Wednesday 3 – June 13th Day 9

Walked to Lincoln center again. A few observations:

Everyone who lives in NYC must have been issued an Ipod. If you see someone without one, they’re probably a tourist.

The food in NYC is good, if expensive. But a Subway sub is not as good as in Washington.

Since I don’t have an Ipod, I spend my time thinking as I stroll along. It would much easier to do this blog if I could just record my thoughts. They would be very jumbled because I never seem to finish one thought before another pushes it aside.

Which reminds me – Someone over the last two weeks told us about speaking lines to the audience or some imaginary person in a play. The bottom line is that when you are thinking to yourself, whether out loud or not, you are always talking to a very specific person. I’ve been testing myself as I walk along. Sometimes I am describing things as if I were writing them in this blog, sometimes I am sharing my thoughts with someone at Lincoln Center (always a specific person) and sometimes I am telling a friend. Interesting to think about who you are thinking to. . . .

Today and tomorrow we have three hour sessions with “Master Teacher Ron van Lieu”. That’s what people call him. He directed two scenes with two professional actors. The first pair of actors memorized the second scene of Death of A Salesman. The second did a scene from Streetcar Named Desire. Ron directed them for the first time today. Here are some comments:

Rehearsal is a time for discovery, not reaching a predetermined goal.

What is the event in the scene that the playwright had in mind?

Rehearsal is a process of trial and error with the actor and director finding their way collaboratively using the play as a guide.

When talking with actors about a role or a scene, start with what they know not with what they don’t know.

The ending of the play is inevitable – it has already been written. Each scene must feed directly to that ending.

Find thoughts that the actor can move from his head to his body.

Characters move their lives forward moment by moment by moment until they reach the end.

“I don’t see any difference between you and Willie.”

Never let an actor act a negative such as “Don’t be crazy.”

Stella is the center of the play (Stella = star) with the two warring planets circling around her.

Make sure all relationships are multifaceted: Stella loves Blanch but she also thinks she is a pain in the ass.

Actors work so hard to get th epart “right” that they don’t find the joy in the part.

From and actor: I worship at the alter of self doubt.

For him, directing and teaching are the same process and he can’t separate them.

He doesn’t do blocking – he lets the actors find it. According to him, blocking is just making the actor be in the right place to do what is required of them to do what they need to do at that moment and the actors will find it themselves.

This afternoon we had three hours with on releasing our inner clown. A lot of fun and at least we weren’t sitting the whole time. I actually got a couple of good games for rehearsals.

Here are the things I wrote down: Actors have to LOVE the gift they have made for the audience. If they think it is cute or nice or funny, the audience won’t enjoy the gift.

It’s not about the thing you have made, it’s about your relationship with it.

This evening was a session with a voice coach. Good but no notes to write down.

All this reminds me of something Roy Thinnes told me. “Don’t ask me why I’m entering or how my day was or where I came from. I’m an actor and it’s my job to do my homework and you need to assume I have done it.”

Another note: The young woman playing Blanch in Streetcar talked so fast that she made Alyssa seem like a slowpoke. He didn’t have much luck getting her to slow down.

One last note: When he was directing the scene I picked up on a lot of the notes he gave the actors too.

We have the same three people tomorrow.

That’s it for today.

Tuesday 3 – June 12th – Day 8

Can you believe I’ve been here over two weeks? I’m half way done.

My legs were killing me when I got up this morning. Took a long hot shower then walked to Lincoln Center to stretch them out.

I left the script I’m working on in the room so I went back to pick it up at lunch. I took the subway back to the hotel then had lunch and walked back to Lincoln Center.

I had a pastrami on rye. There is no question NYC has the best pastrami. Really good.

I learned something today. Lets say that I didn’t learn it – I just came to believe it. Mazz had told me this before I left and I think someone else did too. Lincoln Center has been holding these labs for over 15 years. Each year they have around 60 directors so about 900 people have attended them.

The people that attended years ago were like most of the people who are attending this year except that they have moved up in theater. They are now the artistic directors of regional theaters. In a few years they will be the artistic directors at the big national theaters – Mark Taper in LA, the Rep in Seattle, the Goodman in Chicago, Kennedy Center in DC and possibly Lincoln Center itself. When these people start to look for directors they will be the people that have also attended the Labs. For those looking to make their careers in professional theater this Lab is an important career step.

Today was a butt day – spent all day sitting on our butts.

One of the things I like best about LCT is that things start on time. Time is so limited that each minute counts so we start on the minute each time. My kind of place.

First up was Bernard Gersten – Executive Producer of LCT. REALLY interesting speaker. He talked informally with us for an hour and half and it seemed like 20 minutes.

Here are several points he made:

The LCT Board “urges us on in our follies.”

To pursue success is beneath an artist but popularity is not but they both are measured the same way: Butts in seats.

“Profitability occurs from time to time despite our best efforts.”

What is American Theater going to be in 5 – 10 -15 years? It is going to be you (us) and what you (we) bring.

There is an economic penalty to being in the theater. People in the theater rarely make a living although they can make a killing (ie, big hit).

Success in the For Profit market is about 20%. 80% of shows lose money, 20% break even or make money. There are no figures for non profits (we’re not supposed to make a profit. Remember?) But they are probably the same.

The annual budget of LCT is $25 to $30 million. 68% comes from ticket sales and 32% from donations.

He compared the theater to the trapeze in the circus. There are flyers (artists) and catchers (producers). The flyers put their lives in the hands of the catchers. If they trust their catchers they will attempt far more risky things and will succeed.

LCT charges $50 a year for a membership and members get their tickets for half price.

Of the 160,000 people who saw The Coast of Utopia, 30,000 members bought 55,000 tickets.

You might know more about it than I do but Utopia set a record for the number of Tony’s. It consists of three plays that take a total of NINE hours to see. The staff told the LCT Board a year ago that they expected to lose $4 million on the show. Instead they will make money on it.

In response to a question about Government subsidies, he said that the biggest subsidy is the tax donation donors got for their donations. Without that, none of us (Non profit theaters) would be here.

The second speaker was Richard Eyre – past Director of the Royal National Theater in England.

Another wonderful speaker.

He started as an actor but as he said: “As an actor, it was cruel to take out my inadequacies on an audience.”

“When I started directing, I thought I had to know everything and have it all figured out before rehearsals started. Then I figured I could do it all in my head. Then I finally realized that I need to lead and provide structure but now I let the actors figure things out. Listen and watch and comment on what the actors do.”

“Blocking can be done very late in the rehearsal process after the actor has inhabited the character (love that phrase). It works better because of this. If done too early, the actors are trapped in blocking that might not work for the character they develop.

He co-wrote and directed Judy Densch in the film IRIS. That might not mean much to most of you but it was my singing debut in Steven Anderson’s class at the old SOAR program at Camp Orkila before it moved to Seabeck as AIRE. Remember, Patty?

There is a built in conflict between the playwrights vision of the character and seeing his character through the actor.

“Only a garden can teach gardening.”

And finally:

A successful play is a massive accumulation of minor incidents.

I couldn’t have said all this better myself – I felt like I wrote his words.

Here is an interesting aside:

There are more jobs for actors as a percentage of those seeking work than there are for directors looking for work. Except that Directors can make work for themselves which an actor can’t do.

By the time we got to the final two speakers (7 to 10 pm), I was tired so I didn’t take as many notes. We had Michael Miller head of the Actors Center (training actors) and Daniel Swee, the Casting Director at LCT.

Two things prompted me to write them down:

The Casting Director never casts. The role is to narrow down the number of actors for the Director to audition.

Molly’s and Ted’s stuff on Auditions is spot on. There are three parts of the audition: (1) The entry, (2) the work and (3) the exit. (Sound familiar?) Number 1 and number 3 must be there for your work to be seen.

Make sure your audition reader is talented and can work off what the auditioner is giving him/her and can give the auditioner something to work off of.

Full Day – time for bed.

Monday 3 – June 11th

A whole day off. What will I do?

Lots.

What I did today was walk. And walk. And walk.

But let’s get it in order. I finished the major rewrite of my latest play: Coffee with Friends is he working title. It was inspired by the play Dinner With Friends that Rob directed and had Lisa Benner in the lead role. I think it might be my best effort yet. Of course, I think each play is the best yet. Until reality sets in. It is the longest at 29 pages and will have a running time of between 40 and 45 minutes. We’ll see. We’ll do something with it when I get home. If you want an advance copy let me know.

I printed off a copy of the play so I could edit it.

Time for a haircut. I checked out a couple of places and a haircut is $30 plus tip. Do I need a haircut that bad? No but I will in a week which is the next time I could get one. So give in. Actually it was good haircut. Worth $30 plus tip? Probably – this is New York – everything’s expensive. It took about 45 minutes to get shampooed, cut styled and so on.

It’s really hot today. Everywhere i walk I end up sweating profusely.

I called Rob O’Neill and we set at time to get together for lunch. I had a couple of hours so I walked to Riverside Park and walked around for a long time. I got to the restaurant about 20 minutes early and ordered a beer., Then I remembered that I left the Enchanted April pictures back in my room so I beat feet back to the room then back to the restaurant. Rob was there by the time I got back. It was a great lunch. He loved the pictures of all of you that he has worked for. He and Patrick (I don’t remember his last name) have written a play and they are going to act in it. Rob got his boss at NYU to agree to direct it. He is taking off for Paris at the end of the month. He teaches a class there every year. We talked about him coming to Orcas for a weekend sometime. I gave Rob the copy of my script to read. He said hi to all of yo and I told him all of you wanted me to say hi to him.

Rob has a new web site: www.embodimentworkshops.org If you look closely, you’ll see a picture of Leslie and me in our bathroom scene at AIRE. The picture is one of several on the first page of his site.

Back to the room for a little cleanup. I got a call from Austin Pendleton, the director friend of the Mazzarella’s and we will get together after the Lincoln Center thing finishes. He is directing Romeo and Juliette in Central Park and he is in previews.

Decided I’d go a little further afield for dinner. I don’t know how long a New York block is but I walked 50 of them to and from dinner. I walked to Broadway – two blocks from my hotel. Then turned north and walked along Broadway up to 102nd street. Nothing of interest. I’m now 24 blocks into this hike. Then one block further east to Amsterdam Street. It’s now 25 blocks. Amsterdam in nothing but restaurants. In any four or five blocks you can find any kind of restaurant you want. There are vegetarian restaurants, organic restaurants and organic vegetarian restaurants. Every kind of ethnic restaurant you can imagine. It starts to rain on my way back. Not hard rain like Monday but the individual drops are so big they feel like little pebbles when they hit. Anyway I pick Mexican tonight. Very nice restaurant. Then the rest of the 22 blocks south back to 80th. I’m into this hike 47 blocks then the three blocks west back to the hotel.

My legs are really tired. I really felt the stiffness when I got up after dinner.

Back to the room at 9:30 to edit the play and write this.

I’m looking forward to getting back to LCT tomorrow. All the playwrights, designers and actors have gone home leaving just the 58 of us directors. Looks like a busy week.

Sunday 2 – June 10th.

They actually let us off early today – I think it has something to do with everyone wanting to watch the Tony’s (except me) although I did see several nominees. I actually met and had cake with and talked to Bob Chambers who is up for three Tony’s. The cake was because it was his birthday. Of course the play The Coast of Utopia was done at Lincoln Center. I just saw that Bob won two Tony’s tonight.

Today we had a clambake. But before that I need to tell you some more about New York.

Anywhere there is construction, which is everywhere, there is a plywood wall to keep the gawkers out. And on every plywood wall, every square inch is covered with posters. For the most part these are big posters – maybe four feet high and 30 inches wide. They are an art form in itself. Here are some that I walked by on my way to Lincoln Center today:

Rebok is there in large numbers. Here are a few samples:

Run to the beat of your own drummer. Run easy. Rebok.

A ten minute mile is just as far as a six minute mile. Run easy. Rebok.

Stop and smell the garbage. Run Easy. Rebok.

One had a picture of a cow with “Inject care not hormones.”

From Blue Cross: In 1995 250 New Yorkers were bitten by rats and 1401 were bitten by humans.

I don’t know where this one came from: Every day 340,000 New Yorkers walk to work burning 2,380,000 pounds of fat a year.

From Fresh Direct: Our food is fresh. Our customers are spoiled.

Here is a true fact from yesterday: Someone asked me if I was a dancer. I told them no. They thought I had a dancers body. A great compliment I think.

Now to the clambake. Not a clam in sight. Not a bake in sight. For whatever reason a clambake is an opportunity for directors and designers to get together and talk and look at the designers work. I’ve already told you how impressed I am with their work. Today just reinforced it. These guys are really good and really add a lot to the production.

We had a long discussion period at the end of the clambake to talk as a group. On designer told us his best job as a designer: The director of A View From The Bridge, Michael Mayer, who was directing the Broadway premier came to the first production meeting and said “This play sucks. What can we do about it?” Every one pitched in.

Another thing I learned was from the designers was “ The directors tells the story with the actors the designers tell the same story with the set, the lights the costumes and so on.” You can bet next time I do a play, I’ll involve the designers much more in the vision of the play.

After a nap, I went over to Amsterdam Street and found a quiet bar and worked on a new play. This one is getting pretty long for me. We’ll see how it turns out. One of the things I love about traveling is the time to write. I have trouble finding time to do it on Orcas. So far I’m pretty impressed with this play.

The only down side to today was an e-mail I got indirectly from Orcas Center. Why do I always have to fight them? Some times I just don’t feel up to it but I have to defend our program or they’ll just take us apart piece by piece.

Yuck. What a crappy end to a nice day.

What I’ve learned as of Saturday, June 9th

In order of priority to me.

1. These professional designers have a lot to offer. But whoever we use as designers, we need them in the rehearsal room.

2. Writing is a solo sport. Directing is a team sport. Our personalities causes us to gravitate to one direction or the other. I am not at all certain that playwrights who come from the writing side of the business (as against actors or directors) have the skill sets necessary successfully direct a play even if they wrote it.

3. LCT’s hypothesis for their playwright as director theory would have been better served if the five plays had been more finished products so the rehearsal time could have been used to test the hypothesis rather than working on the basic structure and dialog of the play. I was pretty thoroughly criticized for this opinion although two directors approached me after the session to agree with me. The criticism’s were based on a statement from LCT not to worry about a product of any kind. That the emphasis was to be on form and process. I think that all of the playwrights took advantage of the opportunity to develop and refine the dialog and structure of their plays to the detriment of what I viewed as the overall goal of LCT.

4. So far, I believe that the playwright as director model is flawed and in most cases will not work. Looking at the Tam Lin lawsuit (which, unfortunately, did not resolve the right of Directors to copyright their blocking and direction of the play) and other emerging changes in the American Theater (most notably the increasing use of multimedia presentations as part of the play) is moving the theater towards a modified Disney model where the producing organization will own (or at least license) the product (which includes the play itself) to other theaters. (That is probably the longest sentence I have ever written.) The licensing theater may buy the script outright from the playwright or enter into some joint licensing agreement.