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As a director, I like works that break the 4th wall and challenge the audience directly - works that are steeped in the oral tradition of story theatre. In most great works, the soliloquy - from Shake-speare to Tennessee Williams - represents that magic moment where the performer addresses the audience, opening his soul, "wearing his heart on his sleeve," as Iago says, and developing that incredible bond between the actor and the audience. And of course, I hopelessly and shamelessly adore the works of Shake-speare. We've produced most of them and intend to work through the rest of the thirty-eight play canon (and counting) in the next 10 years.
Why did you start producing the New Play Series followed by GroveMont?
I think I was driven by a tremendous need in my artistic life for this outlet that wasn't being met. I also felt that there was a huge gap in the dramatic offerings in our area - a gap that affected actors and audiences alike. For performers, it was simply impossible to make a full-time living in the theatre, so some of the finest actors around were, for the most part, just letting their talents go to waste. For audiences, I felt they were missing out on so much....especially Shake-speare and the classics, and the new award-winning dramas and comedies that were taking the rest of the theatre world by storm. Admittedly, both these genres take a greater effort to attract audiences, but they represent so much more than the commercially-driven choices of standard musicals and 20th century chestnut comedies. Quite frankly, that is the easy road and most of our area theatres seemed wary to veer from it.
I also felt it was time that the Monterey Peninsula could support a small professional theatre company. There were many ill-fated attempts over the years, and there was great resistance (and paranoia) from many of the local theatre practitioners to believe that anyone could establish one. So when I announced that I was starting a theatre company and that we eventually wanted to become a professional regional theater company with the lofty goals of becoming the Ashland of the Central Coast...well, a lot of these... theatre cynics... were saying behind the scenes "It will never happen....we've seen this before." Also some thought I just wanted to star in all my own shows, which simply didn't happen. Don't get me wrong - I thought of myself as an actor first and took supporting roles whenever I could - but because of the tremendous work involved in those early days, it was several years before I took on a major role, and it was five years before I began directing, a task I never really envisioned for myself.
How do you describe your process of becoming a director?
For the first five years - years when I was essentially an actor-manager in the old sense of the word, I had the honor of being an apprentice to every director I hired. And I was hiring the most creative directors around - Nick and Roz Zanides, Sid Cato, John Rousseau, to name just a few. As the general manager of the company, I took part in all the key decisions - from developing the season to assembling the creative team, then pretty much producing everything to make it happen. And I got to see everyone work from scratch. As such, and looking back, I think it was the best directors' apprenticeship I could have ever had!
I chose A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM as my first work and have come back to it several times since. I guess I got to unleash all my pent-up ideas and training and concepts on how to make Shake-speare accessible and fun and not a museum piece. I enjoyed it tremendously, the audience and actor response was extremely gratifying, and from then on I was hooked. Since then, I've directed forty-five productions, twenty-one of them by Shake-speare.
What are some of the rewards of directing for you - and some highlights?
There are so many rewards! I love seeing the audience make an emotional response - laughter, tears, their audible responses, and of course, an enthusiastic applause. It's also ery exciting to see an actor hook into a role, and being part of that process. And I really enjoy the art of casting, searching out new talent, putting together the creative team. And of course, the opportunity to elicit change in people, and in society - that's the true power of theatre.
I try to treat each show as a highlight of some sort, so it's hard to choose favorites. MIDSUMMER is probably my signature piece, and our version has developed over the years into something I'm quite proud of. It's high comedy, visually oriented, full of laughter and love and magic. It's a production we talk about touring, and something I dream about is to take our flying version on a national tour all the way to Broadway!
 The Highlander Version |
Another highlight would probably be HENRY IV, Part 1 - what I call my "Highlander version." Set on a giant revolve, the time jumps between the 1500s and the present. The Falstaff scenes are set in the past and the court scenes are played modern and the battle scenes alternate between the two. The audience response was fabulous, and the students really stayed engaged. I just love seeing students in the theatre getting off on Shake-speare - talk about rewarding. We're bringing the concept back this year, and I'm very excited to have the opportunity to apply it to all three installments of Royal Blood - HENRY IV, Parts 1 and 2, and HENRY V.
 HENRY IV Part 1The Highlander Version |
JULIUS CAESAR in the Memory Garden was also very special. The setting is so stunning - Romanesque arches, the statued fountain and those four magnificent trees. I got to experiment with the audience being onstage with the actors, being addressed directly, eye to eye, by Antony and Brutus, with other actors seated right next to them yelling out these responses. It was wild.
More recently, and outside the Shake-speare works, I am probably most proud of AMADEUS and WEST SIDE STORY. Both were big productions with tons of production values. AMADEUS was again on a giant revolve, and proved to be a groundbreaking production for us - one of the first to attract actors and audiences from the Bay area and beyond. And WEST SIDE was just the best of all worlds for me - a story by Shake-speare, music by Bernstein and words by Sondheim - and I couldn't have hoped for a more talented artistic team. When have you felt really good about your acting? When I performed in rep, playing Brick in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and Uncle Peck in HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE. It was quite a challenge - these were two deeply troubled individuals, each with their tragic flaw - and competing accents - I felt I crossed a number of thresholds as an actor. I'm also very proud of Merrick in THE ELEPHANT MAN, which I'll be returning to for my third time this summer. He is such an innocent, with so many hidden talents and emotions. And I get the opportunity to drastically change my voice and my posture. It's a major workout. I've had a lot of fun with Shake-speare over the years, and of those I would say that CORIOLANUS was the most interesting and challenging role. And of course, there was SHIMMER, my one-man show. That was huge! A ninety minute monologue portraying multiple characters with no set, no props, no sound, basically just a few light cues and me. You lay yourself bare with nothing to rely on but your background, your training, and your own intuition. But in the end, it was well worth it. I look forward to performing it again, someday.
Do you have any special goals for the theatre?
My main goal presently is to stay on track and true to our mission. It's easy for all of us to get pulled in too many directions, take on too much. There are so many plays we want to produce, projects we envision, that we have to be careful of overstepping our bounds - both personally and as an arts institution. Eventually, we want to refurbish the stage-house at the Golden Bough. During the rebuild, I'd like to see us embark on a touring season, but that is several years off. I'd like to develop our own holiday production and get more kids and families into the theatre. I'd also like to see SoDA develop into more of an apprentice or professional intern program. Other goals....to keep gossip and innuendo away from me and the company; to live with the critics; and to keep everyone on their toes - actors and audience alike.
How could theatre be improved here on the Peninsula - changes you would like to see in our theatre community? I think there is an overabundance of destructive gossip and rumor-mongering in the local theatre community. If you believe everything you hear then you set yourself up for a lot of heartache and pain and useless expenditures of energy. There is this unhealthy feeling of "competition" between some of the theatre groups, and it generates a certain amount of negative game-playing. There are also producers and teachers that actively discourage their actors and students from participating at theatres other than their own. I think it's shameful. It's important for artists to work with as many different theatres and directors as possible - it's a vital part of the creative growth process.
Having said that, I want to be very clear about another common problem facing our theatre community - actors and technicians have to be extra careful about committing to too many projects at one time. I won't encourage people to take on multiple projects that overlap and overextend their abilities. That situation ultimately takes it's toll on the performance - whether onstage or off. And, quite frankly, people who run themselves ragged because they over- commit have no right to complain about having to work too hard. That's not really fair, is it?
So to reiterate: I think people should get out and work in as many locations as possible, but they need to do it one project at a time. Ultimately, it makes for a better production, and that's got to be our aim. That's why I take a hard look at a person's schedule before the casting process is complete. If people are over-committed, they won't get cast.
Any final comments or suggestions?
There are a lot of hard feelings at casting time because people don't get the parts they want; they think it's personal. This is where the gossip and innuendo comes in, "Oh I didn't get the part because they don't like me....." Actors need to take responsibility for their own abilities, and if they're continually facing casting issues, then perhaps they need to look into additional training, whether it's movement, diction, projection or special skills such as combat or dance. There needs to be more of an attitude among actors, actresses, and students on the Peninsula to seek continuing dramatic education, especially in special skills. We've a lot of training for young kids through high school ages; we don't have nearly the offerings for adults. But even when someone does offer an adult class, there isn't a lot of turnout, and that is such a waste. I've seen actors at every level make tremendous leaps and bounds simply by taking a few classes and honing their skills. It's worth it!