The process for Richard III at Pigeon Creek was unusual because I spent the first three weeks (of a four-week process) directing via Skype. Now that the show is up and I’m done with my bit of it, I wanted to take some time to reflect on how it went, overall, and what I might […]
I knew, going into Richard, that I would have a huge personal connection with the women in this play. “It’s a play about motherhood,” I kept telling people who raised a skeptical eyebrow when they heard the title. I didn’t expect to be so moved by Richard’s sociopathy. I’m completely the opposite of a sociopath, […]
Now that Richard III is rolling around Michigan and I’m home, I’m finding myself explaining to people more or less daily that the show goes on without me. Most people who haven’t done much theater don’t realize that a director is very different from an orchestra conductor. I set the show up and then it […]
Bridgette Redman, of Encore Michigan dropped a fantastic review of Richard III after seeing it at the Dog Story Theater in Grand Rapids. LANSING, Mich.–If you’ve been a faithful follower of Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company, you now know how the War of the Roses starts and ends and are ready for the final Game of Thrones season, […]
My master’s thesis (one of them…) was about using sounds to communicate information about what was happening off-stage. It’s a core component of the “theater of imagination” that we engage with in the Original Practices community. I’m always a little disappointed when I go see a show and I notice that they’ve cut or ignored […]
I took the kids to see Merry Wives at a school matinee performance last week. They were–as usual–fidgety as all get out, but later said that they loved it. Petra’s favorite part was the fairies pinching Falstaff, and Silas said what he liked best was when Falstaff was dressed as the Witch of Brentford and […]
I’m beyond excited about Richard III at Pigeon Creek Shakespeare. It’s such an interesting play, and the actors are doing amazing work. The truth is, though, I didn’t go into it expecting to be so personally moved by it. I’ve seen productions of this play before–five or six of them, probably. I never walked out […]
I wrote this before I went to Michigan, but it didn’t post correctly. If you’re curious how I was feeling about Skype directing after a couple weeks of it, here’s your answer. I’ll post a reflection with a broader view of the process soon. Directing via Skype has been quite a learning experience. The first […]
A couple of years ago, when I was reading Richard III in preparation to write a proposal for directing it at Pigeon Creek Shakespeare, one thing I struggled with was how to help the audience understand the sequence of people standing between Richard and the throne. A lot of people have to die for him […]
Richard III, at Pigeon Creek Shakespeare, started with the idea that all violence is misogyny, and the question, “What if all the curses of the grieving women had real, literal power?” Magical realism Shakespeare! Through exploring those questions, we found how terrible a character could be, and how kind a cast could be. Although I […]