Oh dear.
I've always loved the phrase Life on the Wicked Stage. Oh! the drama, the passion, the glorious lines! But once you walk off that stage, the drama needs to end. I've got drama before we even have a script.
My directing experience is relatively limited. I've been told that the relationship betwixt director and producer is tense: The director dreams big and the producer decides what they can afford. Tension. But now I have a far more complicated relationship to figure, and that is between the writer and the director.
Fortunately, the first time I saw this relationship fleshed out it consisted of me, director, facing off against me, writer. Not a bad gig. No arguments over character development or who would be better for the role, or how the set had to look. We were in complete agreement. And I had a technical director who could literally make my actors fly, so no disappointment for the writer on that whole zip-line over the audiences' heads scene.
My second experience of director v. writer was similar in that I was directing my own work, but this time compromise was necessary. Writer me wanted an older cast, a budget, lighting. Shoestring was the word, however, and we had to forgo lights in favor of a building, and most of my cast was under age 18. And yet, we worked it out. In fact, I think it was a raging success. I kept hearing "wow, every part was perfectly cast! Props to you!' I smiled, nodded, and enjoyed some amusement. The great cast? Not really my fault, but thanks.
This time, it's me director and an actual other person as the writer. As she voices her concerns, I realize how sweet it was to direct my own work. My director stressed the characters exactly as I had imagined them, aimed to create the very atmosphere I imagined; In short, I was able to pursue my own vision. When you're not the director, you're just not that fortunate. You let go and trust someone else with your work. And everyone knows what it's like for two different people to read the same work: both people picture it differently, and probably prefer their own vision.
This is what I'm up against now, an author I can empathize with and a director I trust. Both have different visions. Author and I are meeting this week to discuss things. Though friendly, we have to go into professional mode, where her frustrations and emotions have no bearing on the outcome, where tears are wasted and feelings sometimes get hurt for the greater good. I'm going to have to explain clearly that I'm looking at creating a program that perpetuates itself, at an introduction to our venue that impresses and earns us further invitations, and a good show that works in the space. The author never writes for the venue, so adaptation has to happen. If we're forced to use another script, we will. But I'm really hoping we can put a local author in business, in a beautiful space coveted by performers, that will build a whole program that benefits entire communities bereft of their arts. That's the wish.
I've always loved the phrase Life on the Wicked Stage. Oh! the drama, the passion, the glorious lines! But once you walk off that stage, the drama needs to end. I've got drama before we even have a script.
My directing experience is relatively limited. I've been told that the relationship betwixt director and producer is tense: The director dreams big and the producer decides what they can afford. Tension. But now I have a far more complicated relationship to figure, and that is between the writer and the director.
Fortunately, the first time I saw this relationship fleshed out it consisted of me, director, facing off against me, writer. Not a bad gig. No arguments over character development or who would be better for the role, or how the set had to look. We were in complete agreement. And I had a technical director who could literally make my actors fly, so no disappointment for the writer on that whole zip-line over the audiences' heads scene.
My second experience of director v. writer was similar in that I was directing my own work, but this time compromise was necessary. Writer me wanted an older cast, a budget, lighting. Shoestring was the word, however, and we had to forgo lights in favor of a building, and most of my cast was under age 18. And yet, we worked it out. In fact, I think it was a raging success. I kept hearing "wow, every part was perfectly cast! Props to you!' I smiled, nodded, and enjoyed some amusement. The great cast? Not really my fault, but thanks.
This time, it's me director and an actual other person as the writer. As she voices her concerns, I realize how sweet it was to direct my own work. My director stressed the characters exactly as I had imagined them, aimed to create the very atmosphere I imagined; In short, I was able to pursue my own vision. When you're not the director, you're just not that fortunate. You let go and trust someone else with your work. And everyone knows what it's like for two different people to read the same work: both people picture it differently, and probably prefer their own vision.
This is what I'm up against now, an author I can empathize with and a director I trust. Both have different visions. Author and I are meeting this week to discuss things. Though friendly, we have to go into professional mode, where her frustrations and emotions have no bearing on the outcome, where tears are wasted and feelings sometimes get hurt for the greater good. I'm going to have to explain clearly that I'm looking at creating a program that perpetuates itself, at an introduction to our venue that impresses and earns us further invitations, and a good show that works in the space. The author never writes for the venue, so adaptation has to happen. If we're forced to use another script, we will. But I'm really hoping we can put a local author in business, in a beautiful space coveted by performers, that will build a whole program that benefits entire communities bereft of their arts. That's the wish.
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