Female Directors in New York

It's the hot news item in the New York times: Women Direct things! 



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The First Day Address

I have a first rehearsal tomorrow for Neighborhood 3 at Strawdog Theatre. Right now, I’m in the middle of crafting my first day address. I am of the opinion that the first day address is a crucial point in a director’s process. This is for two major reasons (although I have more secondary reasons): 1.   This talk will get your cast, company, and anyone else in the room all at the same launching point for rehearsals to commence. It also re-establishes and solidifies the work that you’ve done with designers to get to this point. It is the opportunity to declare to everyone what your production of this play will be about, what it will look like, feel like, and why they should be excited about it. (And you hopefully expel their fears about the production, if they have any.)       2.   The crafting of this talk forces the director to articulate what the play is about, what the world of the play is, and why not only to the group but to themselves, and in...
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My Latest Favorite Directing Book

The Theatre of Thomas Ostermeier  is my latest favorite directing book. I've been a fan of Ostermeier's work for a while (though I've only seen two productions live), and as an American director who loves this work but is struggling with a lifetime of training based in psychological-realism, it's hard to find my connection to it. The truth is, I like psychology, and want it to be part of the work, I think it's more interesting that way. Our job is to find humanity, right?  But, we live in a society, and the society has issues, we know that. And plays are often in conversation with our larger societal predicaments. And the characters in plays are often in response to those. And their responses may be psychological, and they may effect what they want from the other characters, but they are deeply effected by the truth of their society.  Psychological realism, I believe, runs the risk of living in the myth of individualism. We live amongst each other, and to deny that ...
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The Interval & Leigh Silverman

Leigh Silverman inspires me. She's an incredible director, has a ton of really focused energy, has been wildly successful in her career (directed on Broadway at 31), and she isn't an asshole. In fact, she's been incredibly generous with her time and energy when I've met her or had drinks with her. Her support of other women in the field is an absolute inspiration. So I was thrilled to read this recent interview, which is written beautifully by Victoria Myers  on a website that I'm very glad to have discovered called The Interval: the smart girls' guide to theatricality . Incredible articles, very smart, funny, and about women in the theatre. It's New York focused for the most part, (maybe I should offer to write some Chicago articles?) but it makes me really happy. Other highlights from my reading about directors include: this interview with Lisel Tommy , 7 Women from Theatre History you should know , and 7 more Women from THYSK . This site is going t...
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