The Director as Collaborator, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3Collaboration in Rehearsal

In ideal production situations, most directors begin to prepare to direct a play months before the production’s first design meetings and auditions. The director’s preparation might include dramaturgical research on the writing of the play, the playwright’s other works, accounts of past productions of the play, comparison of translations, and criticism of the play and its genre, as well as background research on any aspect of the world of the play. The director breaks down the script into rehearsal units and analyzes the action, characters, and dramatic structure. This is commonly thought of as the more intellectual (and some would say less creative) side of directing, yet such research and analysis serves ...