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. :)
