Main Stage
This section showcases my directing work so far. I find myself to be slightly anomalous from other directors I've worked with. The impact that movement has on any piece of work changes your show from what you expected to creativity you never imagined. Through my own research and experience the addition of movement training to a show sparks strong team dynamics in a cast, allows for undesirable body postures to be erased, inspires actors to add ownership to their part and the show in whole, and displays a visual image the audience never forgets and wants to see more of. In my humble opinion.
Movement to Music
A movement exercise in which the actor or group of actors only have music to create a scene in silence. Within this activity actors are encouraged to jump in to create a story silently and a character only using body language and formation. With just music you can laugh, cry, die, and be born again. The example above is from a workshop used for callbacks; this group was given superhero themed music.
Group Mind or a Team Dynamic
Guided collaboration is the buzzword I like to use to describe myself as a director. "This director will determine the source material, provide exercises and activities for research, training, and rehearsal, as well as determine how the performance will be presented to an audience. The role of a director in Guided Collaboration is similar to that of a teacher in a classroom setting or a leader in a traditional playmaking setting where it is acknowledged that the ensemble could not create a cohesive product on their own or without an outside eye. In Guided Collaboration, all participants are equals except the director, who remains above both the ensemble and the audience, guiding both of them to his/her goal."- Jason E. Weber from Creating Together: Defining Approaches to Collaboratively-Generated Devised Theatre
Line Masks
Physicalization grows character. Starting with a neutral stance, we emulate the lines from the mask into our bodies creating character postures. From there, through a led workshop, actors are asked questions to think about. They are asked to visualize an individual world and an entire backstory simply based on their stance and imagination.
Viola Spolin
"I discovered that during playing I could continue giving direction without stopping what the actors were doing. My direction then began to consist of side coaching the focus of the game when needed. Cluttered stage, for instance, were cleared by my called out, 'Share the stage picture!'" - From the high priestess of improvisational theater herself.
Viewpoints
"A system belonging to the natural principals of movement, time and space. We have simply articulated a set of names for things that already exist, things that we do naturally and have always done, with greater or lesser degrees of consciousness and emphasis. Viewpoints is a philosophy translated into a technique for training performers, building ensemble and creating movement for the stage." -Anne Bogart and Tina Landau from The Viewpoints Book
Play
The most important concept to me as a director is play. As a director you ask a lot of your actors, you request that they become another personality, character, or original being. These subjects are possibly some that they have never covered before. With playing around and allowing the actors to explore a new space with no pressure they may discover that for their character their internal flaw is carried in their back and that makes them stand differently or walk differently, where another might find that they personally love being in another’s space but their character is stand offish and doesn’t like to be touched. As I director, you could simply tell them that this is how their character acts but allowing the actor to find their own ownership opens doors to them that allows them to feel a part of a group effort while putting on a production no matter the size of the role.