Theater Directing vs. Opera Stage Directing
For those of you who know me, you know I do both. Or at least I try to. And the two art forms, while similar in foundation of competition on a stage, creating a unified world with design and acting, etc., are also incredibly different. So this may be the first of a series of blog posts dedicated to considering those differences. I had a meeting the other day with some really nice people who run Wolf Trap Opera company. They happened to be in town for their audition tour, and they were kind enough to put me on their schedule. And Kim Witman, the General Director of WTO asked me what is one of the most important questions to ask someone who is primarily a theater director who has directed some opera: "What, to you, are the challenges or things you do differently when you approach an opera." Awesome question. I think about this a lot. I think about the challenges that the best theater directors can't seem to overcome when they bring themselves to the world of opera. Obv...