And So It Begins

Wonder week isn’t over five minutes and I am on a Peter Pan bus on my way to Syracuse, NY to begin working on “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” at Syracuse Stage. I will be assisting the former Artistic Director and to my luck directing the understudy production. It is a Lort C company that is also apart of Syracuse University. Prior to my beginning on “Les Liaisons” I will be directing “Week 42” of Susan Lori Parks’ “365 Plays” with some of the BFA students. School hasn’t started yet, but the B.F.A’s are eager to begin. We began by just reading “Week 42” along with “The 3 Constance” [The set of plays that everyone does if they are participating]. Their initial reaction was “What the hell is this?” Fortunately, I have a lot of experience working with grad and undergrad students and was therefore ready for such a reaction. We spent the first few days just reading the text and trying to find our way into it. All in all, I would be directing 10 of Susan Lori Parks’ “356 plays.” Everything had already been cast [without my input] and I found myself in the position that I have grown rather comfortable with – teacher.
The biggest hurtle for the actors to over come was understanding the world Parks was creating with this collection of works, as well as, her very specific use of language. To address this problem, I pulled other pieces from the collection of “356 Plays” that I thought might be more attainable for them. This addressed both problems and led the actors to a very beautiful discovery. Though Parks’ writing was very specific, there was room for tremendous interpretation. Once discovered, this notion of interpretation became extremely liberating for the actors. All of the sudden, it was as if I had struck a match in their minds - their imaginations were burning with ideas and the only ways to put out the fire was to begin exploring “Week 42” on our feet. With only a few days left, we quickly blocked and set all 10 plays. While working with the actors, my only guideline was to stay true to the text. Often when dealing with young actors, I find they have a tendency to paraphrase text as apposed to staying true to it; however, Parks’ is not a writer for which this is a good idea. Every word she sets to a page has a purpose. There is a rhythm to her writing and if you paraphrase it, you loose the essence of what she is trying to create.
Finally, after a week and a half of working, the day of showing had arrived. No one at this institution knew me, the director of “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” (for whom I would be assisting), all of the faculty and staff of Syracuse stage, as well as their New Artistic Director would be in attendance. Damn! Needles to say, I felt as thought I needed to have gotten this right. As the house and stage began to cross fade, I put my head down in a little prayer, “Lord, please allow me to have made the right decisions. Please let them understand what I’ve done. Please don’t let me make an ass out of myself. . .” And all of the sudden, there was laughter, I looked up and it had begun. I looked around the house and noticed the audience thoroughly enjoying themselves, and more importantly the actors – who were once so intimidated by this work – were enjoying themselves. And in an instant, it didn’t matter anymore. We had worked hard over the course of the last 10 days and I knew that both the actors and I had done the absolute best we could. As the performance brought itself to a close, the actors were met by a standing ovation. I couldn’t have been more proud of them if they were my own children.