Last month I began tech rehearsals for a student production of The Tempest at The Stella Adler Studio by reminding the cast how many of our production's ideas came from them. I was surprised when one of the actors asked if I always worked this way. I had to think, partly because working the way I do had become so normal that I didn't think of it as unusual. And I said yes, that I do always work this way.
That event reminded me of what I had said to the cast of Rocco, Chelsea, Adriana, Sean, Claudia, Gianna, Alex, the devised show The Private Theatre produced last Spring at HERE. I reminded them that everything in that show was a function of collaboration. The central idea of the show, the stories we were telling and combining, the theatrical devices we were utilizing to tell these stories - everything emerged through a collaboration between the participants in the development of the show.
Some months ago I had a retreat with a dramaturg, two actors, artistic director, director and designer about the prospect of developing a new version of a Shakespeare play. The conversations led to a radical revision of the play, three major characters cut, and a new perspective on many other characters. By the end of the weekend we read our newly edited version of the play with great excitement, born, I believe, from the thrill of an organized and focused collaboration. I don't think I stretch reality to say that for all, the weekend was ecstasy!
Collaboration is central to The Private Theatre's mission statement and is increasingly becoming more important to me and how I want to work. The Private Theatre was recently approached about the possibility of developing a new Chekov project. In discussions, we determined to start with a conversation between designers, actors, dramaturg, director and translator before he even composes a version of the play. Even the writing would be a function of collaboration. That is radical.
I like this trend. The first play I directed with LAByrinth in 1999, when I was just starting to direct, was a devised piece called Dreaming in Tongues. The actors created their stories, chose their language (of which there were thirteen) and collectively created a world of gesture and movement. Like I said to the cast of Rocco, Chelsea... I told the Dreaming in Tongues cast they had created everything that was about to appear on stage. We were all moved at that moment, none more than I.
We've had two workshops of A Doll House scripted by Royston Coppenger who will do the Chekov I discussed earlier. The last workshop we did at The Marble House Project in Dorset, Vermont, and it was one of the most exquisite collaborations I've ever had. This will be The Private Theatre's next show. I am convinced that this show will be better for our having learned better how to collaborate. And I am equally convinced that our future shows will continue our progress in how to collaborate better and more deeply.
This corresponds with a time when The Private Theatre is wrestling with our structure, procedures and operational methods. Our conversations about this are also a function of our ability to collaborate but in a different way and to a different purpose. I hope the virtues of who we are and how we operate will see us through to the next stage, but I also know nothing can be taken for granted. But I adore my partners in this company, believe that affection is mutual and that with our dedication to collaboration, we will see ourselves off to the next stage of our struggle, which, no doubt, one of us will write about in a few years...