Look. I`ve got an ego like everybody else. I would argue, though I`m not admitting a thing, that I have a huge ego. Most theatre people do. I know what I like and that`s what I do. I`m smart and I tend to excel at things if I work hard. So lucky.
But I think my ego might have tripped me up in the area of auditions.
I used to think I was pretty good at re-directing audtitionees. Time and time again I would give a redirect and the actor would shine, the monologue would really click, and we would see a side of the actor that really helped us make a decision in her favour.
Used to think I was so clever.
But it`s dawned on me that I ain`t so smart as I thunk because of what I now believe was really happening. The actor didn`t all of a sudden `get better` because of what I said. My interpretation wasn`t specifically better -- at times I would ask the actor to work against the text to give some feel of what I was looking for. No, it`s just that the particular turn on the monologue was fresh.
Our greatest challenge as theatre artists is to deliver work that is fresh and immediate. And, the actor has that job in spades when she walks into an audition - usually because she has rehearsed her monologue a certain way over and over and over again in the hope that her recall is cold. But, sadly, it is probably that very act of repitition that kills the immediacy that brings a performance alive.
So as an actor, what do you do? You have to learn the thing, right? Riiiiight.
But here's an idea. Why not be me? Why not be your own director? Before you walk into the audition, why not put your own spin on the piece - ideally something that shows me a side of your acting that helps me to see you in the role - but definitely something you haven't rehearsed over and over and over again? Something that forces you on your toes, makes you hop, and breathes new life into the piece. For example, if you are going to play a character who is angry, why not spin the monologue to anger? Or if the character you want to play is prissy, why not present the monologue thus regardless of the original intent of the piece?
I am sure this would be a bit terrifying the first few times you do it but I bet you would present with a more immediate, alive version of your monologue that will make a huge difference in what I think of your talent.
I have enough ego that I would like to think it's me that makes you better but, really, actors: it's you. It's your committment, your energy, your talent, your honesty, and your courage. Anyone who tells you different is selling you something.
Jacqui
Burke is
a freelance director, writer, and
theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is
currently
prepping and leading her Shakespeare
is Boffo!
theatre arts camps for
active kids,
directing directing
Lend
Me A Tenor
for Scarborough
Theatre Guild and prepping for
and all female version of Taming
of the Shrew
for
Jaybird Productions going up in the fall of this year. She is,
also, serializing The
Pretender,
her first novel, online at
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui
Burke
talk/text:
647-292-0210
twitter:
@jaybird01
skype:
Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Warbles in the dark.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Please yourself.
Dear Friends:
Please yourself. Get out there and do what you want, how your spirit moves you, how you see it. Paint it, dance it, play it, direct it, sew it, sculpt it, act it, write it in a way that makes sense to you. Seems obvious, no? But so many artists worry and self-censor. They want to please everyone.
But you can't worry. Or, maybe I should say, I wouldn't if I were you. Why? Because you can't please everyone. There are always critics. Everybody's got an opinion and, sure as snow flies in February in this great town, someone is going to absolutely hate what you're doing. It's a certainty. Always. Every time you get out there. Doesn't matter how much you want to please, how you adjust or self-censor....
So, why not please yourself? Way better to be genuine and piss people off than to have to stand up for something that you don't really believe in or aren't really proud of, no?
And don't forget about the people who love your work. Your vision, your input, your turn on whatever it is that you do. Because, just as sure as there are folks who don't appreciate your work, there are those who are going to love it; no, even need it.
So, please yourself.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and preparing to direct Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Thursday, December 6, 2012
It's something to do.
Quite a ways away, in the distance, I can see the shape of a pennant suspended on a flagpole on top of some kind of structure built on a landscape all shrouded in mist. All I can see is the pennant, really, and even then I cannot see the details on the flag. Far, far, far too far away. Everything in front of me is some shade of grey except that pennant which, right now, seems vaguely red.
That's my next personal project. Not sure why, in my mind, it's a fortress in the wilderness but there you are. Right now, I am contemplating the journey across the fog-laden ground between there and here. Just having finished a show I produced and directed, I am a little weary. And it's safe here -- this sweet little cottage we built. There's food, water, good company, with my feet up and healing from the last trek; the light of a merry fire dancing on our faces. It's cold out there, clammy, a little drizzly, dark. Unknown.
And this, this castle I am going work toward is exponentially larger in vision and in scope and, right this second, it seems too daunting a task for me to even take the first step. Or, really, make the first decision which will, like a warm, gentle breeze, chase off a bit of the grey mist and reveal a something of the structure behind. And as I get closer, details will become plain. But the journey will be long and hard. Often lonely. And I wonder, as I often do, what the fuck I do it for. Because it's difficult. It costs me.
I think it's because that building has always been there; sitting there, waiting. Waiting for me or someone like me to come along and take notice. And, it beckons and teases and dares me like something forbidden to be the one to show its beauty to the world. It's a temptation that's too hard to resist. So, I will get up from this fire and leave these friends and go out into the cold....
And, what the hell. It's something to do.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and is looking forward to directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camp for Kids. The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $150. Quiet supervision available from 8:30 am for only an extra $50 a week. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
That's my next personal project. Not sure why, in my mind, it's a fortress in the wilderness but there you are. Right now, I am contemplating the journey across the fog-laden ground between there and here. Just having finished a show I produced and directed, I am a little weary. And it's safe here -- this sweet little cottage we built. There's food, water, good company, with my feet up and healing from the last trek; the light of a merry fire dancing on our faces. It's cold out there, clammy, a little drizzly, dark. Unknown.
And this, this castle I am going work toward is exponentially larger in vision and in scope and, right this second, it seems too daunting a task for me to even take the first step. Or, really, make the first decision which will, like a warm, gentle breeze, chase off a bit of the grey mist and reveal a something of the structure behind. And as I get closer, details will become plain. But the journey will be long and hard. Often lonely. And I wonder, as I often do, what the fuck I do it for. Because it's difficult. It costs me.
I think it's because that building has always been there; sitting there, waiting. Waiting for me or someone like me to come along and take notice. And, it beckons and teases and dares me like something forbidden to be the one to show its beauty to the world. It's a temptation that's too hard to resist. So, I will get up from this fire and leave these friends and go out into the cold....
And, what the hell. It's something to do.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and is looking forward to directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camp for Kids. The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $150. Quiet supervision available from 8:30 am for only an extra $50 a week. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Now the work begins.
My cast is, I think, a little freaked out when I say this. We are rehearsing Oleanna, a very, very difficult show and we have been working very hard. We have the show blocked, including fight choreography, which we are practicing every night. But when I say: 'now, the work begins', I mean that we have lines to learn, intents and needs to remember, moments to craft until they are ready. Not until they are perfect, mind, but until they are ready. So we can put the book down and really listen. That, as far as I am concerned, is the hardest part.
'But, we have been working very hard already!' My poor cast. 'This is difficult.' They have been excellent about trying listen and stay connected to each other even though the books are in hand. I think, however, even they will be surprised at how much of a leap the show will take when the book goes down and they really start to play. I can hear parts of it already getting closer but we still have ways to go and never enough time to get there. Never enough time.
So, they are freaked out because it's been such a journey already. I am sure they are wondering when it gets easy. When it gets fun! I think this one will be fun at the bar after and not before. If we are doing this show well, it should never be easy. Never. I think I am a little freaked out about this as well. But one could argue that this is always true. Regardless of what show you are doing, it should be hard.
So, onward. We will be presenting Oleanna as well as any could, I expect. If you are coming to see the show, you will not be disappointed. But, bring along someone you like to argue with because it surely ain't fun. It's work, even for the audience.
Except for, maybe, at the bar after.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing and producing Oleanna by David Mamet for a two week run at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camp for Kids. The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $150. Quiet supervision available from 8:30 am for only an extra $50 a week. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
Monday, October 15, 2012
Uneasy.
As we work more and more on the script of Oleanna, we are all a little uneasy. The script is difficult. Facing it is difficult. Playing it honestly even harder still.
And I, as the director, am not pretending it's easy or even trying to make it easy for them. I am not giving my darlings 'emotional marks' to work toward. I am not indulging in the safety blanket of technique. If they get hung up, I keep asking them (if my ego doesn't get in the way, dammit): What does he want right now? What does she need, right now? What is she trying to do? How is he trying to do it? How high are the stakes?
I'm not even telling them where to stand or, specifically, what to do - unless we get really lost. Then, I'll get us out of it by shaping the moment loosely (all the while telling them that I am happy for them to adjust as they get to understand the moment better).
Why? Why am I trying to ask questions more than tell (although, jeez, my ego - you gotta believe I catch myself lecturing in rehearsal)? Why am I trying to faciliate more than impose my 'vision'?
For this show especially, and just about all shows really, I just want my actors to be present and honest for the hour and a half they are on stage. There is no sure and easy way to this end. There are techniques and ideas and such; there is conversation and there are concepts and agreements but in the end we, as artists, need to strip ourselves even of that and just be present and responding honestly.
Now, this is a path of thin ice, a tiny thread across which we must walk the gorge. This is leaning too far off the ladder to reach what we need. This is running into the fray to save someone we love. It's dangerous. Why? Because being present and responding honestly betrays the actor's soul. By definition. By necessity. In front of everybody.
It makes us all uneasy because it's scary. It should feel uneasy. If we were swaddled in technique and concept, vision and method, we would feel safe. But I am very sure we wouldn't be as truthful.
It's a lot like life. There is no quick trick to get us to a valued goal. If we are safe, we are not pushing ourselves. If we are swaddled, we are probably watching TV. One of the greatest challenges in life is to be there for people. To be present, to listen, and to respond honestly. But you do have to bare your soul and that makes you feel unsafe, uneasy. So few folks are willing to do that - except for actors. Except for actors.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing and producing Oleanna by David Mamet for a two week run at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camp for Kids. The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $150. Quiet supervision available from 8:30 am for only an extra $50 a week. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
And I, as the director, am not pretending it's easy or even trying to make it easy for them. I am not giving my darlings 'emotional marks' to work toward. I am not indulging in the safety blanket of technique. If they get hung up, I keep asking them (if my ego doesn't get in the way, dammit): What does he want right now? What does she need, right now? What is she trying to do? How is he trying to do it? How high are the stakes?
I'm not even telling them where to stand or, specifically, what to do - unless we get really lost. Then, I'll get us out of it by shaping the moment loosely (all the while telling them that I am happy for them to adjust as they get to understand the moment better).
Why? Why am I trying to ask questions more than tell (although, jeez, my ego - you gotta believe I catch myself lecturing in rehearsal)? Why am I trying to faciliate more than impose my 'vision'?
For this show especially, and just about all shows really, I just want my actors to be present and honest for the hour and a half they are on stage. There is no sure and easy way to this end. There are techniques and ideas and such; there is conversation and there are concepts and agreements but in the end we, as artists, need to strip ourselves even of that and just be present and responding honestly.
Now, this is a path of thin ice, a tiny thread across which we must walk the gorge. This is leaning too far off the ladder to reach what we need. This is running into the fray to save someone we love. It's dangerous. Why? Because being present and responding honestly betrays the actor's soul. By definition. By necessity. In front of everybody.
It makes us all uneasy because it's scary. It should feel uneasy. If we were swaddled in technique and concept, vision and method, we would feel safe. But I am very sure we wouldn't be as truthful.
It's a lot like life. There is no quick trick to get us to a valued goal. If we are safe, we are not pushing ourselves. If we are swaddled, we are probably watching TV. One of the greatest challenges in life is to be there for people. To be present, to listen, and to respond honestly. But you do have to bare your soul and that makes you feel unsafe, uneasy. So few folks are willing to do that - except for actors. Except for actors.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing and producing Oleanna by David Mamet for a two week run at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camp for Kids. The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $150. Quiet supervision available from 8:30 am for only an extra $50 a week. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
Friday, October 5, 2012
On toilet paper and underpants.
Don't worry. It's safe to read on.
When I was in my early thirties, I started working professionally as a stage manager. Stage managing is a very challenging, time consuming, hyper-responsible job which I handled with reasonable success and even some humour. But it could, at times, be difficult. Over the course of a few years, I started to notice signs - I am sure distinct to me - that told me I was trying to do a tad too much.
First, the toilet paper would run out. This initial clue was almost invariably ignored because of the ubiquitous box of kleenex. Then a few days later, I would reach into my top dresser drawer and pull out the last pair of gotchies. Now, if I dealt with the latter problem by doing some laundry, all was well. But if I dealt with the lack of underwear by stopping by Zellers to buy new ones on the way to the theatre for yet another 18 hour call, I knew I was in trouble.
Well fast forward fifteen years. Haven't stage managed in a very long time but here's me, trying to do too much, again, in a completely different role. This time I am directing and producing Oleanna. We are well in the swing of things and I am dealing with all the great moments and the 'gah!' of dealing with problems. It's getting intense.
I know because the toilet paper ran out a couple of days ago and I have been to the Zellers. Even getting this blog out (and I like to write -- I really do), has been challenging. I've been quiet for a whole month. Just can't wait to see if I can beat the Nanowrimo challenge next month (which means writing 2,500 words a day) while getting the show on its feet. I won't have a stitch of clean clothing left.
But, you know: I wouldn't have it any other way.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing and producing Oleanna by David Mamet for a two week run at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camp for Kids. The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $150. Quiet supervision available from 8:30 am for only an extra $50 a week. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
When I was in my early thirties, I started working professionally as a stage manager. Stage managing is a very challenging, time consuming, hyper-responsible job which I handled with reasonable success and even some humour. But it could, at times, be difficult. Over the course of a few years, I started to notice signs - I am sure distinct to me - that told me I was trying to do a tad too much.
First, the toilet paper would run out. This initial clue was almost invariably ignored because of the ubiquitous box of kleenex. Then a few days later, I would reach into my top dresser drawer and pull out the last pair of gotchies. Now, if I dealt with the latter problem by doing some laundry, all was well. But if I dealt with the lack of underwear by stopping by Zellers to buy new ones on the way to the theatre for yet another 18 hour call, I knew I was in trouble.
Well fast forward fifteen years. Haven't stage managed in a very long time but here's me, trying to do too much, again, in a completely different role. This time I am directing and producing Oleanna. We are well in the swing of things and I am dealing with all the great moments and the 'gah!' of dealing with problems. It's getting intense.
I know because the toilet paper ran out a couple of days ago and I have been to the Zellers. Even getting this blog out (and I like to write -- I really do), has been challenging. I've been quiet for a whole month. Just can't wait to see if I can beat the Nanowrimo challenge next month (which means writing 2,500 words a day) while getting the show on its feet. I won't have a stitch of clean clothing left.
But, you know: I wouldn't have it any other way.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing and producing Oleanna by David Mamet for a two week run at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camp for Kids. The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $150. Quiet supervision available from 8:30 am for only an extra $50 a week. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Small Detail. Big Picture.
I am fussing about pens, and water. Forms and script printouts. And I can only describe it as fussing, though this kind of behaviour is really not like me. I have taken on the two jobs of Directing and Producing this time out and, because of a twist of fate, might have to stage manage the piece as well.
For those of you who don't know what that means: The Director is in creative charge of the big picture. She will make large and small decisions, including what pens go on the desk onstage, but she will not fuss over the pens and pencils we use in rehearsal. Or the coffee, or whether we need tea or milk or whether the signs are up or... She will, instead, focus on the talent and the creative. In auditions (we are starting them tonight), the Director's full attention aught to be on the actors coming in, on assessing their abilities and deciding whether they can play the parts on offer. It's the Producer who wants to worry about whether there is an audition secretary, whether there are signs, and who wants tea.
Preparation seems to be the key word for the day -- and will be, I think, for the rest of the production. I am pretty sure I can stay weeks ahead of deadlines as long as I am clear what they are - assuming I remember everything. Tall order being a lady of a certain age. Ha! So this is probably why I am fussing.
I was worried, I have to admit, that immersion in detail might affect my enjoyment of the process. Funny from someone who used to live for the detail. I was a professional stage manager for a very long time. Lists, lists, lists. Think, think, think. Safety, safety. For me, productions were like one huge puzzle of thousands of pieces. Each piece fit together or I made it fit together and, by the time we opened, the whole machine would work. And work well, for the most part. But, now, I worry that too much attention to detail might get in the way.
As a Director, I feel I need to keep my mind and heart open to express truthfully, listen simply, and respond honestly in the hope that we can, as a group, develop a piece that makes absolute sense, resonates emotionally, and tells the story extremely well. Now, don't get me wrong. I do my due diligence, my research, make my lists, know what I want, and read, read, read the text. It's all about the text. But, when I get into rehearsal, I am capable of throwing out the lot if we start moving down a new path that really works. That's fun for me. To discover. And, it looks like this process works judging from how folks tend to respond to the work.
So I wonder: will I be able to stay open while fussing over what time it is? We shall see. This production marks my first return to sorting detail in years. Years. I think I was staying away from the minutia on purpose, actually, in order to more fully become what I am now without falling back on behaviours that were comfortable or easy. Because making a list is dead easy. Honesty is hard.
So, onward with my new theatrical experiment. Perhaps I will find that handling the small details won't get in the way of the creation of the big picture. Who knows? But I will, definitely, find out.
And, oh shoot, I'd best print out that signage.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing and producing Oleanna by David Mamet for a two week run at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camp for Kids. The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $150. Quiet supervision available from 8:30 am for only an extra $50 a week. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
For those of you who don't know what that means: The Director is in creative charge of the big picture. She will make large and small decisions, including what pens go on the desk onstage, but she will not fuss over the pens and pencils we use in rehearsal. Or the coffee, or whether we need tea or milk or whether the signs are up or... She will, instead, focus on the talent and the creative. In auditions (we are starting them tonight), the Director's full attention aught to be on the actors coming in, on assessing their abilities and deciding whether they can play the parts on offer. It's the Producer who wants to worry about whether there is an audition secretary, whether there are signs, and who wants tea.
Preparation seems to be the key word for the day -- and will be, I think, for the rest of the production. I am pretty sure I can stay weeks ahead of deadlines as long as I am clear what they are - assuming I remember everything. Tall order being a lady of a certain age. Ha! So this is probably why I am fussing.
I was worried, I have to admit, that immersion in detail might affect my enjoyment of the process. Funny from someone who used to live for the detail. I was a professional stage manager for a very long time. Lists, lists, lists. Think, think, think. Safety, safety. For me, productions were like one huge puzzle of thousands of pieces. Each piece fit together or I made it fit together and, by the time we opened, the whole machine would work. And work well, for the most part. But, now, I worry that too much attention to detail might get in the way.
As a Director, I feel I need to keep my mind and heart open to express truthfully, listen simply, and respond honestly in the hope that we can, as a group, develop a piece that makes absolute sense, resonates emotionally, and tells the story extremely well. Now, don't get me wrong. I do my due diligence, my research, make my lists, know what I want, and read, read, read the text. It's all about the text. But, when I get into rehearsal, I am capable of throwing out the lot if we start moving down a new path that really works. That's fun for me. To discover. And, it looks like this process works judging from how folks tend to respond to the work.
So I wonder: will I be able to stay open while fussing over what time it is? We shall see. This production marks my first return to sorting detail in years. Years. I think I was staying away from the minutia on purpose, actually, in order to more fully become what I am now without falling back on behaviours that were comfortable or easy. Because making a list is dead easy. Honesty is hard.
So, onward with my new theatrical experiment. Perhaps I will find that handling the small details won't get in the way of the creation of the big picture. Who knows? But I will, definitely, find out.
And, oh shoot, I'd best print out that signage.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing and producing Oleanna by David Mamet for a two week run at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
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Jacqui Burke
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Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camp for Kids. The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $150. Quiet supervision available from 8:30 am for only an extra $50 a week. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
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