Final Days

It's our last weekend in Ithaca, and we're keeping our energy up for the final push. The next few days are filled with wrap-up meetings, check-ins and packing.
Today was the final performance of my Kiddstuff show, Charlotte's Web. Working on this show was a magical experience. The designers, cast and crew all committed themselves fully to telling this story - and, in my humble opinion, we did a fantastic job. Here are some pictures from our trip to the Farm Sanctuary, as well as some production shots.

See you back in NYC!

Olivia (Mom, President and Baby Spider) making a new friend.

David (Templeton) snuggling.

Excuse Me...Coming Through...

Last week saw the opening of three Lab Company Productions - two new plays, LEARNING RUSSIAN and THE THING ABOUT AIR TRAVEL, in the Wedge and a Kiddstuff production, REELING, on the Neiderkorn stage. These two spaces share not only a wall, but also backstage and cross-over space. What it basically boils down to is - when these spaces are in tech at the same time (which is often) actors may be using the playing space of The Wedge to make an entrance into the Neiderkorn - and vice versa. We were all warned about this early on. Actors know to make their cross-overs quietly, causing minimal distraction to the other show.

While working on LULU during first rotation (and sharing backstage space with THE KID WHO TALKED TO PENGUINS), we never encountered this issue. We did have to hear "Do the Funky Penguin" through the wall quite a bit. But, never saw any actual actors. REELING is a completely different beast from PENGUINS. I think Corey would agree with me when I call it a beast. The show, a dialouge-less play based on Buster Keaton films, has 16 actors, a myriad of props and constant action.

While teching RUSSIAN, there was always a policeman or showgirl running through every so often. It was easy to get used to, and, after the first time, we didn't notice it all.

Until - the morning of the third day of tech. At a dramatic moment during our dress run, the center door to the Wedge opened and an actress dressed as an obese caterer - padding, silly hat and all - rolled in a giant fake turkey. Well...needless to say, nobody could keep a straight face.

Here is a photo snapped at the end of the turkey's exodus.
This quirky moment gives you a small idea of the joy that I feel here at the Hangar - working so closely with my fellow directors.

And, during this rotation, the joy of working with a playwright-in-residence! It was really a treat having Michael Mitnick here to work on LEARNING RUSSIAN. The whole company was inspired by working on such an innovative new play. It will be sad to close the show this Friday - but we've had so much fun. And, a write up in the Ithaca Journal!

I'll leave you with a production shot sans-turkey.

I've got this one in the bag

So here we are in Rotation #3. I just finished directing Howard Barker's "The Possibilities," about which I hope to have a fuller blog post eventually. I'm working on a wonderful new play called "The Thing About Air Travel," and it's my third show in a row (with almost no time in between). It is a beautiful, imaginative, and funny play that calls for some extraordinarily fun tricks and gags, including the following: throughout the entire beginning of the play there is a suitcase sitting on the stage, about fifteen minutes in, the bag unzips itself and a woman gets out, sits down and asks for a cough drop.

So one of the things I've learned this week is that most modern luggage is not built to hold normal-sized human beings. They either fit in it lengthwise or widthwise, but rarely both. And if they can manage those two, they don't fit in heightwise. After several failed attempts to squeeze my actress into various bags (probably one of the more demeaning things that can be done to an human being), I was nearly ready to give up and try to find another, not quite as wonderful, solution.

Almost every night, the four Drama League directors get together to talk about how our rehearsals went that day, what our frustrations are, what are discoveries were, and what is and is not working. We live together and have similar schedules, so this often happens informally over a dinner break, or after the last rehearsal of the day, while we are all trying to unwind. Yesterday, we decided that we wanted to go out, and so we went to the "Dryden Hotel," a local establishment that appears to be a sketchy dive bar and actually is what passes for a family restaurant in the town of Dryden. After much pizza was consumed (and pie--at the Dryden "Queen Diner"), we headed back to the dorms. It was at this point that I told the other directors about my baggage bind, my suitcase strait, my portmanteau pickle, my luggage labyrinth, etc... Ever eager to help another director, Lauren pointed out that she had a massive case she'd bought in NYC expressly for this summer. I asked to see it.

Still giggly on sugar and giddy on pie-stimulated endorphins, we decided that the best thing to do would be to see if I could fit into the suitcase. I hopped in without a problem. Corey had gone to dinner in another car, and on his way had stopped to eat ice cream, so I hid in the bag until he returned, and popped out immediately after he walked in the door. See the picture at left--me inside the bag.

Then Lauren and I began discussing how the actress could stay in the bag for that long a period. She decided she needed to show me another way to sit in the bag, and crawled in. This idea was perhaps not as brilliant as Lauren's ideas tend to be, and within moments of crawling into the case, she got herself stuck.

If you've ever been stuck in a giant piece of luggage before, you know that once you are embedded, self-extrication is nearly impossible. And Corey was busy eating his ice cream (and didn't want to get ice cream all over the luggage). And I was busy taking pictures (after all, documentation is critical). So poor Lauren was left stuck in the bag.

It's all for the art folks, all for the art.

Changing Gears

With Lulu's closing performance this past Saturday, I am now fully and officially Madame Producer. This is a brand new role for me. I often produce for myself (as many of us emerging directors do), but producing for other artists is whole new game. I've got 2 phones, a barrage of emails and the most random "To Do" list of my life.

Adam offered me some sage wisdom heading into this rotation. He cited my wide range of professional assistant directing experience and said, "That's basically it. Approach it like that."

This was some genius advice on his part. Approaching producing with the mindset that I am simply doing everything I can to aid these directors in creating their best work, in addition to facilitating the most fully realized production possible, took the pressure off of having to get it "right." It has freed me to take ownership of this role and dispelled my fears. Though, I must admit, there is more math involved in producing than there is in assisting - and I'm always sure to triple check my math.

It's a busy week here at the Hangar. There are two shows up on the main stage right now (NO CHILD and BAD DATES), which means double load-in, tech and performances. It also means double opening night parties! No Child opened last week - showcasing powerhouse acting from Rachael Holmes, as well as gorgeous work from director Wendy Dann and her designers. I'm excited to see what Bad Dates has in store for us later this week!

In rehearsal at TC3 are two Wedge shows (Adam's Possiblities and Corey's Leonce & Lena), Lydia's Pinochoccio for Kiddstuff and the main stage production of Oklahoma. That's six shows all humming along. I've had a great time sitting on rehearsals, getting to see my fellow directors in action!

And, on Saturday, I'll get to see the whole company in action in our 24 Hour Play Festival, TC24. The company is spending the week in playwriting master classes - the only time our whole company actually gets to work in the same room together! On Saturday we'll mix up their roles - designers will act, actors will write - and see what we can come up with in 24 short hours. As you can see, we've got more than a few kettles on the stove here. Or is it irons in the fire?

I'll leave you with some photos from Lulu - my director's choice play for the Wedge - and the text from the program note.

Benjamin Franklin Wedekind was conceived in San Francisco, born in Germany and christened in honor of American democracy. He penned his most widely known work, Spring Awakening, in 1894 - at just 26 years old.

A year later, while strolling the Champs d’Ellyse, he was struck by an idea for a “gruesome tragedy.” Wedekind skipped dinner with friends that evening to write the first act. The result is Lulu, a play that was never fully produced in Wedekind’s lifetime. Its graphic depiction of vices in all forms and shapes, and his refusal to alter the text, kept Lulu relegated to the bars, cabarets and backrooms of Vienna.



It was at one such performance where Wedekind met his second wife, Tilly Newes. The nineteen-year old beauty was playing the role of Lulu. Wedekind, then 37, was playing the role of Jack. The line between art and life was thin in Wedekind’s world. He chose to write about the prostitutes and artists with whom he spent his time, shocking the German bourgeois with what they considered to be pure pornography. Nicholas Wright’s translation, recently produced by London’s Almeida Theatre, gives this classic the modern edge Wedekind intended.


In the eve of World War I, Frank Wedekind understood the timeless starving class struggle between the longings of one’s inner self and a world that offers a certain set of possibilities.

Penguins!!

So my KIDDSTUFF show--The Kid Who Talked to Penguins--opened on Wednesday. It feels like I just finished putting up a huge musical. The show has a big cast, quick-changes, magic, hundreds of light cues, wireless mics, the works. One of the great challenges of KIDDSTUFF is that you have to perform on the set of the currently running mainstage show. In our case, this was The Overwhelming--a play about the Rwandan genocide that featured a center platform in the shape of Rwanda. Which is not a very prettily shaped country, I'll have you know.

I'm exhausted. Right now, all I can do is look forward to my tiny, intimate, non-technical production of The Possibilities.

Until those rehearsals start on Monday, I have a blissfully relaxing few days. So here are a few photos of Penguins to get you started! I hope you enjoy!

Opening Night/Opening Day

Yesterday marked our first opening day/night as we attended the opening performances for all our rotation one shows—The Kid Who Talked to Penguin’s, A Rat’s Mass and Lulu. Pretty amazing day really. To finally see everyone’s work after hearing so much about Lauren and Adam’s visions for their shows and their process in their rehearsal rooms, was a total thrill. Penguins was such great fun! Adam’s charm had the kids enthralled from start to finish. He had such joy working on the Kiddstuff show (as I did watching it), so great for the creative heart and soul. Lauren’s Lulu showcased some powerhouse acting from the company—but I’ll admit my not-so-secret love for her talent with movement. I was floored by her stunning transformative, storytelling movement work.

These first two rotations we are getting to do our “director’s choice” plays – which for me I decided to take to heart what I heard over and over to go for a play that would push me creatively. So I chose, A Rat’s Mass, by Adrienne Kennedy, a writer I have wanted to work on for quite some time. So it was a fantastic experience to finally get to wrestle with a complex, fascinating, intense material and flex my imagination on this classic avant-garde piece.

When I first saw the Wedge, my brain immediately began to fire images that I could see living in the space—ways that I hadn’t even dreamt of before. It’s a blessing to have a space that forces a director to explore use of space. When I first started grad school I learned that I saw things as flat images in my head. Thus I had to work hard to visualize moments/scenes/plays in 3 dimensions. Working in the Wedge was like taking the next step. I realized that was capable of seeing the play in 3D but it was always a proscenium space. Now I realized I could go further and conceptualize the play in 3D without limitations. What if I thought “Oh yes! that moment should happen in the air above ground!” or “We should be seeing this moment upside down!” Freeing and utterly thrilling. I feel really fortunate to have this time and space to grow artistically, and this is only week three!—I’m excited to see what other new discoveries lie ahead in the rest of the summer.

Hey, Mr. Producer

The positioning of who would produce which rotation was the absolute last consideration in our process of programming the season. As it fell, I'm the producer of the first rotation, and I have to say that I'm so glad things fell out this way. 

First, it's been a real luxury to have some "free" time to put toward working on the adaptation of the script I'll be directing (starting in a week...eek) for rotation 2; finalizing a working text based on conflating/writing from 4 different translations, going back in to work in elements of the interpretive adaptation I'm doing, and getting time to work with my designers and let them act as dramaturgs through their work are all things I would not have had as much time for had I been directing on the rotation. (But I bet I'll be ready for a break after 2 straight months of directing...)

But more to the point, I've had the privilege and pleasure of getting to watch my FF's (fellow Fellows...) work. I've seen runs of all 3 shows and am really impressed by the diversity of perspectives, styles and techniques each has employed, both in rehearsal and production. Adam is a model of efficiency--he (and our great KIDDSTUFF SM Jeannine) run a tight ship, but the energy in the room is always positive and fun. Lydia has done great work immersing her cast in a physical style and a style of play very new to most. SHe has put them through the proverbial paces (lots of Suzuki, slow movement, integrating visual research into what I call 'living mask' work) and they and Adrienne Kennedy's play are the better for the experience. Lauren has done a very clear cutting of a longer text and done exciting work using movement (think Bill T. Jones) to give a classic piece both a sexy contemporary edge, and a dramaturgical clarity.

I also feel like I've got a better grasp on how to  plan my rehearsals and think about the coming work. I feel like I've gotten a sneak preview' of the actors' work both in rehearsal and on stage. Ditto for the endlessly surprising WEDGE space and the Niederkorn MainStage, where my KIDDSTUFF show will be. I know more about how these spaces work, and how to work with these actors in rehearsal.

That said, there have certainly been challenges, too. Any time of change is overwhelming, and the challenges presented by the extraordinary amount of work and daring demanded of everyone in the Lab Company has understandably overwhelmed some people. One of my goals for myself this summer is to 'push myself and others' to limits that allow the best work to emerge; it's been a good experience for me to help allay the fears and frustration of my company members, while at the same time helping these young artists to understand the requirements and challenges inherent in this demanding profession. Giving notes to my FF's has also bee a great exercise for me--it forces me to think with a real clarity and perspective about storytelling, the directors' intent, the actors' work and potential in given roles and limited time, etc. It's a terrific exercise in 'being in it and out of it' at the same time--an essential skill for a director.

I'm now play producer on our first day of tech, me and my laptop shoved in a corner on the upper level with my feet tangled in cables and cords and my butt going to sleep on a really uncomfortable plastic folding chair. Ah, the glamorous life. But it does make me think about an interview with Tom Hulce that I read in The New York Times about a year ago. He was talking about producing Spring Awakening (directed by DL alum Michael Mayer...), and the interviewer had asked him what he likes about producing. His response was something to the effect of 'acting is a task where you're responsible for one very important but very specific piece of the whole. As a producer, you get to roll around and get dirty in all of it." I've certainly gotten dirty--from people's tears to transportation to teaching to tech troubles--and it's been surprisingly fulfilling. 

I'm just glad I don't have to fundraise...

Go Big, or...

We had our first rehearsals this past Saturday. And, for those of you playing along at home, let's review the schedule of the week that led up to Saturday:

Tuesday - Production/Design Presentation Meetings for Rotation 1
- Audience Services Meeting
- Actors Arrive!! (Finally!)
- Evening-long full company meet, greet, chat, relaying of information

Wednesday and Thursday - Master Classes with the Lab Actors and Assistant Directors. (We lead the company in a day of text based exercises focused of choral speaking and scene study, and a day of movement exercises focused on gesture, dance and Suzuki.)

Thursday Evening - Auditions

Friday - Production Meeting
- Casting for the Entire Season (In addition to casting 12 Lab shows and roles in 2 main stage productions, we had to ensure that each of the 26 actors were used in each of the four rotations, that each had a lead and a bit a role and that those roles were evenly distributed between Wedge and Kiddstuff shows. Now, not to brag.....But. We accomplished this task in record time, and all emerged in good spirits.)

Saturday - Casting Posted, and, a mere ninety minutes later, everyone is in their first rehearsal.

Okay, I'm tired from just typing all that, let alone doing it.
But, the excitement of finally getting into a rehearsal room, with actors, with the script I've been so painstakingly cutting and studying and pulling apart with the designers gave me plenty of adrenaline.

We spent the first day of rehearsal reading the script, getting an amazing presentation from the designers and talking. As the actors hadn't had a chance to read the script before rehearsal began, it wasn't just a first read. It was truly a cold read. So there was a lot to talk about.
But, the excitement was palpable. We were all here, together, finally doing the thing it is that we each love to do. As Claire Romano, sound designer, summed it up at the end of her presentation, "I love my job."

That being said, it is also easy to feel the pressures of the time crunch. In just a week, we'll be in tech. The process is so condensed, the speed so breakneck, there simply isn't time for questioning. Now is the time to jump, to leap, to trust your gut. As I told the LULU company at the top of our second rehearsal yesterday, W.H. Murray was on to something when he said, "Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

I can't wait to see where it leads us.

Drumroll Please...

And the season is:

ROTATION 1:

• Kiddstuff: "The Kid Who Talked to Penguins," by Ed Monk. Directed by Adam Immerwahr.
• Wedge: "Rat's Mass" by Adrienne Kennedy. Directed by Lydia Fort.
• Wedge: "Lulu" by Franz Wedekind. Directed by Lauren Keating.

ROTATION 2:

• Kiddstuff: "Pinnochio" by Blanche Marvin. Directed by Lydia Fort.
• Wedge: "The Possibilities" by Howard Barker. Directed by Adam Immerwahr.
• Wedge: "Leonce and Lena" by Georg Buchner. Directed by Corey Atkins.

ROTATION 3:

• Kiddstuff: "Reeling" by Barry Kornhauser. Directed by Corey Atkins.
• Wedge: "The Thing About Air Travel" by Max Posner. Directed by Adam Immerwahr.
• Wedge: "Learning Russian" by Michael Mitnick. Directed by Lauren Keating.

ROTATION 4:

• Kiddstuff: "Charlotte's Web" by E. B. White, adapted by Joseph Robinette. Directed by Lauren Keating.
• Wedge: "Mrs. Henderson's Cat" by Lia Romero. Directed by Corey Atkins.
• Wedge: "Tell It Underwater" by Sarah Hammond. Directed by Lydia Fort.

Hope to see you at the theater!!

Designers Arrive

So we picked our season on Wednesday night, and finalized it with Bob Moss--the interim artistic director--last night. I can't tell you what it is yet, because it's a big secret. But it's going to be awesome. Picking the season was surprisingly painless. Each of us directs one "Kidstuff" production (theater for young audiences), one play by one of the playwrights in residence this summer and one play that we brought with us (we each brought some options, so that we'd have flexibility for cast-sizes, tone, etc.). We did the whole season planning process with post-it notes.

The other news is that the designers have arrived! We invited them into our apartment last night for a late night welcome, and got to look at their portfolios and talk about their work a bit. This afternoon, they got their design assignments and they're reading the plays right now. The design meetings for Rotation #1 (there are 4 rotations over the course of the summer, each with three plays) start tomorrow night. So this is a short blog entry, cause I gotta go re-read my Rotation #1 play about a gamillion more times. Aack.

Oh yeah, and tonight we ate dinner at the Moosewood Restaurant (of the Moosewood cookbooks)!!

WonderDays (...and weeks and months and years...)

As Adam and Lauren said, we've now arrived at our housing in bucolic Dryden, NY for our summer at Ithaca's Hangar Theatre. I've sufficiently nested enough to make our new home feel homey (thanks, Target!), and the bustle of our former lodgings on Union Square has given way to farmland and a little (dorm) room to reflect.

Not being much of a blogger, I was trying to think of how to make this entry more than just a list of the incredible events that made up WonderDays. Five shows, from A(lbee) to X(anadu); conversations with two of those shows' directors, DL alumna Pam McKinnon (Albee's Occupant) and Anne Kauffman (God's Ear), as well as alum Carl Forsman (Artistic Dir., Keen Company and Dorset Theatre Fest.); playwright Jenny Schwartz (God's Ear, and a Hangar Lab alum!), and scenic designer David Korins (Passing Strange); Liz Frankel, Lit. Assoc. at The Public; Dani Super at Super/Capes Casting; Peter Flynn, Molly Kramer and Barbara Pasternack at TheatreWorks USA; Laura Penn and Gretchen Michelfeld at SSDC (Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers); and Sharon Jensen and her amazing staff at Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts. --Not to mention helping out at the 74th Annual Drama League Awards, which meant coming in direct contact with the likes of S. Epatha Merkerson, Frances McDormand, Deanne Dunnigan, Patrick Stewart, Martha Plimpton, Bobby Cannavale, Lauren Ambrose, Julie White and MANY more amazing artists, all without having to lurk behind bushes or peek in windows! That in itself would be a plenty impressive blog, I'd say.

But in thinking about all of these phenomenal experiences, it struck me that WonderDays really was 'more than the sum of its parts.' In truth, the experiences of WonderDays were all about one thing for me: possibility. After getting my MFA a year ago, I'm finally moving in to The City at the end of the summer, and while I've worked at regional theatres across the country, I know NYC is a whole new ball game. But in every meeting and conversation, every one we spoke with opened doors and windows onto this new landscape for me. Each had a unique perspective to offer--their personal career path, their individual goals and opinions and passions--all of which made the sense of the possible palpable. Pam and Anne spoke about their processes on individual productions, as well as the path that led them to the place they are in their careers; Carl talked about his directing work, growing Keen Company and the challenges of taking over another company; David gave us the dual perspective of a scenic designer who had an incredible collaboration with his director and lighting designer on Passing Strange, as well as co-Artistic Director of Edge Theatre Co.; Dani Super shed light on the business of art...and on and on... The enormous amount of information gleaned in those 5 days was revelatory, and these artists' candor and encouragement let me see my potential, gave me a context in which to place myself and my goals for my career in the coming weeks...and months...and years....

So--working as a director in NYC: Overwhelming? Yes. Kinda Frightening? Youbetcha. Possible? Eminently.

(P.S. All of the above could describe the upcoming months as co-Artistic Director of the Hangar's Lab Season, too... We just finalized the season and assignments this afternoon... But more on that next week...  It's called a cliffhanger, people.)

-CA

Wonder(ful) Days

The Overwhelming is not only the title of the Hangar Theater's first main stage production this season, but is also my new title for the first two weeks (oh, wait...it's only been one?!?) of the Drama League Summer Directors Project.

Adam has already given you some of idea of the volume of meetings and productions we had during Wonder Days. MaryBeth, our exceptional tour guide, filled up every ounce of our time with someone/something really valuable. Every single person we spoke to gave me something new to think about and opened my perspective. Since our arrival in Ithaca, the amount of information we have to take in every day has only increased. I am trying to make my whole body into a sponge - absorbing names, faces, details, dates, ideas. I am so inspired by the excitement and genuine joy of all the artists, board members, staffers and even townies that we have met. They all have great pride in the Hangar Theater, love the Drama League program and can't wait to see what we do with the amazing Wedge.

This has been my first time observing the inner workings of a Board of Directors and meeting board members of major institutions. The board members of the Drama League that we met last week were informed and inspired. And, even more than that, they were welcoming. They were so warm and enthusiastic - engaging us about our art, sharing their own experiences, introducing us to their families, welcoming us into their homes. I have joined a community that is committed to each other - and committed to me. I feel a real responsibility to honor that commitment.
Similarly, our first official stop in Ithaca on Monday night was the Hangar Theater Board Meeting. After a long, winding (we got lost just a few times...) drive, throwing our things into our new apartment, driving into town (and getting lost once more), we finally straggled into the meeting room. And, we were greeted with rousing applause! What better way to arrive?? The enthusiastic smiles of the board, their questions, their declaration that they are "Wedgies" and their promise that they will be at every Wedge show is the kind of welcome that I could not have imagined. I wanted to get started making a kick ass show for them right away!

Thank you to all those great board members of the Hangar and the Drama League who give not just their time but their heart to this program.

Wonders and Wedges

So we made it to the Hangar Theatre. Phew. After several very busy "Wonder Days," jam-packed with meetings, shows and running around, it is a great relief to be settled down in the delightfully rural Ithaca area (we're in the town of Dryden). Last night, as we were unpacking, we saw some deer walking by our back window. And we're blogging. For a change.

Wonder Days was (were?--is it plural?) lovely. We met with tons of theater-makers from across the disciplines (casting directors, designers, producers, actors, etc) and got to see five shows in NYC (Passing Strange, The 39 Steps, God's Ear, Xanadu and The Occupant). Oh yeah, and we got to attend the Drama League Awards, which was super-happy-making.

One of my favorite meetings was with the staff of the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts. If you don't know their work, you should. Formerly the "Non-Traditional Casting Project", the Alliance serves dual missions to advocate for and educate about issues of diversity (both for artists of color and artists with disabilities) in the performing arts. It is incredible how atrocious a job the arts (still) do of representing the wonderful diversity of our world; and it is vitally important that this changes. By virtue of their intrinsically public nature, the performing arts are in an extraordinary position to serve as a model for best-practices in inclusion. Additionally, since the performing arts are constantly painting a picture of our world, lack of inclusion in the arts can skew that image unrealistically, leaving some populations over-represented and others voiceless. The Alliance promotes discussion of these complex topics, and the conversation we had--about ourselves as artists as well as the issues of inclusion in the arts--was honest, vulnerable and wonderful. I found myself continuing the never-ending project of confronting my own assumptions, ignorances and biases, while also getting to know my fellow directing fellows on a much deeper and richer level than we had previously reached. Moral of the story: check out the website of the Alliance--they're doing really important work.

Eventually, we made it to the Hangar Theatre. Word of advice: if you ever decide to visit the Hangar (and we hope you do, preferably this summer), make sure that you navigate with a GPS. Oh, and make sure you've entered the right address into the GPS. As a backup, you'll probably want to send someone before you to lay down a trail of breadcrumbs. I can't imagine how we could have gotten more lost, more times, or in more ways.

Corey and Lauren in The Wedge.

I'll leave you with a picture of my fellow fellows Corey and Lauren, standing in our beautiful, grungy, flexible, extraordinary, energizing, triangular, tiny, huge, dark, mysterious, one-of-a-kind, indescribable and absolutely perfect space--The Wedge. I fell in love at first sight. After having seen it, we've all retreated to our bedrooms (which look suspiciously like my freshman dorm room...) to re-consider all the plays we brought with us. Tomorrow we're going to (try to) pick our season!!! Wish us luck!

Welcome!

The Drama League's Summer Directing Project is a very competitive program. Each year there are at least eighty applicants. From those that apply under twenty are chosen for an interview, and of those twenty only four directors become Drama League fellows.
This blog is an opportunity for them to share their experiences in their own words.