My Thoughts on Directing

I think the reason that I love directing as much as I do is because it is a way to bring an entire story to life. Actors create characters, and designers create settings, but the director makes sure everyone is on the same page.

I spend a great deal of time researching and thinking about a production before I start rehearsals, and I like to think that I have a thorough understanding of the logic of a text going into them. My approach to directing is to constantly ask my cast and design staff if that logic is correct. That way I'm never telling anyone what to do, and I stand a greater chance of learning something in the process.

In an ideal environment, theatre should be a colaborative process. Many minds can do great work when everyone is working together, and to my mind, the director's primary task is to keep everyone collaborating. Everyone should feel comfortable sharing their ideas and try new things because, as William Ball says, bad ideas will fall out of their own orbit. My corallary is that good ideas create their own gravity.

The director is essential in creating this environment: his task is to ensure that everyone is sharing, that he appreciates all ideas, even the ones that don't work out, and to let everyone know that he'll be there to take care of them.

Previous directing credits

Just Friends

Not I

The Informer

The Threepenny Opera

A Midsummer Night's Dream

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest