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Stage Directing

The First Experiences

Jim Patterson

Flexible and concise, Stage Directing details the six steps that make up the directing process: selecting a work, analyzing and researching the playscript, conceiving the production, casting, rehearsing, and giving and receiving criticism. Each step is highlighted with valuable directing tips, as well as examples from modern and contemporary playscripts and productions. Exercises, goals, and key terms put directing precepts to a practical test, revealing what is significant about each phase of the process. Over seventy charts, graphs, and photographs unite and exemplify the text, along with current and noteworthy Web sites.

With a fresh voice and an engaging style of writing, Patterson provides insightful questions, suggestions, and illustrations that define and invoke contemplation about the role of the director. Two original short plays provide the opportunity for hands-on analysis and the application of practical concepts. New to the Waveland reissue, the author highlights the function and growing artistry of the director in the modern and postmodern theatre by examining a short history of this pivotal role.

$21.95 list, 208 pages

10-digit ISBN: 1-57766-596-1

13-digit ISBN: 978-1-57766-596-0

© 2004

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Director at Work

The Director's Job / The Director and Meaning / The Effective Director / Directorial Strategies / New Plays / Copyrights

1. Selecting the Playscript

Play Selection Checklist / Assessment

2. Analyzing and Researching the Playscript

Structure / Acts, Units, and Beats / Character / Meaning

3. Conceiving the Production

Stage Configurations / The World of the Play / What the Audience Hears / Helping the Audience to See: The Ground Plan

4. Casting: The Ideal and the Real

Cast for Character Qualities / Cast for Character Traits / Cast the Willing, Courteous, and Cooperative / Procedures / Etiquette / Casting Checklist

5. Rehearsing: Staging, Shaping, and Polishing

A Planning Strategy / The Rehearsal Process / Stage Basics / What the Audience Sees: Composing the Action / What the Audience Sees: Picturing the Action / Actors Learn Lines, Directors Shape Action / Intensifying the Action: The Actor / Polishing

6. Giving and Receiving Criticism

An Opportunity to Learn

Epilogue: Thinking Back and Looking Forward

Keep Directing / More Suggestions / Additional Reading

Appendix A: Mae and Her Stories (David DeWitt)

Appendix B: Cha-Cha-Cha (Garth Wingfield)

Appendix C: The Director in the Modern and Postmodern Theatre: A Brief History