Wonders and Retreats

What is a "Wonder Week"?

When I was accepted into the Drama League Fall Directors Project, I was accused by friends of becoming a superhero, "Drama League? Are you fighting crime with theater?" and then when I told them about Wonder Week they were, "certain that this is when you are initiated into superherodom." Superhero or no, it felt like an initiation, in that we were admitted into a part of the theater world where I've never been invited before.

The Drama League gives a great gift to their fall directors by jam packing the first five days of the fellowship with meeting some very important people to whom we could ask questions and get advice. Most of these people are not people we could--or maybe would even know to--call and ask for a meeting, but here we were, not yet 24 hours after meeting each other, sitting at a table with a Broadway producer. That's quite a wonder.

There were so many valuable lessons I took away from that week. The topmost was the urging from all of these people--ranging from agents to producers--to be ourselves, and to speak passionately and articulately about our work. To hear that from people who are involved in the "business end" of theater was incredibly uplifiting. These people cared about the art. That made me feel so much more confident in what I have to offer, as I've often agonized about my ability to "work it". Now I know, in truth, there are many ways in which we directors need to meet people and "sell" our work. But now I also know that this selling can come from legitamate passion that I do have about what I do. I think that my work is important. And that's what other people need to know too.

Well--after the overwhelming week of wonders, we loaded into a van and retreated into the Birkshires to an old dairy farm that is now a retreat center in the woods. Our cellphones didn't work. We had no internet. It was fantastic. We ate amazing food and worked from the morning to the late night on our theatrical pursuits: directing two monologues, doing a practice production pitch, and directing a scene from Chekhov's Uncle Vanya.

Again, this retreat gave us directors another opportunity that we would not otherwise experience at this point in our career. We were given the most fantastic group of actors Roger could drum up for us. Not that these sort of statistics are the only way you can tell an actor is good, but all of the people we worked with had been on Broadway, major regional theaters, or major national tours. The were all so skilled and experienced that what they brought to the table was amazing. What I realized, while directing my Uncle Vanya scene (already dealing with complex material), was that my job had shifted. Rather than breaking down the scenes and guiding the actor through the material, as one does with younger, less experienced actors, I had a treasure trove of material that they were bringing to me. Their readings of the characters were complex and layered, and instead of pushing them in a direction, I suddenly had so many directions offered to me. This was overwhelming at first. Our work on the scene felt as though we opened door after door and at some point there were several open doors and I just had to decide which ones to shut, and which to walk through. And the actors trusted me, and walked through that door. Incredibly gratifiying. The work on all of the scenes at the retreat, scattered about the grounds and using the farm as our set design, were fantastic. There was great work done on this retreat. I will hold moments from these scenes in my memory forever.

All of that and so much more in just the first two weeks of the Drama League fellowship. Perhaps the other directors can fill in some of my blanks.

As for myself, I am now in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where I will be for the next 5 weeks Assistant Directing Romeo and Juliet for Davis McCallum, an alum of the Directors Project. I'll be sure to report in again!

-Joanie Schultz