Category Archives: Directing

Juliet and Her Romeo – Director’s Note

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Marie Warner and Scott Gaines perform the final scene in Juliet and Her Romeo

Marie Warner and Scott Gaines perform the final scene in Juliet and Her Romeo

I’m not usually one who likes to write director’s notes, but given the nature of our production’s experiment, it was necessary to give the audience a bit of a glimpse into our reason’s for the style of our presentation…

Romeo and Juliet is quite simply one of the most popular plays of the English language.  It has been a crowd-pleaser since its initial presentation by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in the late 1590s, and has been performed countless times all over the globe.  The story, drawn from elements of the Pyramus and Thisbe story in Ovid’s Metamorphosis and the feud between the Montechi and Cappaletti families mentioned in Dante’s Divine Comedy, has inspired innumerous artworks, musical pieces, ballets, operas, plays, films, anime, and even a recent version of the tale created via Twitter feed.  The tragedy of the star-crossed lovers has become so ingrained in the global culture that the image of the balcony scene and even the names of the characters are synonymous with young romantic love.

We have called our production of the play Juliet and Her Romeo for several reasons; to separate this production from a traditional staging of the play, because those are the last four words of the text, and the re-arrangement of the original title provided an opportunity to re-examine the relationship of the title characters.  It is in the spirit of this third reason that we formulated the ‘experiment’ of this production.

The experiment was to take a play as iconic as Romeo and Juliet, and discover a way to break it down into its individual parts, to allow an audience the opportunity of examining those parts (the scenes) in a unique way, by attempting to treat each scene individually.  This led to the decision to cast each of the scenes of the play individually, to have our eight actors constantly switching roles from scene to scene – someone playing Juliet may be the Nurse next, followed by Lord Capulet.  Since each scene was to be treated individually, through rehearsal, we discovered that there were some scenes where a sense of pluralism, through having multiple actors play a single part at once, provided another layer to the scene.  Creating a unique experience and view for each scene also led to our decision to alter the seating arrangement several times during the show, to physically change the point of view during the course of the performance.

This production would not be possible but through the brave and gracious efforts of the cast, crew, designers, technicians, artists and servants listed in the program.  It is our sincere hope that our hard work will be a blessing to you, and bring glory to our God.

Joseph Frost

Chair of Theatre

Director, Juliet and Her Romeo

I found a new love in the world of theatre……

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My experience with the One Acts Festival started my freshman year, when (for some stupid reason that I do not even remember) I missed my chance to see the one and only performance.  Trust me, after hearing all about the show, I truly wished and still do wish I had been there.

The next year, I co-stage-managed for Philosophy of a Kiss, directed by Rachel Bowman.  (Before POK, I had only stage managed for a dance show at my high school)  At Belhaven, I quickly learned that calling a show is not the only job of the Stage Manager.  I don’t think I had any idea how important a stage manager is to a production.  I had an awesome time tapping into my very strong Type-A, oldest-child personality.  I loved all the organization and office supplies that I was required to use.  Making forms, calling late actors (almost every rehearsal), taking blocking notation, supporting the director…  I had found a new love in the world of theatre.

Junior year I was cast in The Collector, directed by my roommate, Moriah Whiteman.  Seeing as how I am a Production emphasis, I had only been in one other show at Belhaven.  I was a wee bit worried.  Jumping right in with my fellow cast mate, P.A.S., we had a real groovy time exploring and getting to know the characters.  Our rehearsals were not exactly what one would call normal.  We spent one rehearsal just wandering around the Center for the Arts, taking pictures.  Another time, we brought in five things that we found meaningful and told the story that each object held; these became the props we used for the show.

It was after The Collector that I pretty much begged Joe to let me take his directing class.  (I had to beg, because the directing class was not within my catalogue and I had not taking the Acting I class.)  I did not really have a desire to direct, but I wanted to learn what a director’s process is and how, as a designer or stage manager, I could better communicate with and aid Directors in their process.

This semester has been a huge learning process.  I am learning how to communicate with actors, stage managers, designers, and professors in a way that I have never had to before.  I am in charge of making sure that the story is told in the best way possible.  Talk about pressure.  My roommate and former director, Moriah Whiteman, wrote the script that I chose to use.

[Sic] is a strange and personal story and I have been very aware of upholding the integrity of the script and making sure that the story is told in a respectful manner.  My amazing cast and wonderful Stage Manager have made this process unforgettable.  I cannot wait for everything to come together, and to see how an audience responds to the story.  I have been so blessed by this directing experience, and by the vast and varied experiences, I have encountered through the One Acts Festival.

—– Senior Production Emphasis (CS)

Directors Unite or at Least Share

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We took the opportunity to ask our Student Directors in our One Act process the same questions we asked the Student Stage Managers and these were their answers:

1. What is currently the most exciting part of your job in the one acts?

  • Interacting with my cast and crew; being able to collaborate with such talented people is wonderful.
  • The learning process. My goal is that the actors, SMs, the audience, and myself all react to each other as both teacher and student. We all are discovering and going away from this show having learned something. Even if it is that they hated it. Even that reaction is still exciting to me.
  • The most exciting part of the process has been the fact that I have been able participate in something new and challenging.
  • Watching the collaborative process happen.
  • I never thought I would want to direct a show and now that I am, I am simply loving it! I enjoy witnessing the progress of the actors from day one to performance night and seeing the collaborative efforts of everyone involved. It’s a wonderful experience!
  • The most exciting thing as a director has been getting into the first few rehearsals with my cast.  I loved getting to know them and helping to foster their relationship onstage.

2. What has been the most challenging part of your job in the one acts?

  • Translating what is in my head into terms that my actors can understand.
  • Just sitting back and realizing what the most important things to work on are. It’s too easy to get bogged down in a single aspect or a single detail to the point where I neglect the big picture. It’s also too easy to get into unnecessary exercises that I don’t even use properly.
  • The most challenging part of the process has been clear articulation sometimes of what I want the actors to do.
  • Being decisive and economical with time.
  • The process of learning to modify and adjust your ideas (on the spot) when you plan for a rehearsal and it doesn’t work. 🙂
  • The biggest challenge for me has been setting blocking!  As we explored the text, so many interesting things were happening, I hated to have to choose just one.

3. What are you most looking forward to that is yet to come in the this process?

  • Letting go of the show. It will soon be in the hands of my very capable SM and actors.
  • I look forward to is seeing if my actors can take it to the next level using the information I have already given them.
  • Seeing all the pieces come together-I want others to see it.
  • What I am looking forward to in the process is seeing the actors perform in front of an audience.
  • Sitting back with my close friends and watching this show bloom onstage!
  • I am most looking forward to experiencing the audience’s response to my play.  It will be interesting to see how the audience influences and affects my cast’s performance.

4. What piece of advice would you want to give to next years Stage Managers?

  • Don’t worry so much about getting the blocking and what not done. It is way more important to create a good environment that will inspire creativity and then let your actors do their job!
  • Your actors emulate you, so be confident. A weak director with no energy will create a similar cast. Know your goal, theme, common vocabulary, and meaning of the lines in relation to these. If you know these, your decisions will be working towards them, and so will your actors.
  • The advice I would give to directors next year would be to write down exactly what you want to say in reharsals so there won’t be any confusion or miscommunication between you and the actors.
  • Relax. Believe. Enjoy. You’ll be surprised what will happen.
  • The best piece of advice I was given about this class was basically: don’t worry about it being the most spectacular thing you’ve ever done; it’s the first thing you’ve ever directed so it’s ok if it’s a failure. That definitely took the pressure off my shoulders. Just have fun with it and expect to learn A LOT!