Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Storyteller's Handbook, and today we're going to be talking about how you can direct a play. Hey everyone, Joelle Brown here, author, actress, director. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater and Drama Studies from a conservatory university program, and I have been working in theater for 10 years. I am also writing my debut novel, The Refining. Now, the road to directing is one that with a little bit of help, you can grow into it, and I'm going to tell you exactly how to do that. Number one, first thing you've got to come to terms with is that your actors cannot be your friend. Now, I know a ton of people are going to disagree with me on this. I'm not saying that you can't use your friends as actors or that your actors won't become your friends. Some of my best friends are people who I've directed in a show or have acted in a show with. So I'm not saying that they can't become your friend, be your friend before or after. What I'm saying is that in the rehearsal, during the rehearsal process, you can't be friends with your actors. You are the director and they are the actor, and you kind of have to draw that line right at the beginning, unless you're in a collaborative scenario, which differs from the traditional theater experience, meaning that in a collaboration, everyone's the director, the actor, the costume designer, the lighting designer, and so everyone kind of has to say about everything. And I've been in that type of situation before. There were about 24 of us and we were collaboratively writing a show, directing a show, and putting on a show. And it can be a wonderful experience. But if that's not what you're deciding you want to do, and you want to have the traditional experience where you're directing the actors, then you need to establish that at the beginning. And you can't have it both ways. It's one or the other. If you kind of try and do something in the middle, what can happen is that your actors can kind of get confused or offended when you take their opinions at one point and allow them to speak up and then at other times tell them that their opinions can kind of be kept to themselves. They're not going to know what's going on and you kind of have to be very clear about your expectations and what they can expect through the rehearsal process. So right away they can decide, is this something that they want to be a part of? So you've got to be clear with that right away, which means you have to decide right away which it's going to be. That's all part of your preparation process. And that comes into our next point, which is preparation. You need to come to the rehearsal process prepared. You're going to want to read through your script at least three times all the way through. And then each individual scene, you want to read it through it repeatedly. And while you're reading, you want to visualize it in your mind. Which way could the actors do their blocking? Which different ways could the scenes work? And that's going to become very useful when your actors get stuck on a scene. Maybe they are working through some blocking in rehearsal and they're not really sure. And everyone looks at you, director, come up with an answer. That's when your scenarios that you've kind of pre-planned out come in handy. Now it's not like you're going to plan out the scene in your brain and come in and tell them do it exactly this way. No, you need to give them time to play a part of your kind of initial talk with them, which is another important thing you need to do as a director. First read through is when everybody has their scripts, you get all the actors in a room together, you sit down and everyone reads through the script together, all the actors reading their part. And that gives you a first chance to hear all the voices of the actors reading the lines that you've been reading at home in your head for so long. During that process, that's when you're going to really establish your expectations for the actors. One of those expectations is you're going to expect them to be prepared. You're going to insist that they read each scene that they're going to rehearse over and over and over. So if we're coming into rehearse scene 34, section B, you're expecting that they will have read through scene 34, section B at least three or four times before they came. They know what their motivations are, their objectives, their obstacles. They know what they want, they know the different tactics they're going to use. They know who they are, who the person they're talking to is, they know what point of their life they're in. They should have at least have an idea about these things, even if they're still working through, that's okay. I've had actors come into rehearsal and I say, let's rehearse scene 34B. And they're like, oh, I didn't even know I was in this scene. And I was like, did you read the play? And they're like, oh yeah, I read it. But you didn't know. Did you forget your character name? That's a clue that the person did not read the play. And so you want to insist that not only do your characters read the whole play. Guess the whole play, even the scenes you're not in. And you may not be in a scene, but guess what? The other characters are talking about you or making decisions that will affect you. But you more than anyone as the director needs to know the story. And when you're working on a tiny little scene, you need to run that scene over and over in your head. So when the actors are stuck, you have some ideas to offer them. The next thing you need to do as a director, you need to establish boundaries. Now this kind of ties into actors not being your friends in the rehearsal process. But it also ties into actors acting and leaving the directing to you. And now there's a number of reasons why this can become problematic. Let's say Sarah and Mike are in a scene together and Sarah on her line where she's really angry sits down. Now Sarah asks you, this doesn't feel really, really natural. What else can I try? Mike pipes up. And Mike says, well, Sarah, obviously the right thing to do would be to step towards me and wave your fists. You're angry. And now that's going to do a few things to Sarah. Number one, that could make her really insecure thinking that, okay, I'm over here acting with you, Mike, and you're critiquing me. You're directing me. And it might add a level of insecurity, a level of unsureness, or even like resentment of the fact that why are you telling me how to act? Number two, it's going to encourage Mike to keep watching Sarah while they're acting. And that's not what you want. Number three, Mike is judging what Sarah should be doing based on this one scene that they're in. You're the director. You're sitting back and you're looking at the whole picture. You know how it looks, how the story is coming across from the audience point of view because you're sitting in the audience. Not only that, Mike is judging what Sarah's doing, her motivation, her intentions, and her choices based on this one scene. Mike is not in the rehearsals for the other 20 scenes that he's not in where you can see Sarah's character arc. So you have all that in your brain. And that's why you're the director. And that's why you should be giving the directions and not the fellow actors. So there's a whole slew of negative impacts this can have. Actors can start to debate, argue, can start to feel really insecure. It's not good for the actor getting the critique, but it's also bad for the actor giving the critique. If Mike is spending the whole time he's on stage, in rehearsal, acting with Sarah, critiquing Sarah, he's not thinking about his motivation, who he is, why he wants what he wants, what he's going to try and do to get what he wants, what's standing in his way. He's not thinking about the goal of his line, his scene, the whole play. If your actor ever comes to you and says, yeah, I know it all. I know my obstacles. I know my objectives. I know my tactics. That's when you go, that's fantastic. Now dig deeper. You can always discover new things. When your characters stop focusing on themselves and start focusing on each other, you're going to come into problems. So it's important to kind of set those boundaries. Very gently let them know, and I appreciate and value your ideas. If you can just give me a moment, I'm going to see if I can figure out the scene. But for now, maybe just concentrate on your character while you give me a second to just figure things out. It's the same thing when a set designer, and it may not be a big fancy set designer, it may be your cousin Jeff. Jeff comes in and he's like, hey, I have this great idea. We're going to paint a bunch of leaves on this backdrop for you. Now if Mike, opinionated Mike, has all these opinions, why would you do that? You can just get leaves outside. Just paste them to the backdrop. Now Mike is not only going to discourage Jeff, Jeff may even leave the production feeling that his ideas are not valued. These are the boundaries you need to set. It's so important for everyone to feel like they are mastering their position and they have the room and the flexibility to do so. Now it's not that Mike's opinions are not valid. If Mike has an idea, Mike can come to you and you hear Mike out and you thank him for his ideas. And then maybe you mention them to Jeff and Jeff can tell you what he thinks and you become that buffer. It shouldn't be you as the director who's kind of this buffer. It should be the stage manager. Sometimes if you're working with a new stage manager or someone who's never done it before, it might be tricky and difficult for them to feel the assertiveness to kind of step in and manage all these situations. So it's probably going to be you. And that's okay. I mean, again, as the director, you're the head, you're steering the ship, you really want to make sure everybody involved in the process are not stepping on each other's toes. Now the next thing to remember as a director, happy actors are good actors. Now that doesn't mean that you buy them roses and a platter of meats and cheese every rehearsal. It just means that you make sure that yes, they feel valued. But when you're giving your criticisms or your suggestions, notes, as we call them, you want to keep it positive. Now if your actor is constantly hearing, what was that? Nope. Try something else. Why are you doing it like that? Nope. Try something else. Actors are going to clam up. If you've never acted, let me give you insight into the actor world. It's a very particular thing to be vulnerable in front of a group full of people who are just watching you and critiquing you and they say they're not, but they are. Now what everybody wants and expects of you as the actor is to completely bury your soul and your heart and all of your emotions right on stage. And no, you're not going out there to bawl your eyes out. In fact, you're trying not to cry, which is the secret that a lot of actors are still learning. Not crying your eyes out, but trying not to cry. And somehow the tears burst through nonetheless. Now this is a very intimate, tricky thing this actor is trying to do, especially if you have multiple actors trying to do this. Now they may be going in the complete opposite direction that the story needs them to go in. You can tell them in a gentle way. You telling them after they've borne their soul, that's not very good. It's not going to be helpful. And guess what? The next time they're going to bear their soul just a little bit less and then a little bit less. And then you're going to be saying to yourself, they seem like they have their guard up. They seem like they're not being genuine and you're going to give them these notes and they're not going to apply the notes. You know why? Because you're making them do that. It's only going to hurt your show. So you always want to be strategic with how you approach your notes. I've had directors tell me what you're doing is bad. Do it better. Thank you. Thank you for that note. And then a good actor will do their best to change that into a positive and keep going. But if you're grassroots and you're new to directing, you might be working with a lot of new actors and they might not know how to do that. So you kind of have to tippy toe them through it. That's going to take tact on your part. It's going to take patience. You're going to have to watch the body language. Are they closing up? Are they getting comfortable? Are they just getting annoyed with the process? That might be a good point to say, okay, everyone take five. Call the actor on the side. Help them to feel heard. You don't know this person's life. Maybe the subject matter is super close to something that they've lived through and it's actually becoming quite traumatic. Talk to them in private and work through it together. They're not soldiers on stage in front of you where you make your demands and they follow through. No. Even if you're paying them a full actor's salary, you're not going to do that. You're going to be a considerate director. Part of that relationship you have with your actors is giving them adequate break. When you're on a job site, every two hours you get a 15 minute break. Guess what? Actors need more than that because they're not just packing boxes or answering phones or typing on a computer. They are, like I said, baring their souls. Every hour I would suggest you are giving them at least a five minute break. Yes, every two hours they're going to need a 15 minute break. Every four hours you best give them at least half an hour to get a good solid meal inside of them. If it's a full eight hour rehearsal, you're going to want to give them at least a full one hour break. They need to clear their minds. You driving them for three, four hours straight with no breaks. We're not leaving this room until you get it right. Guess what? Their productivity is going to go down. Their mental capacity and being able to bare their soul to you is going to go down. Now, that doesn't mean you're going to say, everything you did is great, don't change a thing. Meanwhile, you're banging your head against the wall in the back room. No, no, no. You're going to tell them, okay, that was really good. These are the areas I think we can strengthen. Let's work on this because I feel character X, which is you, is trying to get this goal. And I think this might help you get there. Let's try it this way. Getting them to see where you're trying to head them to go. And if you feel like it's really going horrible, take a break. Call them to the side and be like, hey, I think this is where we need to go, but I'm feeling a little resistance from you. Or I feel like maybe I'm not being clear. Is there some way that I can be more clear with you? That's it. And that goes the same for as the director. If you're feeling stressed, duck, the scene feels like you're all pounding your heads against the wall and it's not going anywhere. Take a break. Do not drill sergeant your way. It's not going to get fixed. You're going to get a lot of people frustrated and tired. A tired actor is an unproductive actor. Now there are the actors, directors, stage managers that can press through. They're very expensive. They're very well trained, and they have earned the right to be expensive. You're probably going to be working with people who are not there yet, who are working there and may get there someday. So you have to be patient. Keep in mind as a grassroots director, you're still working too, and they're learning to deal with you who's maybe never directed a show before or directed a couple, and you're trying to improve your skills. Some directors are going to be exactly what I told you not to do. You just got to make the choice to be more understanding. That's going to make people want to work with you again and again, and even if they don't just because of economics, they're going to speak highly of you. And when you get to the point where you can pay the big bucks or at least the medium bucks, then they're going to come back to you and they're not going to blacklist you. They're not going to bad mouth you around the theater community because the theater community is quite small, especially in your local area. So I hope that these tips were valuable to you. This is literally just scratching the surface. I didn't go over anything technical like blocking or creating a rehearsal schedule. I'll put those in other videos. This is really just to get you in the mind of a great director. Okay, that's it for this video. If you enjoyed this content, please consider subscribing and hit that notification bell so you can get notified when I put out new videos every single week. And please comment below. I love to hear what you've learned, maybe what I missed, what you'd like to hear next time. Thanks everyone. See you in the next video.