PARTICIPANTS IN THE NEW YORK INTENSIVE WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS, DIRECTORS AND ACTORS

FOR DIRECTORS PARTICIPATING IN THE NEW YORK INTENSIVE WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS, DIRECTORS, AND ACTORS

When I think about a director, my first question is, why do you want to direct? I would ask the same question for teachers and actors. It is a historical fact that the majority of directors in the Realistic School begin their careers as actors. An actor's evolution towards directing and/or teaching is a natural progression. But, not all actors become directors or teachers. And, not all directors have acted. If you are, or are not, an actor, why do you want to direct or teach?

What do you bring to directing? What do you believe is the major focus of directing? Is it the casting and work with the actors? Is it the work with the designers? Is it the work with the text? Which of these is your principle strength? Do you write your own material? Can you separate yourself from the material to be able to see it clearly from a director's point of view? Do you know the difference between directing, teaching, and writing, in a production process? Do you plan to direct your own material? Or interpret the work of a writer? Or, both? Do you want to work with all kinds of texts?

What are your major tools? Do you have an original imagination that visualizes a world of a text in a particularly personal way? Or, do you think you only interpret what is written?

How will you tell the story? Can you achieve the world you imagine you want to create? How important are the actors to your vision? Are they the major focus of your work? Or, is it how you physically, visually, tell the story? How will you guarantee that what you imagine will be seen and understood by the public?

How do you choose your actors? How do you make them aware of what they need to do so that your story is told? Can you tell the story through them visually, in a way that helps them to understand what the characters are feeling? Or, do you need to explain it to them, and hope that they can create the visual form? Do you improvise? Or, do you plan all the action ahead of time?

A director and/or teacher must be able to communicate. A director communicates a vision of a world of a text in a production, to every person involved; designers, producers, actors, technicians. A teacher develops an individual's creative process. Without the ability to communicate, neither will succeed.