Directing is one of the toughest classes to teach. Textbooks, exercises and play analysis only gets you so far. The very best way to learn directing, like so many of the arts, would be to actually get out there into theatres and shadow or apprentice a seasoned director. One can never plan all of the variable that might come up as a text meets actors. The made on paper is simple trash once the rehearsal starts.
But that doesn’t stop me! I try to keep three different forces working all year in the class: 1.) the creative aspect that allows a director to simply play with people in space; 2.) the analysis that takes and honors a printed script and works to serve as a conduit to get this story handed to the audience in the most meaningful, creative way possible; and 3.) the business of theatre and the skills of managing money, space and time. Every year, I think that I should spend more time on this aspect – and perhaps less on this. That’s tough. My hope is that in a few years when I get students through this relatively new course and they can go off to college and some out to the professional world, they can EDUCATE ME as to how best to organize my teaching for this tricky, cumbersome learning.