DIRECTOR
A script doesn’t have to be Shakespeare to entertain and educate, provoke discussion or prompt action. In the projects I’ve directed I saw the value of the words, I asked for received genuine collaboration. Abdication! by Naya Sonad, is a large cast, dystopian, multimedia, triptych, that had the audience doing Bollywood dancing in the aisles (unprompted) and lingering for the talk back for an hour. Banana Brains by Em German was written as a one-woman comedy. I (with the playwright’s permission) cast three actors: a man to ask the questions and two women to alternate performances, which gave each of them the opportunity to deliver completely different interpretations. It also put butts in seats; quite a few audience members returned to see the other actress perform. Conference At Evian by Leon Weintraub gave a glimpse on the failed eponymous conference called by Franklin Roosevelt in 1938. By casting four superb actors to cover more than a dozen characters, using recorded dialogue, and music and projections designed specifically for the Austrian Embassy, the performance garnered interest to move it to the next step: adaptation to a feature film.
We’re all in this boat together. Let’s have some fun keeping it afloat.
The Trip, by Crystal V. Rhodes
“One could say fifty percent of good directing is good casting and Paretzky assembled an entertaining crew.”
Nancy Blum, MD Theatre Guide
Yvonne Paretzky has assembled a crack cast, and directed them to a briskly-paced evening of entertainment.
Andrew White, Broadway World
“One of the most refreshing things about this production is that it is written, directed, designed, acted, and crewed almost entirely by women.
...to claim outright that you intend to make...audiences laugh is a high bar….The Trip...directed by Yvonne Paretzky, shows why Best Medicine Rep, in their sixth season, is clearing that bar.”
Jennifer Georgia, DC Theater Arts
Conference at Evian, by Leon Weintraub
Just a few months after the March 1938 German Anschluss, or annexation of Austria, over 30 32 nations met July 6-15 in Evian, France, to discuss the urgent issue of dealing with the large number of Jews, particularly from Austria, who were desperately seeking to emigrate.
Conference at Evian was a presentation of the Austrian Cultural Forum as a multimedia/multilingual staged reading by four men portraying more than a dozen delegates from 31 countries. Each of them gave their time, talent, and enthusiasm to a difficult and sensitive script.
Bringing this bit of history to light in a way that kept the audience engaged, entertained, and educated was one of the most meaningful and satisfying things I’ve done as an artist.
Abdication!, by Naya James Sonnad
A dystopian triptych about how technology can control our lives and, maybe, what we can do about it.
“The production directed by Yvonne Paretzky, makes good use of simple props and staging to suggest near-future settings. … good sound (and) (v)ideos are used to especially good effect….If there is anything to criticize about the production, it is its length…clocking in at 90 minutes, this reviewer found himself wishing that the production were actually longer…”
John Bozeman, MD Theatre Guide
“Premiering in New York in 2019, Abdication!’s run, like so many others, was cut short by COVID. It was not until now, when Silver Spring Stage reached out to the theater world for new stories to tell, that Director Yvonne Paretzky was able t...revive the show in the D.C. region. And revivify it she has, making excellent use of the Stage’s unique diamond space and capably corralling a very large cast, multiple scenes, and multimedia elements.”
Jennifer Georgia, DC Theater Arts