Director’s Workshop
For emerging director/stage manager teams and theatre-makers who want practical experience developing a concept, analyzing a script, organizing a production, communicating with actors, and leading a rehearsal process. Participants will move from research and text analysis through casting, rehearsal, and final presentation with live actors.
Format: Eight weeks, meeting once weekly for three hours
Enrollment: Limited to six director/stage manager teams
Week 1: Purpose, Concept, and Casting
Directors develop:
A one-sentence production thesis
A statement of purpose
Initial visual and tonal references
A selected scene or sequence
Casting breakdowns and audition sides
Stage managers learn:
How to support the casting process
Audition-room organization and communication
Tracking actors, conflicts, and availability
Preparing audition and callback materials
Establishing the paperwork and communication systems for the production
The workshop scenes are cast during class.
Week 2: Reading Like a Director
Practical script analysis focused on:
Objectives, obstacles, and playable actions
Beats, shifts, discoveries, and reversals
Status, relationships, and subtext
The central event and dramatic question
Turning analysis into rehearsal decisions
Stage managers learn:
How to read a script from a production and rehearsal perspective
Identifying entrances, exits, props, transitions, and logistical needs
Creating an initial scene breakdown
Preparing the script for rehearsal documentation
Supporting table work without interrupting the artistic process
The teams conduct a first read and table work, with minimal exploratory staging.
Week 3: Building a Production
Director/stage manager teams learn how to turn an artistic idea into a viable production plan, including:
Hiring a creative team
Choosing collaborators
Communicating with designers
Budgeting
Rehearsal scheduling
Venue and technical needs
Preparing a proposal or pitch
Balancing ambition with available resources
Stage managers focus particularly on:
Building a production calendar
Scheduling rehearsals efficiently
Gathering conflicts and availability
Creating contact sheets and distribution systems
Anticipating logistical and technical needs
Coordinating information between departments
The teams begin staging their scenes.
Week 4: Running the Rehearsal Room
This class addresses:
Giving playable notes
Asking useful questions
Managing time and expectations
Establishing authority without shutting down collaboration
Handling lateness, resistance, confusion, and conflict
Giving criticism clearly and respectfully
Making decisions under pressure
Stage managers learn:
How to run the room alongside the director
Starting and ending rehearsals efficiently
Keeping the company informed and on schedule
Recording blocking and changes accurately
Writing useful rehearsal reports
Managing breaks, conflicts, and practical problems without derailing rehearsal
Understanding the division of responsibility between director and stage manager
Each team leads a substantial rehearsal and receives feedback on leadership, communication, organization, and use of time.
Week 5: Behavior and Relationships
Directors work on relationships, stakes, objectives, physical behavior, listening, and specificity.
Stage managers work on:
Tracking evolving blocking and staging
Maintaining accurate rehearsal notes
Identifying inconsistencies between rehearsals
Supporting continuity as the work becomes more detailed
Knowing when to intervene, clarify, or allow the director and actors to work
Teams present work during class and receive critique.
Week 6: Shape, Rhythm, and Visual Storytelling
Directors work on tempo, rhythm, transitions, focus, escalation, use of space, and visual composition.
Stage managers learn:
How to track transitions and scene shifts
How rhythm and pacing affect technical execution
Preparing cue sequences and transition notes
Anticipating backstage traffic, prop movement, and practical complications
Communicating clearly about changes that affect the larger production
Teams run their scenes, diagnose weaknesses, and revise.
Week 7: Problem-Solving Under Pressure
Teams address the production’s most significant remaining problems, including unclear relationships, weak stakes, unmotivated blocking, technical limitations, scheduling issues, or material that must be simplified.
Stage managers focus on:
Triaging problems during late rehearsals
Separating urgent issues from nonessential ones
Communicating changes quickly and accurately
Managing limited rehearsal time
Tracking unresolved production needs
Helping the director make the room more efficient without taking over the artistic process
The class includes a full run and notes, with emphasis on prioritizing the most useful adjustments.
Week 8: Final Presentation
The teams complete a final rehearsal followed by an invited presentation of each scene or sequence.
The final work should demonstrate the team’s ability to:
Make and support a coherent interpretive choice
Communicate that choice to actors
Use limited rehearsal time effectively
Create clear dramatic action
Maintain an organized and productive rehearsal process
Solve practical problems
Adjust when the original plan changes
Work together as an effective director/stage manager partnership
Final Production Book
Each team leaves with a practical production book containing:
Production thesis and statement of purpose
Concept materials
Script and beat analysis
Character objectives
Casting materials and rationale
Creative-team plan
Preliminary budget
Rehearsal calendar
Ground plan and blocking notes
Rehearsal plans
Rehearsal reports
Contact and scheduling materials
Production proposal
Final postmortem
The next session will begin September 2026.
Contact Angela to ask how your community theater can find grant money to sponsor a director in our course.