More Advice for Community Theatre Directors

Greetings ladies and gentlemen.  My name is Bobby Keniston, and I'd like to welcome you to my little blog called Theater is a Sport, where I talk about all things theatre-related.

As regular readers know, I am very much a believer in the importance of community and school theatre, not only as a training ground for professionals, but because it is vastly important to our culture as a whole.  So, today, I thought I would share some more advice for school and community theatre directors, culled from my many years directing for both of these markets. 

I talked a good deal about "beats" in an earlier post, how they are essential for a director to find and interpret.  Today, I would like to share with you all what I do early on in the directing process as part of my "director's homework", before rehearsals even begin.  I like to make a chart, which I will demonstrate below, for the play I am directing, a chart that is based on the beats of a play, and that will help to give me a start at comprehending the technical requirements, as well as the beginnings of visualising the play in my head, beat by beat, character by character.  Here is an example of the chart below:

BEAT	Page #’s	Characters Involved	Setting/ Location	Props Used	Costumes/ Changes	Lighting & Sound

Now, as you can see, the number of boxes depends on the number of beats in the play.  So, I start with BEAT #1 in the first box.  In the next box over, I put the page numbers (for example:  Pg 6 (Mike: .... How are you today) through top of page 7 (Erica:  My tooth is starting to hurt).  This gives me a roadmap.  Next box, I list all of the characters involved, and whether they enter or exit, then the setting/location in the next box, props used (personal and pre-set), the starting costumes or if there are any costume changes, and then lighting and sound shifts as indicated by the script.  Now, obviously, this is a jumping off point.  You may decide during rehearsals to add props or lighting cues, play with entrances, exits, costumes, what-have-you.  All of that is fine and encouraged.  But what this chart does for me is helps me organize the show into pieces that are not overwhelming.  It helps me to see the details and not just the overall picture.  The vision begins to come into focus for me.  I have also found that doing this homework is great for production meetings with the designers, to organize every little shift.  It's also nice for the stage manager to see what kind of rehearsal props they can scrounge up.

Again, things might change, additions and subtractions may be made.  Those notes will go into rehearsal reports, so don't worry about it.  Making a chart like this, or, at least writing out these details (by all means, don't use the chart if you don't want to), you will begin to know the piece backwards and forwards, and see how one point flows into the next.

If you have any questions or thought about this chart, feel free to drop me a line in the comments below.

If you would like to know more about me, feel free to visit www.brookpub.com, www.histage.com, www.playscripts.com, and www.hitplays.com and search for me, Bobby Keniston.  You will find my plays and links to read free previews of them.  You can also find Theater is a Sport on Facebook by clicking right here:  https://www.facebook.com/#!/TheaterIsASport

Thanks for checking out this blog post.  Remember:  community theatre directors need to be organized, and theater is not only a craft or an artform--- it is also a sport. 

We Got the Beats: the importance of a stage director finding the beats of a play

Hello and welcome to Theater is a Sport.  My name is Bobby Keniston, and I will be your host at this blog.  I am a theater teacher, a playwright, an actor, and a director, and I hope to share with you some things I have learned over the years.  No big whoop. 

Today, I wanted to talk to all the community theatre and school theatre directors out there about the importance of doing your director's homework.  Some preparation even before you begin will make your rehearsal process more efficient, and, therefore, will make your production run without so many bumps along the way. 

After I have read the play a number of times, I personally work on finding the "beats" in a play.  A beat, when speaking theatrically, is related to the timing and, more imporantly, the movement in a play.  A beat alters the way the protagonist, or, really, any other character pursues their goals, and, in some cases, how they behave.  I think it is smart to think of a beat as a transition--- in fact, it is any change in a script, and there are many. 

Why is it important to find beats in a play?  Well, for a director, it is essential, because it not only strengthens the director's awareness of the script, but also allows him or her to break the play down into rehearsalable pieces, enabling everyone to see not only the forest, but each individual tree as well. 

I think is important to note that every director is different.  In fact, you could give 10 different directors the same script, and they would probably all determine a different number of beats in a play.  Having said this, I do think they would all be in agreement about the really important beats.   In fact, some directors may even create some beats that they find important for the show, by staging certain business that may not be completely fleshed out in the script.

Here are some tips for determining beats:

1.  Remember, a beat is any kind of significant CHANGE in the direction of the play.  So, when it feels like something has shifted in the scene, you are probably sensing a beat changing.

2.  Whenever a new or returning character enters or exits, that is usually a good indication that a new beat is starting, or an old beat is ending. 

3.  Changes in lighting as indicated in the script is a good indicator that the playwright feels that the beat is changing.

4.  Set changes and costume changes are clues toward determining beats, particularly if they happen within a scene. 

5.  The start of a new scene is always the start of a new beat as well.

6.  A shift in the subject of conversational dialogue is often a clue that a new beat is starting.

7.  Beats can be very long or very short--- again, much depends on an individual director's intrepretation of a script.  Having said this, most scenes, unless very short, often contain more than one beat.

Let's see if we can find the change of a beat in the following short scene:

JOHN:  Good morning, June.
JUNE:  Good morning, John.  It is good to see you.

(suddenly, a strange whirring sound occurs, and THREE ALIENS enter, grab JOHN and drag him away)

JUNE:  John!  No!
(End)

Okay, so that was pretty obvious, right?  Let's look at another example:

(Lights up on JOHN and JUNE in mid-conversation)

JOHN:  I'm not trying to antagonize you.  I love you.
JUNE:  I know you mean well, John...
JOHN:  Wait, no, that's not fair, I do more than just MEAN well...
JUNE:  You know what I mean, John.  (sighs)  Do you remember when it was easy?
JOHN:  What?
JUNE:  This.  All of it.  Getting up in the morning, kissing each other goodbye, talking to each other at dinner... all of it.  Being in love.
JOHN:  We ARE still in love.  Aren't we?
(Pause)
JUNE:  You know I love you, John. 
JOHN:  But what about being in love, what about that? 
JUNE:  (softly)  I don't know.
(Pause)
JOHN:  Well, let me know when you do.  (starts to leave)
JUNE:  Don't walk out on me now, don't...
JOHN:  (spinning back around)  What do you want me to do?  What do you WANT, June?

Okay, so this is a bit more of a complex scene.  Let me know where you think the beats are in the comments below, and we can talk about it.

Thanks for tuning in to theater is a sport.  If you would like learn more about me, you can go to www.brookpub.com, www.histage.com, www.hitplays.com and www.playscripts.com and search for me, Bobby Keniston.  You can even read free samples of my plays on these sites.  You can also find Theater is a Sport on Facebook by going here:  https://www.facebook.com/#!/TheaterIsASport

Until next time, remember that having the beats is important, and alos remember that theater is not only a craft and artform---it is also a sport.