How to direct a Play 3

Movement exercise, “As slow as you could… as slow as you could”, move around space… turns into ritual dance… into three groups… 1, 2 and 3
Then in a long line, holding hands with eyes closed, we went on a long walk, we behave as one and become a family, then we lied down to rest and he stomped his feet close to our heads
In our groups… 1, 2, or 3… the 1’s talked for twenty minutes straight, without stopping, about their personal lives, strengths and weaknesses, while 2’s and 3’s listened without talking… then we switched until each had had a turn… we sat in our groups and discussed what we had heard with the idea we were to create three characters, there was lots of talk about family and whether or not we would reveal the secrets people told us. We thought we were going to have to perform little scenes, but we formed a giant circle on the stage, Putu asked us to tell individual stories, in whatever way we wanted. He preferred to be told a story than shown one, but whatever. Right now… go! It was awesome to watch how different everyone’s bits were. Mine was a story about a little girl, or was it a little boy, growing up and learning how to cope with life. It had its moment of poignancy as I kept switching the gender, but I wrapped it up with comedy, a quote I heard in someone’s story, “It doesn’t really matter, because it all ends in a box.” Jenn’s was awesome as she waited until the end, as the last person to go, she came out of the gate fully in character and everyone was taken on a ride.
Day two… we met and told very brief anecdotes and funny little stories from our lives. Then we had an hour to move from where we were to directly outside. No talking, we moved in the slowest motion you can imagine. All the while we were to describe to ourselves our surroundings, as though we were a Movie Director asking for what he wanted.
In our three groups, slow motion, no words, we lead each other doing… “The same thing but differently.” On my turn, we built Inukshuks. It was a rehearsal and then we had to present, without warning, a three-minute group piece. Putu was frustrated because we were not achieving this task to his satisfaction, so he made us move through it faster. Then we had to torture each other
Day three… we cleaned the outdoor stage
In group we spent an hour, with no words, on the mountain-side to create a story. Again we thought we would present in a group, but ended up doing an individual presentation. I created six faces with the twigs, stones, shells, garbage, etc. From the circle, I told everyone to study each others faces, and then really concentrate on, me, Jenn, Jen, Evelyn, Coley and a mystery person. After they were sure they had those faces in there minds, I lead the single file past the faces I had made.
Day four… we cleaned the studio again, no words, no water, due to the drought (P.S… There was a drought most of the time we were there. Another upshot of the lack of water was that the wild pig came down for the mountains and sniffed around for a drink.)
In a circle we had to say what are dreams and goals were, then we crawled around in an earthly way, our feet and most of our bodies on the floor… had to cross the room, if you touched somebody, you had to stop, or die, then live again and keep going. For me was a great parable for life, because I was always running into people who stopped my progress. Some people moved faster and just seemed to literally climb me to get past me. At one point, I saw that two of us were heading for the same tiny gap, so I generously let the other person go first, but by the time they had cleared, the hole was gone.

PETAR TODOROV, BULGARIA… MISS JULIE AS DANCE DRAMA
‘The workshop is the artistic exploration of the connection and unison of movement and text as equal means of expression on stage, far away from the psychological approach to the classical play by Strindberg. The desires of the characters will be approached with theatrical and chorographical tools.’

We began and ended every session with holding hands in silence
Big name passing game… Say one name to the person to the right of you, then two and so on until you can say all of the names. I think we went up to five them we were able to go around the circle
He handed out numbers and he assigned characters for our performance in Miss Julie. I became Jean. It was truly the last thing I expected
All of the Jeans began to move to Miss Julie-type music and we did so for an hour as ourselves. I marched around and around in a square around the stage. I felt way more like Jean as I was listening to his music. I kept looking back at the moon and I behaving as though I was on watch. Fun. I ended up making circuits of the entire stage, (about 25 feet square) and filled with other Jeans, with my eyes closed the whole way
I wish I was encouraged to explore more types of movement
We read scripts and discussed characters, with the request to learn all of the lines by the next day. He watched us do a read-through and we picked two words for our characters, an adjective and a noun… POWERFUL and EGO… to describe your character
Then we walked the stage for an hour as our character, while listening to the same music. I brushed my horse, cleaned hooves, did many push ups and fixed my hair
After ten minutes rehearsal, we did our scenes, with one of our moves. As the scenes progressed, the rules changed… loosened. More movement the better… the challenge was to explore while bouncing of the text… less thinking
The whole thing was a bit of an experiment. Petar’s favourite part was on the third day, when we were all moving around in our own characters to the music, each doing our individual moves… he thought we could do performance just like that. He would never use the whole text, because it is way too literal. The whole story really is in those first six pages

YOSHI OIDA, JAPAN… NATURALISM AND PERFORMANCE
‘During the early 1960s, Oida traveled the world, to Iran, Africa, the USA, and within Europe, with Peter Brook’s experimental company, encountering audiences of every type and culture. In Spoleto, Yoshi lead us in an intensive workshop featuring an exploration of the subtleties of naturalism and performance through scene work. His books are An Actor Adrift, The Invisible Actor and An Actor’s Tricks…’

“What is theatre?”, “What is an actor?”, and “What is the relationship between the actor and the public?”
“Physical imitation gives us some kind of understanding of the inside… If you take a precise body position, the corresponding emotion will come.”
“You rehearse in order to define the mise-en-scene, using the elements of space, character, action and thought. Then you follow this design from moment to moment as you perform.”
“When an actor is shouting or angry or moving strongly, it is a good idea to tighten the anus… the two ends of the spine seem to be related and our energy passes between these two points.”
JO HA KYU… every phrase, passage and story has a beginning, middle and end
A natural example of JO-HA-KYU… In a large group begin clapping with eyes closed. The pattern begins slowly and it is hard to clap together, so the pace naturally increases, climaxes in a fury, and then slows to an end. The pattern is the same in China, Africa, India and when making love. The Climax is preparation of the next starting point. Yoshi states that the JO-HA-KYU is such a common pattern in life, it is a natural tool for your artistic creations

Yoshi Exercises and lessons… lots and lots of Yoga, and these…

Body is divided between forces of sky and the weight of gravity… lead by string at the top of the head… spot found at crosshairs between the ear to ear and a line from nose to back of head
Also walk around as though you are full of water inside
Stronger position when body is leaning forward, one foot forward and shoulder-distance apart, we tested this by trying many positions
Same with breath, stronger position when exhaling
Stage movement toward audience-right is strong… off to war
Stage movement toward audience-left is weak… going back home
We performed our prepared monologues, observing the JO HA KYU
Holding onto a big invisible ball, move it around in circles and infinity sign, bigger, smaller, stop. Then big ball towards heaven, from far right, taking wind to re-direct in a circle and send out far left, repeat with full body spin, repeat fast and slow
Breath coming through feet, think about anus, breathe in and go half-way to tippy-toes, breathe in again and go full tippy-toes, hold as long as you can, then even longer, until you are almost dead, as you let go slam heals, bend knees, throw arms forward and feel energy shoot up spine between anus and tailbone
Sound and breathing… Make the MMM sound into an AAA while looking up and exhaling, you feel light. Breathe into neutral. Make the MMM sound into an EEE while looking down and you feel heavy
Pair-off and try to lift each other while attempting this lightness or heaviness as above or, EEE to AAA for light and AAA to EEE for heavy
"To be, or not to be, that is the question." The sound is important; the words are short and choppy, just like the emotion. We also worked on Greek text that we did not know the meaning of, and just reading it and playing with TEMPO, PITCH and VOLUME, we were able to accurately guess what the words meant. I found different people brought different stuff to it. Then, in partners, we recited the text in alternating lines as a dialogue. We tried to communicate different things to each other, as we bounded and chased each other across an Italian hillside.
Clap exercise… Clap 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, then loud clap on each number consecutively, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc… then accent with a pause replacing one number each round
Un/ding/guer/ree/eh/ma, Un/ding/guer/ree/eh, clapping and in rounds… we began in a very controlled pattern in a circle, singing in rounds and then busted out and we were all over the place, eventually we fell back into organized pattern and brought it to a natural end. It is an African chant, welcoming the gods of theatre into our circle so we can tell stories
Walk around two trees in figure 8, with imaginary stick in flat hands and snake spine
Big ball stretch way back and hold
Right hand over left hand as though holding a tube, then upper hand pushes up to the sky and lower hand pushes down to the earth, finish
Lean forward, breathe to earth, tongue in front… lean back, breathe from earth, tongue back
In circle, every sixth person step in and out to a four count, and then add single clap in opposite direction
Breathe in hands over head, exhale arms down, inhale, exhale bend over, inhale arms in Jesus, exhale hand to opposite ankle, hold breath, inhale to stand and finish
Legs wide, look full left on exhale, hands on hips, then full right
Nine person exercise, fast, single clap around circle, then switch direction, then give across circle
Walk around randomly and use each other telepathically to stop at the same time without saying anything, then two people start to walk, then two more
Twelve in square, four sides of three each, counting to six, on six the ones cross to other side without touching, then twos from next side, then threes, fours, threes, twos, and then ones
Stand in circle, left hand on top of one neighbour’s hand and right hand on bottom of other neighbour’s hand… try to breathe at the same time as the people around you

ANDREI SERBAN, ROMANIA… THE ACTOR/DIRECTOR RELATIONSHIP
‘The workshop will explore tools directors can utilize with their actors as they begin their work process together. Participants will delve into exercises and improvisations as a means to develop the attention and sensitivity of the actor’s instrument, the body, as well as developing their own sensitivity as directors. Scenes from Sarah Kane’s Cleansed will be used.’

It has to be real
Scenes were assigned. I picked Scene 1, Cornell was my partner, I felt lucky because he is an actor and a director, and he knew about the history of the playwright and previous productions of the piece. I was Graham, we discussed the meaning and Andrei joins us for a time
Next day, we rehearsed the scene beside the chapel, off-book, and Andre came by for a chat. Then we went around to all of the locations in a convenient order, which made the scenes come in random order. We also did not applaud and we remained silent between locations to keep the integrity of the piece as a whole. They were excellent and in crazy locations
Then we had an extra long class of Andrei rehearsing our old scenes with us on a new space, the stage. He wanted to show the whole thing to Mama, but it didn’t really work because the unusual locations were so important to our interpretations
The next day we were assigned different scenes, I was Grace under the stage, and we cruised around to new locations, this time blocking, getting off-book and presenting on the same day
On the final day, we got into groups of three or four and each group presented the whole play in a three minute scene. Our group did it with movement and the Greek lines Yoshi had given us. Again the performances and interpretations were excellent, very fun to do and watch

Andrei Exercises…

Concentration exercise… In random areas facing the same direction, step and count, one forward, two backwards, three forward… up to ten. Then add arms, one - right arm out straight forward at shoulder height, two - bend to stop sign, three - straight up palm forward, four - bent over head, five - on heart… six - left hand on heart, seven - 45 degrees down, eight - bend to stop, nine - straight up palm in, ten - on stomach… Then add a head, one - right, two - centre, three - left, four - centre, five – up, six – centre, seven – down, eight – centre, nine – right, centre and left, ten – up, down, finish centre with feet together
In a circle, count-off to the right a number per person, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, at 5, they repeat 5, and then the count down goes to the left 4, 3, 2, 1. Then, 2 becomes 1 and counts of to the right. Repeat. Add a gesture one as it goes to the right, and then change at 5 and send a different gesture back to the left

ENRIQUE PARDRO, PERU… TAKING POSITION ON COMPOSITION
‘Working with the voice to discover plot, place and story, the workshop looks at discovering meaning through choreographic context. We will work with all these poetics and call on mythology to comment on our wanderings. The practical work will consist of composition sessions based on ensemble improvisation disciplines, with the gradual inclusion of voices (on and off stage), with piano and recorded music. Texts are explored through actor’s exercises before their inclusion in complex choreographic contexts.’

Doubles exercise, like mirroring and mimicking, but not. You were to follow your partner, matching energies, but not doing the same thing, don’t be seen following the leader
The leader is not a teacher and does not care if you are following
Yield, if you fall into a set up, yield… texts do not rule
In the whole group, there were three leaders moving around and we all picked one to follow… be aware of your position and your place and the formation, as you are always a part of something bigger
Disassociation… never on cue… during our prepared monologues, Enrique sent two extra people on stage to contrast the speaker. The three must yield to each other.
For example: Memo started his monologue, and then Enrique directed Memo to speak Peter in the corner, and say Peter’s name in non-obvious places in his text, but never look at him. Then he added Akiba saying “Stop whining, Memo”, whenever she wants. Bring presence of mind and presence of spirit
We repeated the above exercise again and again
The monologue or text’s story is already there
Mobility… don’t lose your capacity to change
Arrogance… take something for yourself
Jealousy… watch for triangles, Pinter is full of them
Consider… stars are siders, you are looking at people’s stars
Impress… be impressed by what you are saying
Express… inhale, transfer, exhale, like smoking
Depression… re-live the pressure to clarify meaning
Repression… shut up before you voice
Listener… make your listener you priority
Boundaries… once there is a boundary we are dying to see someone break it

ANNIE-B PARSON, UNITED STATES… DIRECTION AS CHOREOGRAPHY
‘This workshop, takes a look at a formal approach to creating movement phrases and movement events. Students will be hyper-generative, making piles of movement phrases and theatrical events including such trademarks of post modernism as appropriation, rubric driven structures, and blending the boundaries of what is generally proscribed as theater and dance.’

Warm up with a lot of yoga
There were so many of us, when it came time to present our pieces, we did it ‘parade’ style by lining up and going on stage one after another rapidly, with no pause or applause until everyone had gone
Shoe dance… sit beside shoes, take one and draw shape, place it somewhere else, move shoe in odd way, then change your position so you can see it differently, be the shoe, put it on… repeat… go to somebody else’s place… repeat… in partners, with one as slave retrieving your shoe for you, repeat motion with other shoe… do moves without shoe
Chair dance… accumulation of movements… with chair create movement 1 trough 8, and you repeat 1 every time… that is, in the pattern of 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc… create the moves thinking of the relationship between your pelvis and the chair’s pelvis. Perform, then remove the chair, rehearse and perform again… then remove the accumulation
U’s and O’s… U and O describe the shape you will make with your body… e is for external and i is for internal… create a dance in the following pattern… Ue, Oi, Ui, Oe, Ue, Oi, Ui, Oe, then small i… no repetition, no symmetry, trash compactor
Then… with a list of movement verbs… walk, transfer, skip, roll, jump, lunge, slither, axel, run, moonwalk, slide, sea song, and then we picked five move and added them to our U’s and O’s Dance.
Monologue plus movement piece… fit the text into the movement phrase, in three places - move only no text, in one place - text only no movement
Duet instructions… take weight, give weight, levitate, rotate, divine, circle, drop catch, assist politely… no repetition, no symmetry, trash compactor
Folk dance… we selected 6 moves from the description of a folk dance and came up with our own
Dance of the Five Lovers… come up with a few words that describe each of five lovers. Form piece by writing in journal a move that expresses the words you have chosen. This was fairly complex, so we were allowed to take or note books upstage and if we forgot a part, we went upstage put on sunglasses and with a flashlight read the notes until we were ready to jump back in the parade
Mundane activity… with a partner, we picked a mundane activity and broke it into four parts and do one of your dances in between
To create a piece, Annie-B gets a huge pile of source material including all elements and artists, and then they draw from that to create
She bring things that contrast in big ways and in small ways

Ellen Stewart a.k.a. Mama of LaMaMa Experimental Theatre Club, NYC…

Mama does plays with no words, so she can do it in any country
She researches myths and writes her own stories
Dance and theatre are the same

A personal highlight for me was the chance to work with the great Ellen Stewart on our piece. In her two-session workshop, we watched a video example of her work and then she asked to hear the stories that the playwrights in the crowd were working on. She selected Drinking with Persephone to interpret and write her own piece about. Jenn told her the myth in more detail, and we gave her a copy of the script. A few days later we all met again, with a keyboard in the room. Mama had written a poem, based on the script, as she sang it James wrote down the music and then Ellen O, James and Andrea sang as he played. The dancers started dancing, Anna, Judy, Angelisa, Akiba… Deb and Tony were the couple. Jenn wrote another stanza to the poem. Mama had started us off, and then she encouraged me to take over the direction and do whatever I wanted. Cornell banged on a big drum and Memo played the spoons. Jesse and Jean-Daniel were singing bass vocal improvs and Emma and Coley were laughing like little children. We got the Greek pages from the script and Mia read the in the “Mama” Greek-moaning-tragedy style. As it came to a natural close, we called the first round a rehearsal and did all of our single parts together again. For two hours, I directed our entire class, through an experimental version of our ten-year-old, well-toured, multi-award winning play. It was delightfully moving. Experimental theatre is a Gestalt.

Cornell - Exercises for Early Actors…

Shake hands 16 times counting out loud, then left foot, then right foot, then 8 times, then 4, then 2, then 1
Walk around randomly in space, pick someone to have a secret crush on and keep 15 feet between you, then have two crushes and keep equal distance between both
Dowel dance, place a skinny, long stick on the tip of your finger and on the tip of your partner’s finger
In very tight circle, randomly count to 21, without talking at the same time, if you do, you have to start again… you can also loosen the circle
Walking around randomly and quickly, stop, close eyes, where is Anna? Point to her, without looking first

Jesse Voice Workshop…

Linklater Method… begin with relaxing and releasing exercises to open
Warm up the voice to loosen whole head and chest area, physical with sound
Find string on top of head, arms up and throw down or into circles, shimmies, shakes and head shakes
Resonators… hard palate which you can hear if you do Fran Dresher ‘Ha’, teeth, head, mask, chest… exhale with nose and pound chest
For my ‘clickies’ use hands to loosen jaw, use thumb to massage tongue muscle under chin, massage jaw points at the corners of your forehead, tiny tongue rolls to big ones, drink lots of water

David Diamond - Career Coaching…

David is a career coach and he gave an evening chat about how to make your dreams comes true by de-constructing your big desires into smaller, accomplishable steps.

Complete sentence… “When I die, I know that I lived a happy life because…”
Make a clear mission statement
Break it down into goals
Come up with strategies to achieve those goals

Vern Thiessen - Marketing the Playwright… www.labellavista.com

Vern runs a playwright’s retreat in Tuscany in June that looks fantastic. I was lucky enough to take a workshop on “Marketing the Playwright” with him in Winnipeg, shortly after I returned from Italy. The two seemed to fit together perfectly.

Taking stock of what’s inside… Why do you write? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Why are you unique artist? When is your art finished?
You want to create a great product, how are you going to make it outstanding?
We listed our projects into three categories… Produced Plays, Plays in Development, and Play Pitches… you always need to have a pitch up your sleeve
Write out your support network, names and theatre companies who will champion your cause, include indirect associations that have a relationship to your topic, if not you… and who is you audience? Write it out and match to project
Write out a dream sentence for each project… “In my dreams… ”
Then… one year from now… six months from now… three months from now… one month from now… what do I need to do to get these goals accomplished in the next four weeks?
Deadlines… write out plan, week one, week two, week three, and week four
When you hand in a script, have a goal attached to it, i.e. a reading next week, and why they need the play?
Don’t limit yourself to Canada
Don’t send you stuff out until it is ready, then apply, apply, apply
Join the Guilds and associations
When you play gets selected by a theatre, remember all of the ramifications of the partnership you are entering, because unlike the other artists it is not just a gig, you are paid by each person that comes to see the show, so if you want to select the colour of the poster, make sure your voice is heard
How do you make money? 6 ways… Royalties, including options, advances, and 10% of box office gross, less in US… Commissions… Grants and residencies… Publications bring in money by sales and an ISBN allows you access to ‘public lending rights’ through Canada Council, library usage and photocopying… Competitions, there are lots, stay away from publication here… Workshop and development…
What tools do you have? Email, phone, mail, visit – nothing beats it, word of mouth, vouchers, website, business or postcard, conferences… a produced play and its audience, free performances, good photographer, good videographer with reaction clips, CBC radio, buy a PACT book, get money and take it to theatre for reading, PT Montreal, fall/winter is reading season, have PDF of full script and reviews, follow up with phone calls, develop relationships, meet with people, start at small theatres and build audience, check UK
Money made as playwright… add $2000 per year, once you get to $50,000 in royalties, you need an agent