about the quality of their own performances	44	(1)
Please, Please be decisive	45	(1)
Being direct is appropriate for a director, but not always	45	(1)
Give actors corrective notes in private	46	(1)
Know your actors	46	(1)
Don't give notes just prior to a performance or run-through	46	(1)
Don't assume people can take the harsh truth, even if they ask for it	47	(1)
Introduce bad news with ``and'' not ``but.''	47	(1)
Include every single member of the cast in your note sessions	47	(1)
Always walk through changes	48	(1)
Reverse the material	48	(1)
Don't play the end of scene at the beginning	49	(1)
Play against the given condition	49	(1)
Be gentle with actors just coming off book	49	(1)
Frequently ask: ``Who are you talking to?''	50	(1)
Anger is always preceded by pain	50	(1)
Tell actors: ``Localize abstract things''	50	(1)
In later rehearsals, ask yourself: ``Do I believe it?''	51	(1)
Consider late table work	51	(2)
Getting a Laugh	53	(6)
Humor falls mostly into one of two categories	53	(1)
Actors must never aim for the laugh	54	(1)
Play peek-a-boo	54	(1)
The best judge of humor is the audience	55	(1)
Proper audience focus is key to an effective joke	55	(1)
If a joke's not working, try reversing positions	55	(1)
Good humor requires a bad disposition	56	(3)
Elements of Staging	59	(10)
If it moves, the eye will follow	59	(1)
Every object tells	59	(1)
Love triangles	60	(1)
When few characters are on stage in a large space, keep them apart	61	(1)
Imbalance adds interest	61	(1)
Choose a facing angle	61	(1)
Stand up	62	(1)
Don't stand still	62	(1)
Sit down, if you're up to it	62	(1)
An audience's interest in the action is only as high as the actors' interest in it	63	(1)
Listening is active	63	(1)
Character reactions should be active and outward, not passive and inward	64	(1)
Turn your back	64	(1)
Give your actors face time	64	(1)
Style has its reasons	65	(1)
Consider if you're missing a costume moment	65	(1)
Respect the power of music	65	(1)
Use sound to prompt the audience to imagine the unseen, off-stage world	66	(1)
Acting solutions are always better than technical solutions	66	(1)
Beware the naked truth	66	(3)
Last Tips	69	(10)
When a scene isn't clicking, the entrance was probably wrong	69	(1)
Blocking problem?	69	(1)
When a scene is well acted, clearly understood, and boring	69	(2)
When a scene is well timed, well acted, clearly understood, and STILL boring	71	(1)
Listen for overzealous vocal entrances	71	(1)
Listen for actors who drop the ends of lines	71	(1)
An actor is lost in his role	72	(1)
An actor dries completely on his lines in performance	73	(1)
If an actor abuses you publicly, stay calm	73	(1)
Don't lose your cool	73	(1)
Watch for and value happy accidents	74	(1)
Got a great moment? Do it again	74	(1)
Got a great moment? Keep it to yourself	74	(1)
Some things are not and should not be repeatable	75	(1)
Don't hold the audience captive during a long scene change	76	(1)
How to handle critics	76	(3)
Epilogue	79	(4)
Appendix I: The What Game	83	(6)
Appendix II: Friends & Enemies	89	(4)
The Invisible Audience	89	(1)
Subjects and Objects	90	(3)
Appendix III: Simplicity, Variety, and Clarity	93	(6)
Simplicity	93	(1)
Variety	94	(1)
Clarity	95	(4)
Appendix IV: Meaning It	99	(6)
Appendix V: Recommended Reading	105	(6)
Acknowledgments	111	(4)
Index	115