Coffee-Fetching and Expertise
Posted by Margot Bordelon on 6/22/2007I first met Wendy MacLeod in the spring of 2003. I was Assistant Directing the world premiere of Things Being What They Are at the Seattle Repertory Theatre and she came out from Ohio for a week to watch rehearsals, give notes and do rewrites. I was in charge of making and distributing all of the script changes and I took my job very seriously – this was the woman who wrote The House of Yes after all! And The Water Children and Schoolgirl Figure and Apocalyptic Butterflies and her newest piece at the time, Juvenilia. Before the first day of rehearsal I read as many of her plays as I could get my hands on. I was determined to possess an intimate understanding of her voice and style. I would be an expert on the MacLeod canon!
Now I’m not sure how many of you blog readers are familiar with the duties of an AD, but they can range anywhere from fetching coffee for the Director, to rehearsing scenes with actors. And besides assisting Wendy when she was in town, this particular gig tended to lean more toward coffee-fetching responsibilities than anything else. Needless to say, my self-titled expertise was rarely called upon.
Flash forward four years: I’ve made it to the second phase of Collaboraction’s Sketchbook. A bit of background about the selection process as I understand it: first there is an open call for scripts. Over 400 short plays are submitted and members of Collaboraction’s artistic team narrow it down to twenty-seven finalists. Directing applicants are asked to write vision proposals for the three pieces they’d most like to direct.
I immediately know Downstairs, Upstairs is by Wendy. Well actually, that’s a lie, I don’t know - the playwrights names have been removed from the scripts - but I suspect. The witticisms, the rapid-fire dialogue and the status play are all trademark MacLeod. Furthermore, her work has been produced in past Sketchbooks… it’s got to be her. Naturally I propose the piece and am ecstatic when Kimberly Senior, Colloboraction Company member and producer of Sketchbook, asks me to direct it. Finally I can exercise my MacLeod knowledge!
Directing a seven minute play is harder than you’d think. You must establish a specific world and create nuanced characters that have changed in someway by six minutes thirty seconds. Or at least by six forty-five. You must take the audience on a clear journey and all the while the clock is ticking. And even if the playwright has written tennis match-like dialogue, you still hear yourself telling your actors to pick up the pace, because you don’t want to be the director at the production meeting after tech who is scolded for running over the mandatory seven minutes. A snapshot of this chastisement: Collaboraction Artistic Director Anthony Moseley leading the production team in a chorus of elementary school “oooohhhhs” because you’re the naughty child called into the principal’s office. It’s a kind of delightful humiliation.
Truth be told, it’s a necessary guideline and because Collaboraction has been disciplined about sticking to it over the past seven years, they’ve been able to skillfully hone their specific aesthetic approach to the short play festival: Theater and Then Some. Think live music, art installations, stunning visuals and this year, because of Steppenwolf’s commendable Visiting Company Initiative, a flexible space. This has allowed for that last vital component: a liquid audience. Playlets can take place anywhere in the space and the audience is encouraged to sit, stand or lean wherever they please. It’s been a delight to direct with this environment in mind. It has challenged me to think outside a conventional approach because it’s about making quick, bold decisions, and though I may need another year to totally get the hang of it, I am wowed by the work created by my peers. Mark Fleischer’s direction of Stephen Cone’s We Came Here Because it’s Beautiful breaks my heart each time I watch it, while Jen Ellison’s bold vision for Emily Shwartz’s Boat at Sea causes my sides to ache from laughing.
The collaboration I am most pleased about however is the one between Collaboraction and Steppenwolf. Two of my favorite Chicago companies coming together to create daring, bold, fun theater. Collaboraction’s work never ceases to impress me (have you seen Jenny Chow?!) and Steppenwolf was my first Chicago home. In August it will be three years since I moved from Seattle to serve as an Artistic Apprentice for the 2004-2005 season. My official duties may have ended two years ago, but I just can’t seem to stay away. I work front of house as a bartender, assistant direct from time to time and am now thrilled to be directing a Wendy MacLeod premiere in the Garage.