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.