By chance, I met up with one of my best friends yesterday while killing time at the mall, of all places. It had been so long since I had been there that there was an entire section of new building and a movie theater that I never knew was there before. I was there taking pictures for Digital Scavengers while waiting for rehearsal, and I was done with that and just killing time by playing Word Mole on my phone when I hear somebody call out my name. It was Skylar! Hadn’t seen him in who-knows-how-long.
To the point, we were discussing theater like we do, when he told me that one of his favorite shows was one that I had directed – Forever Plaid – back about five years and in Alpine of all places. He then encouraged me by saying that he wanted to be in a show that I directed. Direction has been far from my mind since then. I mean, it was not an easy thing to do being a one-man production team, and even after I brought in some help with the music direction, I still had lights, choreography, sound, staging, and acting notes to deal with. On top of that I had to play one of the roles at the last minute.
I mean, in the five years from then to now, I had been pursuing a career in acting, and now a day job and a degree, but directing, as I thought about it, suddenly made sense and opened up a new set of opportunities. I realized that even though there are fewer directing jobs around than there are acting jobs, a higher percentage of those jobs actually <em>pay.</em> And I don’t have to get all professional or educated. I just have to get my foot in the door and pull off something amazing so I could spawn future work for myself.
I thought it might be cool to assistant direct a couple local productions to really see what it’s like from the other side of the stage from concept to casting to completion. After that, I might feel more comfortable branching out on my own, not to mention the networking that I would benefit from as well.
If I ever direct a local show, I hope to make it feel like a professional show. For those who don’t know, there are certain rules that professional actors must abide by. One of the main and most visible things is the break schedule. After 55 minutes of rehearsal, a 5-minute break is required. If you go over that and work 80 minutes, you give a 10-minute break. If the rehearsal is over five hours long, actors get a lunch break, and so on. That would be one of the first things I would implement into the rehearsal process. While it may seem like a waste of up to 30 minutes of a 3- or 4-hour rehearsal, it actually has the effect of focusing the cast on the work, since they are given down time to chat and rest. Having done that in several shows prior to the one I’m in, I’m more certain than ever that would be a beneficial choice.
My other pet peeve of the community theater is not only the conflict schedule, but the sheer absence of urgency when it comes to beginning rehearsals on time. I mean, look. If you schedule the rehearsal at seven, then the first work should start no later than 7:05, if not right on time. Heck, if you’re in charge, you could be there like 30 minutes early to prepare and then pound it out during the short period you have in which to work a scene.
I would hope to avoid standard quality community theater by incorporating the simple scheduling rules and thereby demanding excellence and professionalism from the actors. If they don’t learn in the community what it could be like as a pro, what a shock it will be to them if they want to pursue the career further. Not only that, but their rehearsal standards and discipline as actors would have to step up.
I’m not some kind of artistic genius, but these are a couple of things that I really and truly miss about the paid, professional theater environment. Maybe someday, if I can’t be the director who implements these breaks when they’re not required, then I can influence somebody who will.