MisDirection

I noted in my last post that I took an unintentional hiatus from theatre. Emotionally, and mentally, I’m ready – no, I’m dying – to get back to my world. Financially, however, I am still hamstrung. Those of you who are in love with community theatre understand the financial element, particularly those who are suburbanites, as I am. Without money for gas, and for other out-of-pocket expenses that are inevitable in community theatre, I am stuck looking for other ways to rejuvenate my involvement. I have stumbled upon two, both of which, ironically (?) sprung from a thwarted attempt to go to graduate school and obtain my master’s in directing.

I applied to one of the few grad schools in the country that offer an MFA in Directing, and the only one that I could reasonably attend. Luckily, they have a notable program, so I wouldn’t have been sacrificing quality for convenience. Unluckily, they decided to discontinue their program after I had applied. (Do with that what you will!) Part of the application process included a 5-page script analysis. I gathered a group of theatre friends to do a reading of the script I chose. We read the play, ate lunch, and had a phenomenal time discussing (arguing) the play. From that sprung the idea of gathering to do table readings of published plays on a regular basis. This will at least keep me mentally involved!

The second attempt to keep myself mentally involved arose from the reading of Mis-directing the Play, by Terry McCabe. I’m not usually one to enjoy reading about theatre and theatre processes. I have a few books on my shelf that intrigued me with their concepts, but lost me in attempting to explain them in book form. I noted McCabe’s book when it came out, because the description struck a strong chord with me – “the growing decadence that plagues contemporary stage directing”. If you’ve worked with me, or read this blog, you know that I rail against community theatre directors who are ego-driven instead of art-driven. Yet, it was another book that I thought about reading, but didn’t. With my grad school application looming, however, I decided to give it a shot, if only to focus my own thought process.

Mis-directing the Play turned out to be an amazing read – amazing to the point that those who witnessed me reading it found themselves questioning my sanity at points. I’m told I threw my hands in the air frequently, muttered a lot, and occasionally slammed my hand on the page. I believe it, because I was thrilled to finally have my own thoughts on directing so clearly articulated. Honestly, if you’ve worked with me and want to understand why I direct the way I do, pick up this book. It explains so much.

That being said, he did have some points that I disagreed with, which makes it all the more fun to do what I’m about to do. (Oh yes, there was a point to this post!) Until I’m financially stable enough to once again dive into the fray, I plan to blog the book in my continued quest to tilt at the windmills of lazy, ego-driven community theatre.

So pick up a copy, or if you’ve already read it, jump in with your comments. I love lively, intelligent discussion, and this book is easy to read.

PS – Those of you reading this who are in my play reading group, yes, I stole the name of the group – Misreading the Play – from the title of this book. :)