1. Chapter 13: Directing and Producing

2. The Producer
Producers have the financial and managerial tasks of making productions available to the public
Producers influence artistic decisions through their willingness or unwillingness (or ability/inability) to meet the requests of artists
Producers are responsible for staying within a budget and for recovering the investment made in the production, if possible

3. The Producer – Slide 2 Broadway Producers:
Generally consist of organizations, groups of individuals, or consortia
Raise necessary capital
Receive payment for services + a large percentage of profits

4. The Producer – Slide 3 Broadway Producers:
Broadway productions costs = millions $
Success as unpredictable
Producers get backing from many people or many groups due to level of risk

5. The Producer – Slide 4 Broadway Producers:
Negotiate contracts with all personnel; must deal with up to 11 unions representing artists and other personnel
Rent spaces for rehearsals; lease auditoriums for performances

6. The Producer – Slide 5 Broadway Producers:
Arrange for publicity and ticket sales
Administer payroll, keep financial records, make reports to investors

7. The Producer – Slide 6 Professional Resident Companies:
Managing Director or Producing Director deals with financing and marketing
Both Managing Director and Artistic Director work to raise funds, along with Board of Directors
These companies cannot support activities strictly from box office income, so grants and contributions are pursued

8. What do YOU think?
As noted on the previous slide, many professional resident companies cannot support their activities strictly from box office income, and consequently must pursue grants and funding from other sources.
Why do you suppose these theatres have difficulty profiting from theatrical productions?
How do capital and profit operate in movies and popular music? How is this similar to how capital and profit operate in Broadway productions?
In what ways might theatrical offerings be limited if all theatres produced only works that had mass appeal?

9. The Producer – Slide 7 Community Theatre:
Organization itself usually acts as producer
Volunteers carry out most duties, under supervision of organization’s officers and board of directors
Educational Theatre:
Producer’s function often divided among many people

10. The Producer – Slide 8
Tasks of producing are much the same, regardless of the type of organization
Who performs the functions and how they are performed vary

11. Play Selection
Most permanent organizations present a season of several plays
Considerations for season selection:
Offering a variety of periods and forms
Production requirements of each play
Total cost in relation to organization’s budget and projected income
Tastes of local audiences
Probable box office appeal

12. Play Selection – Slide 2
Professional organizations deal with living authors or their agents in negotiating arrangements
Amateur production rights handled by play agencies such as Samuel French or Dramatists Play Service
Copyright = lifetime of author + 70 years
Royalties paid for each performance

13. The Director Concerned with all artistic aspects of production
Decides upon interpretation of script and production concept to shape staging
Casts and rehearses performers
Works with designers
Integrates all elements into finished production

14. Analyzing and Studying the Script
Script as starting point for most productions
Initial questions facing director include:
What is the basic story?
If the play is in a foreign language, what translation is best suited for this production?
How might the play’s events and their arrangement affect a live audience?
Should portions of the script be cut?
What is the significance of the play’s time and setting? Should these be altered?

15. Analyzing and Studying the Script – Slide 2
In analyzing the script, the director may:
Read the play several times to become familiar with overall qualities
Note structural patterns
Divide the play into segments or units defined by entrances/exits or major changes in character motivation

16. Analyzing and Studying the Script – Slide 3
Note emotional reactions or images inspired by script
Define the through line or spine of action that holds play together and determines its overall thrust
Study characters
Note scenic, costume, lighting requirements

17. Analyzing and Studying the Script – Slide 4
Consult sources beyond script to:
Understand author’s point of view
Explore the cultural environment and context
Read what critics and reviewers have written about the play and about previous productions

18. Analyzing and Studying the Script – Slide 5
Director may distill his/her interpretation of the play into a production concept
Production concept = a short statement that conveys the director’s vision for the production
Production concept is a organizational tool for the production team

19. Approaches to Directing
3 common approaches:
Literal
Translation
Auteur

20. Approaches to Directing – Slide 2
Literal
Director serves playwright
Transfer of script as literally as possible from page-to-stage
Retain time and place specified in script
Follow playwright’s staging prescriptions closely

21. Approaches to Directing – Slide 3
Translation
Director’s goal is to capture spirit of script
May depart from playwright’s specifications
Most common approach
Usually identifies a metaphor, analogy, dominant theme, or set of conventions that will shape the production

22. Approaches to Directing – Slide 4
Auteur
Script as raw material that the director feels free to reshape as needed
Director as principal creative force
At its most extreme, eliminates playwright altogether

23. The Director and the Designers
The production’s focus should be clear to all
The director must relate any specific demands to designers, such as:
Shape of set
Specific mood lighting
Garments with specific features
After initial meetings, designers must be allowed time to conceive their designs

24. The Director and the Designers – Slide 2
Designs are then considered and various questions are explored:
Do the designs project the production concept adequately?
Do they fit the play’s action, mood, theme, and style?
How do the lighting, costume, scenic, and sound designs complement each other?
Are the designs functional for staging purposes?
Can designs be achieved within budget, personnel, and time constraints?
Designs are approved and then executed

25. Auditions and Casting Audition procedures vary:
Open call = allows anyone interested to audition
Access still often restricted by some criteria
Casting Directors
Create small pool of likely candidates who are then auditioned by director, producer, playwright
Call Backs
Narrow field of prospective actors are given more time to demonstrate suitability in additional auditions
Actors may be called back numerous times

26. Auditions and Casting – Slide 2
Audition Material:
Actors asked frequently to perform 2 short, contrasting monologues unrelated to the play being cast
Actors sometimes asked to study the script being cast and to read a passage from it
Actors may be asked to read unfamiliar material and to respond to instructions from director = cold readings

27. Working with the Actors
Directors supervise rehearsals, ideally working collaboratively with actors to give life to the play
Throughout process, directors assess the work of the actor and make suggestions for improvement
Directors who work effectively with actors are:
Tactful
Understanding
Critics
Teachers
Friends
Sensitive listeners and observers

28. each moment of performance = an image bearing a message
The Director’s Means
Stage Images
Visual composition:
Creates beautiful stage pictures
Forms images that convey situation, emotional content, character relationships
each moment of performance = an image bearing a message

29. The Director’s Means – Slide 2
Stage Images for Proscenium Arch Theatres
Devices for composition and emphasis:
Position of performers on stage
Height
Stage areas
Spatial relationship
Contrast
Visual focus
Costume, lighting, scenery

30. The Director’s Means – Slide 3
Stage Images for Thrust or Arena Theatres
Devices for composition and emphasis:
Height
Spatial relationship
Contrast
Visual focus
Costume, lighting, scenery

31. The Director’s Means – Slide 4
Stage Images for Thrust or Arena Theatres
Difficult to compose visual images that are expressive from every point of view
Focus on constructing images from a variety of angles throughout performance
Stage Images for Flexible Spaces
Most problematic type of space

32. Movement, Gesture, and Business
Dominant impression of performance is movement: flow, change, development
Functions of movement:
Emphasizes by catching the eye and directing attention
Characterizes
Clarifies situation
Builds scenes to climax, provides contrast, establishes tempo
May be indicative of dramatic type or style

33. Movement, Gesture, and Business – Slide 2
3 main types of movement:
From place to place
Gesture = gesture, facial expression, bodily attitude (body language)
Business = physical activities such as arranging flowers, dueling

34. Voice and Speech
Voice as medium for speech, song, or nonverbal vocal sound
Director’s 4 main concerns:
Dialogue should be audible and comprehensible
Vocal qualities should be appropriate to character
Inflection and volume should not only be appropriate to character, but also to situation and meaning
Tempo and rhythm should vary appropriately in accordance with changing dynamics of action

35. Rehearsing the Play Role of Imagination Rehearsal Space:
Generally, scenery, costumes, lighting, and props are not available until the final days of rehearsal period; rehearsal space is seldom actual performance space
Rehearsal Space:
Usually large room
Ground plan of set taped out onto floor; multiple sets indicated with various colors of tape
Temporary props and rehearsal costumes used

36. Rehearsing the Play – Slide 2
Phases of Rehearsal
Usually devoted to reading and discussing script
Usually devoted to blocking = establishing each performer’s movements from place to place and each performer’s bodily position at each moment
Usually devoted to deepening actors’ understanding of lines and blocking
Usually dedicated to ensemble playing and shaping the action for overall effect
Final phase integrates all elements of production
when the production opens, director’s job essentially ends

37. The Director’s Assistants
Director may have several assistants who:
Take director’s notes during rehearsals
Attend production meetings
May serve as liaison with designers
May coach actors or rehearse scenes with performers
Production Stage Manager
Most indispensable assistant
Runs show at each performance
Compiles prompt book during rehearsal process, which becomes the blueprint for the performance