Directors.
July 24, 2011
Howdy, Thespians! This is Nicki, blogging from New Jersey.
I just wanted to talk briefly about directors-- people almost every thespian will be dealing with at some point or another. This summer I am assistant directing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The director is someone who I don't really get along with. In fact, none of the directing/producing board does, and neither does that cast. Obviously, this makes for a tense environment. Lots of ideas have been thrown around that no one really agrees on, and so I am blogging to discuss with you how the choreographer, vocal director, producer, and I have been dealing with it.
1) The other day, in one of our final rehearsals before tech, we were giving notes after running the first act. After giving notes, the director pulled me aside to lecture me about how "giving individual notes infront of the group ruins their self confidence. ... yeah. I just thought to myself, WOMAN if you knew anything about theatre you would know that individual notes aren't a punishment. It's not like I'm telling them they're ugly and I want them out of the show, I'm just giving notes! (I'm a nice note giver, too.) Of course, I couldn't say any of this, and so I just said "alright." After running the second act, she began giving her notes. Guess how many general notes there were. Like...1. Guess how many individual notes she gave? a billion. I was so annoyed. But, because she is a payed director and I am a volunteer assistant, it's not like I could say anything. To deal with it, I slowly began to bring back my individual notes, and often just gave them to the older kids who know that that is how notes work. I wouldn' want to "ruin" the young kids confidence. Blah blah blah. Annoying.
2) Then! For the finale, we originally had all the kids in a little organized clump singing the choral part while the 4 leads stood in front and sang harmonies and they all snapped and danced and had a great time. Sounds like an awesome ending to a community theatre show, right? Well, our director didn't think so. she wanted the kids to do an elaborate dance with international flags she had laying around. (Keep in mind that at the time this story took place, most of the countries with these flags DID NOT EXIST.) So when she presented the idea to the choreographer and I, we said it sounded cool but we weren't sure that it made sense. "what if the kids all had rainbow ribbon dancers?" was a suggestion. Her response? "I don't want it to be a gay pride parade up there." I almost punched her. I couldn't...but I came close. So she tried the flag thing with the kids, and they, too, weren't sure what to think of it. It was a disaster. So her reaction to their attitude was to cut them all from the finale. They would stand backstage and sing while the leads were on stage. Cutting the kids who payed almost $400 to do the show. Makes a ton of sense right? NO. We talked to the producer/woman who does everything for the company, and she said she would fix it. We realized that our input to the director meant zero. She really didn't listen to us (the choreographer, vocal director, and assistant), so any issues we had needed to be brought to her boss.
Other issues i need to get off my chest:
She has not told the cast anything about the set..so they have no idea what they will be working with
she has not mentioned any type of light design. I have a feeling it's just gonna be flood lights. Yikes.
She has not showed up to any of our fundraisers or events. except for one show we went to...she left at intermission.
I guess DSA has really just presented a much higher level of respect for art and artists, so dealing with people who don't match that is much more difficult than one may anticipate.
that's all for now. Just needed to vent about dealing with directors.
BUT If you happen to be in South Jersey this weekend, please come see our show :) It really is good, despite the crazies! Thurs, Fri, Sat 7:00 pm and Sat 2:00 pm at Wildwood Catholic Highschool
I just wanted to talk briefly about directors-- people almost every thespian will be dealing with at some point or another. This summer I am assistant directing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The director is someone who I don't really get along with. In fact, none of the directing/producing board does, and neither does that cast. Obviously, this makes for a tense environment. Lots of ideas have been thrown around that no one really agrees on, and so I am blogging to discuss with you how the choreographer, vocal director, producer, and I have been dealing with it.
1) The other day, in one of our final rehearsals before tech, we were giving notes after running the first act. After giving notes, the director pulled me aside to lecture me about how "giving individual notes infront of the group ruins their self confidence. ... yeah. I just thought to myself, WOMAN if you knew anything about theatre you would know that individual notes aren't a punishment. It's not like I'm telling them they're ugly and I want them out of the show, I'm just giving notes! (I'm a nice note giver, too.) Of course, I couldn't say any of this, and so I just said "alright." After running the second act, she began giving her notes. Guess how many general notes there were. Like...1. Guess how many individual notes she gave? a billion. I was so annoyed. But, because she is a payed director and I am a volunteer assistant, it's not like I could say anything. To deal with it, I slowly began to bring back my individual notes, and often just gave them to the older kids who know that that is how notes work. I wouldn' want to "ruin" the young kids confidence. Blah blah blah. Annoying.
2) Then! For the finale, we originally had all the kids in a little organized clump singing the choral part while the 4 leads stood in front and sang harmonies and they all snapped and danced and had a great time. Sounds like an awesome ending to a community theatre show, right? Well, our director didn't think so. she wanted the kids to do an elaborate dance with international flags she had laying around. (Keep in mind that at the time this story took place, most of the countries with these flags DID NOT EXIST.) So when she presented the idea to the choreographer and I, we said it sounded cool but we weren't sure that it made sense. "what if the kids all had rainbow ribbon dancers?" was a suggestion. Her response? "I don't want it to be a gay pride parade up there." I almost punched her. I couldn't...but I came close. So she tried the flag thing with the kids, and they, too, weren't sure what to think of it. It was a disaster. So her reaction to their attitude was to cut them all from the finale. They would stand backstage and sing while the leads were on stage. Cutting the kids who payed almost $400 to do the show. Makes a ton of sense right? NO. We talked to the producer/woman who does everything for the company, and she said she would fix it. We realized that our input to the director meant zero. She really didn't listen to us (the choreographer, vocal director, and assistant), so any issues we had needed to be brought to her boss.
Other issues i need to get off my chest:
She has not told the cast anything about the set..so they have no idea what they will be working with
she has not mentioned any type of light design. I have a feeling it's just gonna be flood lights. Yikes.
She has not showed up to any of our fundraisers or events. except for one show we went to...she left at intermission.
I guess DSA has really just presented a much higher level of respect for art and artists, so dealing with people who don't match that is much more difficult than one may anticipate.
that's all for now. Just needed to vent about dealing with directors.
BUT If you happen to be in South Jersey this weekend, please come see our show :) It really is good, despite the crazies! Thurs, Fri, Sat 7:00 pm and Sat 2:00 pm at Wildwood Catholic Highschool
Posted by Nicki Seefried.