Workshop with Simon

09/08/21

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This workshop was super helpful in better understanding the Director’s Notebook. It really helped me to see the role of the creators and directors in a play. The first thing we did was go through the different criteria and what each one needs. This was just an overall look at the rubric and what each section will need to look like. From this I was able to simplify each criterion into a simple definition. Criterion A is mainly research; it is where you learn about the play and its cultural and theoretical contexts. This part is going to have the most sources and the most quotes present. Criterion B is where you present your ideas. I thought of this criterion as more of a brainstorming of ideas, none have to be used but they are just being explored. Criterion C I saw as the part of the Director’s Notebook where choices are made. This is where you take your ideas from B and make a few of them concrete. This criterion requires in depth explanations and needs to include the whys and hows of what you choose. Lastly I saw Criterion D as the most in depth and specific criterion. This is where you choose 2 moments of theater and explain exactly what you would do with the production and performance elements in this section.

I really enjoyed Simon’s ideas and the way he presented us with starters to understand Directorial Explorations. He gave us 4 main ways to explore our intentions with our play. The first was writing a one sentence summary of the play; the purpose of this was to try to sum up the main idea or message of the play into simpler terms to help guide our explorations. The next activity we did was imagining if the play was a plane, who would be flying the plane and if someone else was flying the plane how would that affect the telling of the story. The purpose of this is to understand who has the power in the story, it allowed me to see how the main character impacts the way the story is told. The next activity we did was thinking about the common and usual things people would say about the play we are directing and then reflecting on that and choosing if we want our play to reinforce these 'knowns' or counter them. This activity was difficult for me because I find it hard to expect what people will think after watching the play I chose, which is The Wonderful World of Dissocia. Through this activity I was able to learn how to better think about this play and try to understand what a majority of audiences would take away from the play. The last activity we did was filling in the essence of each main character. This allowed us as directors to think about what we want to lean into for the character and the implications of that. It also made me think more about performance elements instead of just production elements. Overall these exercises helped me to think of my play in many new lights and it taught me that there are many many ways to look at a play and to direct a play. I loved these activities because it really showed me that 100 people could have the same play and each person could direct it completely differently based on their interpretations. That is what makes me very excited to do my Director’s Notebook, because I like people will be able to take away a new meaning from the play than what they initially might have thought about it if they had just read the script.

Another thing we did in this workshop that was super helpful was discussing intention and impact. We talked about how intention creates impact and that they are different but related. Simon guided us into thinking about potential intentions we could have for our Director's Notebooks and how those intentions would affect the impact of the play. He did this by giving us sentence starters, as seen in my notes, such as "This is a story about....", "I want to reveal...", and "I want my audience to think/feel/question....". These allowed me to immediately start questioning myself and trying to get to the root of my play and the main message I wanted to get across to my audience.

Overall this workshop was incredibly helpful. I learned so much about the Director's Notebook and directing in general. I loved being pushed outside of my comfort zone and being forced to think outside of the box. I think that this workshop will greatly impact the way I write my Director's Notebook and I will definitely be looking back on my notes.

These are pictures of my notes from this workshop.