Drama in the church

The reviews are in. The play was a success. Over 9,000 people saw the
performance. The actors did a great job (everyone else did, too). What a
relief. I am happy for it to be over, but sad that we are done. I also
never got to be on stage. I’m an actor at heart.

I finally was able to sit through the entire performance last night (our
last dress rehearsal). It was great. I made a lot of notes, but they
were mostly small things. This year everyone is very upbeat about our
first performance. I am looking forward to it also. The only problem is
that now I don’t have anything else to do, unless my understudy role is
needed. I am almost hoping that it does. I’ll be more nervous about the
performance, just sitting around. Maybe I should just jet off to my next
gig.

We were fortunate enough to have the local TV station do a 90 second
piece on us. The reporter interviewed three of us and they shot footage
of the choir and orchestra rehearsing. Great advertising. We got many
phone calls in response. I wasn’t happy about my clip, but the important
thing is that we were in the news at 11PM and 8:30AM.

http://www.wgal.com/news/8196757/detail.html

The last weeks before the main event are hectic and harried. There a
thousands of little details to sort out and decisions to make. And you
still have to keep the actors on track. Everyone wants to ask about this
piece of fabric or that prop. Some just want to be stroked for solving a
problem. That’s fine. I recognize that need in myself also.

As a director you need to encourage autonomous decision-making on all
small things and make sure everyone knows this is a team effort. If this
is your full-time job, then you might have the time to make all those
decisions. That’s great, but in the scope of non-profit productions, it
doesn’t happen much. Be patient and encouraging.

What a difference a week makes. Last week I was running around with my
nose in the book, helping actors with lines, reading parts from missing
actors, and trying to direct. This week I had an assistant. Wow. She was
able to do all the former and allow me to direct. It also helped that
most of the actors finally have their lines memorized, too. I was
actually able to work on characters’ emotions and motivation.
It was so encouraging to see a scene or portion of a scene improve over
the 20 minutes we worked on it.

It can always be difficult in an amateur production to figure out who is
in charge. The director should always have the final word on the drama,
but in a church there are many other considerations. The music director
has control of the music and choir, the senior pastor has final say on
any theological question, even the custodian may have a say on what the
set can look like (for fire code reasons maybe).
It can be frustrating juggling these competing (sometimes) authorities.
Focus on the acting. Focus on what is under your control. Make that the
best it can be. Try not to worry too much about the other stuff.

It can be very difficult getting people to let go of their inhibitions.
They see others sitting out there in the audience, even in rehearsals,
and don’t want to look foolish. But that is the essence of acting;
looking foolish.
So as a director of amateur actors, you need to draw that tendency out.
Not all of your actors were the class clown. So one thing that can work
is to get your actors to do silly things in rehearsals to desensitize
them to doing them for the main event. That’s the theory anyway. It may
work for some people. Under stress, anybody can react in any different
way possible.

One of the fun things about putting a play on in a large organization is
getting a script approved. Sometimes you have to go through several
layers of ‘notes’ that recommend this word be changed or this concept
is unclear or there isn’t enough action going on. Now any screenwriter
will tell you that you haven’t seen anything until you go corporate
Hollywood rewrites (all with or without payment). I didn’t have a
difficult time. Most of the changes were for the better.
It really is best to have someone read over what you want to present
anyway, if only to share the blame if there is a backlash for something
too avant garde. Take suggestions prayerfully and usually things
will go well. If you know your research and story well enough, you might
be able to convince the others that this or that element is integral to
the story. So do your homework.

I’m not a very organized person, so I tend to let details slide. One of
those details is letting people know about rehearsals. The best way is
to publish a schedule early in the cycle and require people to be there.
In a volunteer program that can be dangerous, because people don’t
always take it very seriously. If you, as director, don’t take it
seriously, then they won’t either. You need to be firm about rehearsals.
On the other hand, what are you going to do to someone who has serial
conflicts with the schedule? My recommendation is to point out that they
obviously don’t have time to do the best job and maybe they should
withdraw. I haven’t done that before, partly because I haven’t had
enough actors. Anyway, do the best you can and shame the actors into
showing up and all rehearsals.

Work with what you have.
It is very easy to compare church actors to what you see on TV or the silver screen, but unless your church or community playhouse is in NYC or Hollywood, your number of good actors will be fairly shallow.
Don’t expect too much from the auditions. The greatest attribute that I look for is a teachable spirit. I would rather work with a mediocre actor who is willing to learn (and capable) than a decent actor who can’t or refuses to take direction. Sometimes a decent actor is stuck on a plateau and will never change.
Mediocre actors can sometimes suprise you with how much they are willing to risk on stage. They can grow right past where that decent actor was in audition.
Practically, this involves asking an actor to play a scene with a different tone or motivation in audition. If you don’t see or hear any difference, then you most likely will be seeing the same thing in two months during performance.