The next production at WCT, Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer, opens Thanksgiving weekend and runs three weekends—appropriately, since the play is set on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. . One of the most suspenseful and important phases of the production is now behind us: auditions. . I’ve auditioned for roles myself, and I find them harrowing. [...]
The Morning After “Strike”: the word has many meanings, most of them suggesting sudden violent force. If you go down the dictionary’s list, eventually you will come to the labor meaning, cessation of work to exert pressure on an employer (I am very familiar with this experience, and its agonies). Still further down is “to [...]
Director’s Diary (continued)—Ice Glen Opening Night. Only a few more hours to get everything in place—a few more props to add finishing touches to, embellishments continue on the set, last-minute cue changes…. And on top of that, angst at the hourly check of the weather forecast, wondering if we’ll get the promised “dusting,” “one to [...]
Two weeks from opening Ice Glen, everything begins to take on its reality. The actors put the scripts aside and, their hands and eyes newly free, take up the props, develop gesture, make eye contact with their scene partners. The set will soon be painted and lit, turning a neutral stage and raw wood into [...]
Ice Glen rehearsals are at what is for me (and, I hope, the actors) the most exciting point right now: the exploration and development of subtext—a word that entered the English language around 1950 as a concept articulated by the great Russian actor, director, and theatre theorist Constantin Stanislavsky, whose work laid the foundation for [...]
