“I love the layout of the book. The To Do and Discuss is priceless.” — Deidra Starnes, Bowie State University
“It is an excellent source for people who are beginning directors with only some experience in theatre. I love the book’s layout and organization—the process is very easy to follow—and the examples are excellent.” — Michael Tennenbaum, Wagner College
"This book is thorough, detailed, concise, and easy to read. Students will benefit from the well-written script analysis section, making something usually complex into a useful tutorial." - Robin Stone, Roger Williams University
“The Director’s Vision is an excellent text for beginning undergraduate directors. Over the years I have tried several texts for my Directing I course and find that this text is informative, student friendly, and extremely practical.” — Michael Ellis-Tolaydo, St. Mary’s College of Maryland
“I love this book. I think it is ideal to use in my stage direction class. It is thorough and gives very practical suggestions to a beginning director. I used two other texts before discovering this one. I am happy that I did.” — Laura Holland, Oral Roberts University
“Every undergraduate and/or graduate student should be required to read these ideas on directorial vision and how to analyze a play. I love this book.” — Paul Bawek, Florida Southern College
“I have used this text for a number of years and view it as the best undergraduate directing text available.” — Donald Bristow, University of Central Oklahoma
“For the past several years, I have used The Director’s Vision as the textbook for my directing class. I believe this is the finest undergraduate directing textbook on the market. Our students really like it because they find it easy to read and very applicable to their level of direction.” —Richard Herman, University of Central Missouri
335 pages, $71.95 list
1-4786-1125-1
978-1-4786-1125-7
© 2016
paperback
eBook availability
The Director's Vision
Play Direction from Analysis to Production
Second Edition
The pursuit of excellence in theatre is well served by the latest edition of this eminently readable text by two directors with wide-ranging experience. In an engaging, conversational manner, the authors deftly combine a focus on artistic vision with a practical, organized methodology that allows beginning and established directors to bring a creative script interpretation to life for an audience.
Outstanding features:
Relevant: Offers a logical progression of topics, featuring an extensive treatment of play analysis as well as concrete strategies for planning production values, auditions and casting, rehearsals, and performances. This thoroughly updated edition draws examples from a variety of contemporary plays by diverse authors.
Comprehensive: Includes such important topics as ethics, leadership strategies, and problem-solving approaches to blocking movement and coaching actors. New material examines the centrality of dramatic action, the importance of flexibility, “open” casting, and blocking with picturization and gesture.
Profusely Illustrated: Captures the emotion, conflict, style, and substance of the theatre with more than 100 new photos and figures, including a dazzling full-color insert. Some of today’s leading directors are shown at work in rehearsals, while ample production photographs demonstrate a wide array of theatrical forms and techniques.
Hands-On and Practical: Challenges readers to think like a director with end-of-chapter exercises that apply chapter concepts to a theatrical production, offering abundant opportunities for collaboration, discussion, and critical thinking. An extensive glossary as well as appendices on royalties, permissions, and publisher-leasing agents are valuable resources.
Outstanding features:
Relevant: Offers a logical progression of topics, featuring an extensive treatment of play analysis as well as concrete strategies for planning production values, auditions and casting, rehearsals, and performances. This thoroughly updated edition draws examples from a variety of contemporary plays by diverse authors.
Comprehensive: Includes such important topics as ethics, leadership strategies, and problem-solving approaches to blocking movement and coaching actors. New material examines the centrality of dramatic action, the importance of flexibility, “open” casting, and blocking with picturization and gesture.
Profusely Illustrated: Captures the emotion, conflict, style, and substance of the theatre with more than 100 new photos and figures, including a dazzling full-color insert. Some of today’s leading directors are shown at work in rehearsals, while ample production photographs demonstrate a wide array of theatrical forms and techniques.
Hands-On and Practical: Challenges readers to think like a director with end-of-chapter exercises that apply chapter concepts to a theatrical production, offering abundant opportunities for collaboration, discussion, and critical thinking. An extensive glossary as well as appendices on royalties, permissions, and publisher-leasing agents are valuable resources.
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Part One: INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS
1. Developing Your Directorial Vision
Three Fundamental Concepts of Theatre / The Unifying Factor: Dramatic Action / Flexibility and Directorial Vision
2. The Role of the Director
Emergence of the Modern Director / The Director's Five Main Functions / The Director's Responsibilities
Part Two: PLAY ANALYSIS AND ITS APPLICATION
3. Introduction to Play Analysis
The Goodbye Girl Syndrome / Valid Interpretation through Play Analysis
4. Plot: How a Play Is Constructed
Plot and Story / Keys to Understanding Plot / Divisions of a Play
5. Character: The People of the Play
Learning about Characters / Character Functions / Character Evolution during the Play
6. Thought: The Idea of the Play
Seeking the Play's Thought: Understanding the Internal Evidence / Seeking the Play's Thought: Researching the External Evidence / Pitfalls to Avoid
7. Diction: The Language of the Play
Emotion / Pronunciations and Definitions / Repetition / Character / Silence / Subtext / Beats and Thought Units / Problems with Diction / Faithfulness to the Playwright's Words
8. Music: The Sounds of a Play
Performers' Voices / Sound Effects / Instrumental Accompaniment and Songs / Musical Effects and the Director
9. Spectacle: The Visual Aspects of Production
Theatre Architecture and Spectacle / Style in Production
Part Three: PREPARING FOR PRODUCTION
10. The Prompt Book
Preparing the Prompt Book / Organizing the Prompt Book
11. Auditions
Pre-Audition Checklist / Priority Considerations / Audition Systems / Assessing Performers' Abilities
12. Casting
Analysis of the Character / Considering the Performer / Other Aspects of Casting
13. Planning the Rehearsal Schedule
Key Considerations / Structuring the Rehearsal Schedule
Part Four: REHEARSING THE PRODUCTION
14. Working with Actors, Part One: Guidelines for Rehearsals
Establishing a Creative Atmosphere / Setting Goals / Providing Leadership and Cultivating Discipline / Promptness / Warm-Ups / Deadlines for Line Memorization / Avoiding the Underrehearsed Production / Avoiding the Overrehearsed Production / Rehearsal Ethos
15. Working with Actors, Part Two: Developing Character
What Motivates Performers / Character Analysis / Internal and External Approaches to Characterization / Imagination
16. The Ground Plan
Developing a Ground Plan / Components of the Ground Plan
17. Blocking the Play, Part One: Principles
The Significance of Movement / Principles Governing Stage Movement / Visual Storytelling through Composition / First Steps in Blocking
18. Blocking the Play, Part Two: Techniques
Blocking Techniques for Focusing Attention / Practical Tips for Blocking / Expect Blocking to Evolve during Rehearsals
19. Rhythm, Tempo, and Pace
Rhythm / Tempo / Pace
20. Working with Actors, Part Three: Problem Solving
Rehearsals Seem Stale / The Actors Lack Conviction / Actions Are Blurred / A Character Seems Emotionless / Long Speeches Lack Clarity and Meaning / A Performer Is Not Conveying the Significance of a Speech / Body Language Contradicts the Meaning of Speeches / Gestures Are Ineffective or Distracting / An Actor Makes a Large Role Small / Performers Are Not Connecting with Each Other / Characters are "Onstage" / The Production Seems Overrehearsed / The Case Seems Indifferent / The Principle of "Benign Neglect" / A Final Note: Successes and Failures
Appendix A: Royalties, Permissions, and Play Publisher–Leasing Agents
Appendix B: Names, Addresses, and Descriptions of Play Publisher–Leasing Agents
Appendix C: Glossary
1. Developing Your Directorial Vision
Three Fundamental Concepts of Theatre / The Unifying Factor: Dramatic Action / Flexibility and Directorial Vision
2. The Role of the Director
Emergence of the Modern Director / The Director's Five Main Functions / The Director's Responsibilities
Part Two: PLAY ANALYSIS AND ITS APPLICATION
3. Introduction to Play Analysis
The Goodbye Girl Syndrome / Valid Interpretation through Play Analysis
4. Plot: How a Play Is Constructed
Plot and Story / Keys to Understanding Plot / Divisions of a Play
5. Character: The People of the Play
Learning about Characters / Character Functions / Character Evolution during the Play
6. Thought: The Idea of the Play
Seeking the Play's Thought: Understanding the Internal Evidence / Seeking the Play's Thought: Researching the External Evidence / Pitfalls to Avoid
7. Diction: The Language of the Play
Emotion / Pronunciations and Definitions / Repetition / Character / Silence / Subtext / Beats and Thought Units / Problems with Diction / Faithfulness to the Playwright's Words
8. Music: The Sounds of a Play
Performers' Voices / Sound Effects / Instrumental Accompaniment and Songs / Musical Effects and the Director
9. Spectacle: The Visual Aspects of Production
Theatre Architecture and Spectacle / Style in Production
Part Three: PREPARING FOR PRODUCTION
10. The Prompt Book
Preparing the Prompt Book / Organizing the Prompt Book
11. Auditions
Pre-Audition Checklist / Priority Considerations / Audition Systems / Assessing Performers' Abilities
12. Casting
Analysis of the Character / Considering the Performer / Other Aspects of Casting
13. Planning the Rehearsal Schedule
Key Considerations / Structuring the Rehearsal Schedule
Part Four: REHEARSING THE PRODUCTION
14. Working with Actors, Part One: Guidelines for Rehearsals
Establishing a Creative Atmosphere / Setting Goals / Providing Leadership and Cultivating Discipline / Promptness / Warm-Ups / Deadlines for Line Memorization / Avoiding the Underrehearsed Production / Avoiding the Overrehearsed Production / Rehearsal Ethos
15. Working with Actors, Part Two: Developing Character
What Motivates Performers / Character Analysis / Internal and External Approaches to Characterization / Imagination
16. The Ground Plan
Developing a Ground Plan / Components of the Ground Plan
17. Blocking the Play, Part One: Principles
The Significance of Movement / Principles Governing Stage Movement / Visual Storytelling through Composition / First Steps in Blocking
18. Blocking the Play, Part Two: Techniques
Blocking Techniques for Focusing Attention / Practical Tips for Blocking / Expect Blocking to Evolve during Rehearsals
19. Rhythm, Tempo, and Pace
Rhythm / Tempo / Pace
20. Working with Actors, Part Three: Problem Solving
Rehearsals Seem Stale / The Actors Lack Conviction / Actions Are Blurred / A Character Seems Emotionless / Long Speeches Lack Clarity and Meaning / A Performer Is Not Conveying the Significance of a Speech / Body Language Contradicts the Meaning of Speeches / Gestures Are Ineffective or Distracting / An Actor Makes a Large Role Small / Performers Are Not Connecting with Each Other / Characters are "Onstage" / The Production Seems Overrehearsed / The Case Seems Indifferent / The Principle of "Benign Neglect" / A Final Note: Successes and Failures
Appendix A: Royalties, Permissions, and Play Publisher–Leasing Agents
Appendix B: Names, Addresses, and Descriptions of Play Publisher–Leasing Agents
Appendix C: Glossary