Auditions and Casting

For this director, the most difficult part of the whole process of putting on a show is auditions. I never know for sure who is going to show up, who will work well together, or who will work well with me. When I've held auditions during the school year, lots of people have shown up (which makes sense, because there are more students here during the school year...) but auditions during spring or summer have been less well attended. Before auditions for Standing I was quite anxious.

Auditions happened. I was blown away by the talent that showed up. And then we sat there and tried to cast. We tried and tried for over an hour and the pieces just weren't falling in to place. I left auditions frustrated. Frustrated at my inability to cast this show. We had the talent, why couldn't I cast?! I started praying to know who needed this show, who did this show need, who would work well with one another, who would work well with me, etc. My heart sent, oh I don't know, thousands of prayers up pleading for the Lord's assistance.

Mel gave me a ride home and in the car we started talking about casting. I was still frustrated with myself, but suddenly the Lord stepped in and made up what I was lacking. All of the pieces fell in to place. Over the next few days as we came up against setbacks, the Lord was there holding my hand and leading me the way I needed to go and the way the show needed to go.

We had our first read through on Memorial Day. Everyone crammed into my living room (and I mean literally crammed). There was a lot of laughter and nervous energy in the air as we passed out copies of the script. We opened page one and started reading. I looked around and felt chills up and down my spine as I realized that each person brought an individual and important skill set that the show wouldn't be incomplete without. It was fantastic.

We have been in rehearsals for 2.5 weeks now. The Lord continues to make up what I lack as a director (which is a lot). Through this cast, this story is coming to life. And it's awesome!

Meet the Team

It's truly a blessing to be surrounded by brilliant people.

Mel, our playwright, is a keenly intuitive writer.  She paints a beautiful picture of this couple, Ben and Grace, with small strokes leaving room for choices, interpretation, and playing.  Mel's writing goes from hysterically funny to poignantly tender and heart wrenching.  The ride she takes us on in this show is wonderful and, while we may not have experiences like Ben and Grace's, we can learn a lot.

Dave, our producer, is the best to work with.  He is very on top of our numbers, our needs, etc.  I don't even know the number of hours Dave has put in on this show, but his work is wonderful and we would be lost without him.  I trust and value his input.  Not only does he keep us on track financially, but I trust him artistically as well.  

Amelia, our stage manager, is my saving grace!  I would be lost in rehearsals without her there!  She takes care of my cast and me, making sure our needs in rehearsal are met.  She records rehearsals with detail, blocking and character work, and keeps us all laughing.  She finds solutions to problems that I would be banging my head against a wall about.  Without Amelia, I think my head would've exploded by now!

Jen, our costume designer, is so fun!  Her ideas are creative and fresh and awesome.  I completely trust her ability to make everyone look fantastic.  She is a fantastic communicator and I love getting emails from her keeping me up-to-date about how hot everyone is going to look.  She's excellent and multitalented - she'll be taking our production photos so watch for those!

Mike, our lighting designer, is thorough and efficient.  He is awesome about putting in the time to make this show the best.  He spent hours at PTC fixing sound for us and he's not even doing sound!  His lighting concept is awesome and I'm so excited for his input in making this show cohesive and fluid.

Sarah, our sound designer, is enthusiastic and hard working.  She is dedicated to doing her best work and won't settle for anything less.  Her enthusiasm is contagious she brings a life and energy to her work that is admirable.  

Heidi, Grace and our set designer, is multitalented!  She is creative and inventive.  She has reinvented the space at Provo Theatre Company in a way that is engaging.  She has totally blown my creative box out of the water!  I have been consistently impressed with Heidi's brilliance and dedication.

Jake, an ensemble actor and marketing associate, offers a grounded perspective on how we can best advertise this show.  He offers realistic advice and practical experience to help us improve our marketing so that we can reach a wide audience and share our story.

The people working on this show are fantastic.  Literally brilliant.  I totally trust my production team's ideas and insights.  It's really fun!  All of these people I'm working with, without exception, are multi-talented.  I feel very humbled and honored to be working with them and I would be lost without their assistance!

Now that you know how awesome town all these people are that are working on this show, be sure to come see it!  

Breath of Life

One of my favorite professors took a trip overseas this past fall semester.  While there, he met with a famous director there.  My professor asked, "If there's one piece of advice I could take back to my students from you, what would it be?"  This director teared up and said, "We do not live to talk.  Our talking comes out of our living!"  My professor shared this with me and it was like a bright light beamed on!  Truth! 

Here's where this statement gets funny and very complicated.  When we start work on a show, all we have is the script, what the characters say, their words, their talk.  The lives that we create through the rehearsal process is based solely on their words.  We have to construct their lives, make them real, believable, likable, etc.  

And then there must come a shift.  We must have constructed these character's lives so well that the words that were originally used to construct their lives then come out of their lives we've constructed.  These characters must embody what that director said - their words must come out of their living!  

Right now, with Standing Still Standing we are doing the character work.  We have the words that Mel wrote and now we are working to construct the lives of these characters.  We're asking a lot of questions, the most frequent of which is, "why?"  And we're searching to find answers.  We're laying a foundation so that these characters can live.  

It's exciting work!  I might even venture to say that it's my favorite part of the whole rehearsal process.  I love the epiphanies that we all have as we discover who these people are, learn to love them for who they are, and learn to step into their lives.  Let me tell you, I have gotten chills watching the sparks of life happen in rehearsal.  

It's awesome watching this show spring to life.  :)

Thoughts

(For the record, I hate coming up with titles for blog posts.  I always want them to be witty or clever, and they never are.  So please forgive that shortcoming of mine now.)

When I first started to direct, I was taught to choose a show you are passionate about sharing.  That rule was fine and dandy then because we had the luxury of choosing our scenes and our shows.  One (very smart) student asked our professor, "What do you do if you don't get to choose your show?"  Our professor responded, "You find something you love, something that's true in the show and you hold on to it!"  

After the first show I directed, I had all sorts of ideas of what kind of plays I wanted to direct, themes I wanted to explore, messages I wanted to share.  But I quickly learned the lesson my professor was trying to teach when I was asked to co-direct a show (Ladybird and the Strawberry).  I had to find something that was true, something that I loved about that show, so that I could do my best co-directing.

Since that experience, I have been asked to direct several other shows.  Just as with Ladybird I had to find something true, something I believed in, in each script.  And as I was able to find truth, I learned that that is why I do theatre - to share truth.  

After Mel and I worked on Little Happy Secrets in March 2009, we decided to collaborate on another project (a decision that was reached over the phone while I was sick as a dog in California, but that's another story).  She pulled out Standing Still Standing and I was really excited about it.  I read the first draft of Standing, laughed, and fell in love with the story and the characters.  We figured out dates, moved forward with auditions, rewrites, gathering people around us, etc.  Everything fell in to place (with a few little happy bumps in the road, of course).  But while I loved the story and loved the characters in Standing, I was still searching for the truth that needed to be shared!  We did a read-through with our (awesome) cast on Memorial Day and there was something about hearing the play that triggered something within me.  I sat and wrote for several hours afterwards and reached this conclusion:

We all want that illusive happily ever after (thanks Mel).  But happily ever after isn't an instantaneous thing that comes with marriage, or graduating from college, or buying a house, or having a baby.  A happily ever after must be constantly chosen and worked for.  Yeah, that's right - happily ever after is our choice!  And it takes work!  And that is why I love this show, that is the truth in it.  Ben and Grace are at a crossroads in their marriage: they are so in love with each other, but their relationship, their marriage takes more work than they realize.  Do they choose their marriage?  Do they work for it?   Is it worth it if Ben has CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) and sleeps 3/4 of the day?  

As I've reflected on my own life (especially on my marriage), I've been able to recognize the points at which I was at a crossroads like Ben and Grace.  Sometimes I chose not to work for what I wanted.  I wonder what I lost.  But sometimes I did.  Sometimes it's been a repeated choice I've had to make, once a month, once a week, once a day!

I believe that happily ever after is worth working for, even if the work isn't always easy.  :)