DIRECTING PHILOSOPHY AND PROCESS

I consider myself a conceptual director. I do not like to place people on stage and simply move them around because it is necessary and/or because it makes the presentation of a play more interesting.

Every play I direct comes with a set of ideas that emphasize the message which I, as a director, wish to communicate to the audience. This message is closely linked to what the playwright is also trying to say through the written word.

When I set a play in a specific “time and space” it is to emphasize what I am trying to communicate as an artist, while also highlighting the playwright's message.

The collaborative nature of theatre requires that this vision and message also be clearly understood by all those involved in the production, from the production and designing teams to those serving as dramaturges, actors, collaborators, technical crew, advertisers, and anyone else. 

I believe that theatre should educate through entertainment, and depending on my personal goals as a director, sometimes the didactic part of a production becomes the focus while spectacle takes a back seat.  On other occasions, the opposite might be true.

Physical movement is usually a strong element in my directing. And while I have directed varying styles and lengths of theatrical productions, I tend to gravitate towards works that are less restrictive in their conceptual approach, and more adaptable for movement, experimentation, and interpretation.

Because playwriting is also part of my experience, I also enjoy working on play development, experimenting with new forms and approaches on the stage, working, whenever plausible, on “re-envisioning” classic works.

In short, as a theatre director, I enjoy working with the classics in order to give them new form, with contemporary works in order to present them with a fresh angle, and with original works in order to create a new theatrical experience.

The following pages show examples of the many plays I had the privilege to direct. However, please note that this list is selected; musicals such as The Fantasticks and Footloose are not included due to the lack of imagery. And since a 10-minute play festival is already included, other festivals such as "Earth" and "Madthematics" are not because they are similar in nature. 

  

BABY WITH THE BATHWATER

Baby with the Bathwater by Christopher Durang is my most recent directorial production. The storyline in this play spans 33 years; the first act takes place in one single year while the second act takes place in 32 years.

Because this is a dark/absurdist comedy, presenting a dysfunctional family, I decided to present a family that while not completely in accord on the inside, they look immaculate and perfect on the outside.

To achieve this goal, I placed Act One in 1969 (in order to reflect the changing America.) Act Two started in 1975 and slowly moved through the years until the year 2000 (a symbol of a "new beginning, new era, new millennium.)

The choice to present the play in an early era than written presented many challenges, for while the play moved through 33 years, such artistic choice needed to reflect times, literary references,the hairstyles, the music, the fashion, and the pop culture of the world the world the characters were living in. And while these changes were quite challenging from a technical and character development standpoint, it was a greatly rewarding and successful production. 

Arts Louisville Review

FRIDA KAHLO: A PORTRAIT

In the fall of 2012 the Multicultural Office, the Department of Global Languages, and the Theatre Program came together to present an original multicultural work: Frida Kahlo: A Portrait

I was both the author and director of the play, and because this was a very personal project, I traveled to Mexico City, the state of Michoacán, and the state of Oaxaca, in order to research the life of the Mexican painter, as well as the life and customs of the Mexican people of those regions.

For this production I decided that authenticity was key and should reflect the life and times of Friday Kahlo as a painter, as a woman, and as a Mexican.

70% of the costumes and props for this production came directly from Mexico, which were then altered by the costume designer. A local artist designed the wigs; a student designed the makeup, and a music technology student composed 90% of the music utilized in the production. 

The hard work and dedication of this production paid off artistically, economically, and educationally. All shows were sold out, which brought a significant amount of revenue, and most all the students involved in the production were nominated for regional awards at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Region IV. At the end the stage manager took 3rd place at the regional level while the sound designer took 1st place at both the regional and the national levels.

NPR interview

Arts Louisville Review

BROADWAY KNIGHTS

"Broadway Knights" was a musical revue, using a variety of Broadway songs from different musicals (Hairspray, Chicago, Pippin, Oklahoma!, The King and I, Chess, Wicked, and many others.) The revue included solos, duets, trios, group songs and musical dance numbers.

Black tie ensembles dominated the productions appearance and a four-piece band accompanied the performers on stage. For this show I was not only the director but also the choreographer for all dance numbers, including solos to group numbers.

This was the first collaboration between the Theatre Program and the Music Department.

TWISTED TALE

 

As an original children’s play for Bellarmine, I wrote Twisted Tale, which is a story where several children’s stories are mixed together: Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and The Three Little Pigs.

Two different versions of this play were created. One version ending with a “happily ever after,” and a second version with two additional endings, with each becoming gradually darker and more violent. Obviously this second version of the play was for adults.

Both versions of the play were presented at the university, and both were very successful with their respective audiences.

The majority of the production took place on a proscenium stage but actors were allowed to go into the audience and break the fourth wall by bringing “volunteers” into the story.

The production demanded a lot of high energy from the actors, as well as audience participation. The actors were encouraged to seek out fellow college students in the audience for the more intrusive interactions, forcing them in a non-threatening, fun way, to become a part of the show. They would be tied up and prepared for supper or dessert.  This was huge hit with the student body and faculty alike.

Another aspect of the story was that at first, all actors wore the traditional costumes according to their character, but as the pray progressed, the actors changed into a more "modern" look without losing their character motif. 

ACHILLES IN SPARTA

Achilles in Sparta by Sharr White has been one of my favorite plays to direct, mainly because it did not required a set but rather a group of actors who could move on stage.

The play included rhythmic movement as well as view point  and Suzuki movement techniques. In order to prepare the students for these movement styles, five 2-hour workshops on view points, Suzuki and choreography were added to the already tight rehearsal schedule. Actors were also required to deliver poetic language, so a voice coach was brought in to work with the students.

The cast also learned to manipulate giant puppets, used masks, and a variety of props within their movement in order to recreate epic battles, moving war ships across the sea, and act as deities.

Music and lighting became an essential element in this production, but the key factor in its success was working with actors who could easily become an ensemble with just four weeks of rehearsal. 

HENNY PENNY

The firs children’s play I directed at Bellarmine was my own play Henny Penny, the story of a hen and her friends who must fight against the bad wolf.

The play is physically demanding on the actors for they need to run, jump, hide, fight and constantly interact with the audience. With this in mind, I decided that the play needed to be in-the-round with four different pathways through the audience in order to have a more personal and direct connection with the children.

The play was set in a farm so the theater space looked like a farm and the floor was completely painted in green with colorful flowers and insects to resemble a meadow. (We used glow in the dark paint for extra effects in the night scenes.)

"NOVELA"

I wrote “Novela” as a full-length play in graduate school and I decided to direct this play to introduce my own work to the Bellarmine community.

The set depicted a middle class family home while parts of the stage were also used as different locales such as a café, a hotel, a bar, and a restaurant.

The title refers to Mexican soap operas. With that in mind, I decided that the acting needed to be a combination of realism and melodrama. And to take advantage of the many students' bilingual abilities, the dialogue was trilingual: English, Spanish, and German. 

This play is a "play within a play," so the used of working lights vs. stage lighting, as well as mixing realistic acting when the actors where playing the company vs. melodramatic acting when they actors were rehearsing their company's play was an important element to work with and to differentiate.

NO CLUE

One of my first original projects for Bellarmine, was writing No Clue a slapstick comedy based on the board game “Clue.”

It required an empty stage with just a few movable furniture pieces such as a desk, chairs, benches, and a table. Two actors played the main two characters and four others played a variety of different characters.

Costumes and props were essential for this play and a specific acting style and look based on 1940s film noir was used as the main concept.

As playwright and director, I had the opportunity to make changes to the script as necessary and to also dictate the look of the entire production.