A Day in the Life
Yesterday was my longest day so far.
It started at 9:00 a.m. when I went out to do errands: post office; faxing a bullshit, hassel-laden form to UVA; etc. Then there was a 10:00 a.m. meeting with the person runnning the internships here. After that, I caught some lunch and went into rehearsal for By the Waters of Babylon. The playwright is here this week. The director and the playwright get along, work well together, and really respect each other so it's soooo cool to have the playwright in the room. We'll work a piece of a scene and after the director makes his comments, the playwright will pipe up with line changes. We also have one of OSF's dramaturgs in the room making suggestions to the writer on how to clarify things. We also have a voice and text specialist in the room making comments to the director and cast on the script and interpretations of particular lines. (And everyone gets along! Astounding!) I tell you, this theater has sooooo many resources! Also, if anyone has any questions about character background or the phrasing of a particular part or the intentions behind a certain line, just turn around and ask the playwright. He's right there. It's pretty cool.
At 5:00 p.m. we broke for dinner. They were coming back at 6:45 p.m. to continue working that night, but at 6:30 p.m. I switched over to rehearsal for The Philanderer and was there until 11:30 p.m. Last night was our first night in the theater, trying out sections of scenes and transitions to see if they'll work in the space. We're there tonight, then it's back in the rehearsal hall for a week while they continue to work on the stage.
At 11:30 p.m., I left rehearsal to hit the grocery store for some stuff before it closed and rolled into my apartment around midnight. So, that's what things are like right now.
I've come to the conclusion that being an assistant director is hard. I keep saying to myself, "Why am I so tired? All I do is sit on my ass all day," and this is true. However, what I'm doing is sitting on my ass and concentrating very hard both on what the actors are doing and what the directors are doing. Plus, being an AD is a lot of holding comments back and throwing your hand over your mouth before you say something. It's not that my comments aren't welcome. That's not the case at all. It's just that every rehearsal has a flow and you don't want to disrupt that. A director is watching a whole bunch of things at once, and where you may see "x" go on, the director may be thinking about "x, y, z, q," and "r" and is making the call on which is the best to address next. So, it's a lot about respecting people's processes by excising judgement as to when your comments may be helpful.
It started at 9:00 a.m. when I went out to do errands: post office; faxing a bullshit, hassel-laden form to UVA; etc. Then there was a 10:00 a.m. meeting with the person runnning the internships here. After that, I caught some lunch and went into rehearsal for By the Waters of Babylon. The playwright is here this week. The director and the playwright get along, work well together, and really respect each other so it's soooo cool to have the playwright in the room. We'll work a piece of a scene and after the director makes his comments, the playwright will pipe up with line changes. We also have one of OSF's dramaturgs in the room making suggestions to the writer on how to clarify things. We also have a voice and text specialist in the room making comments to the director and cast on the script and interpretations of particular lines. (And everyone gets along! Astounding!) I tell you, this theater has sooooo many resources! Also, if anyone has any questions about character background or the phrasing of a particular part or the intentions behind a certain line, just turn around and ask the playwright. He's right there. It's pretty cool.
At 5:00 p.m. we broke for dinner. They were coming back at 6:45 p.m. to continue working that night, but at 6:30 p.m. I switched over to rehearsal for The Philanderer and was there until 11:30 p.m. Last night was our first night in the theater, trying out sections of scenes and transitions to see if they'll work in the space. We're there tonight, then it's back in the rehearsal hall for a week while they continue to work on the stage.
At 11:30 p.m., I left rehearsal to hit the grocery store for some stuff before it closed and rolled into my apartment around midnight. So, that's what things are like right now.
I've come to the conclusion that being an assistant director is hard. I keep saying to myself, "Why am I so tired? All I do is sit on my ass all day," and this is true. However, what I'm doing is sitting on my ass and concentrating very hard both on what the actors are doing and what the directors are doing. Plus, being an AD is a lot of holding comments back and throwing your hand over your mouth before you say something. It's not that my comments aren't welcome. That's not the case at all. It's just that every rehearsal has a flow and you don't want to disrupt that. A director is watching a whole bunch of things at once, and where you may see "x" go on, the director may be thinking about "x, y, z, q," and "r" and is making the call on which is the best to address next. So, it's a lot about respecting people's processes by excising judgement as to when your comments may be helpful.
posted by - caj at 1:19 PM
1 Comments:
"Plus, being an AD is a lot of holding comments back and throwing your hand over your mouth before you say something."
Man, I wish I had learned this about life in general about 10 years ago. No, maybe 20 years ago would have been better.
There's always (or often) time later to add one's 2ยข. So much more damage can be done by making it seem like $1 right now.
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