POY Literary Director Paul Weissman Sweeps Chester Horn Short Play Festival Awards
From the desk of Literary Director, Paul Weissman...
After acting in Theatrerats Annual Chester Horn Short Play Festival last year, I got to direct a piece in this year’s Festival. And I can honestly say, I had a fabulous time. Theatrerats could not have been more accommodating and professional. After five years, they have this thing down pat and I have a packet with handouts and folders to prove it. The fun part is the way that you choose the play: you read the plays, all the directors meet up and draw numbers from a hat, and your order is based on the number you draw. i.e., #1 picks first, #2 picks second all the way down the line. It’s quite fair, because often a play you don’t relate to at all is picked as someone else’s first choice, because they DO relate to it. Practically everyone walks away happy.
I decided to direct “An Actual Baby Person” by Barbara Lindsey. It’s a sweet story about a young, goth married couple. She is about seven months pregnant and worried that he really doesn’t understand what’s in store. It frightens her, so she tries to get him to talk about it. He, of course, is terrified, so he deliberately distracts himself from the idea rather than confront it. By the end of the fifteen minutes, he is head over heels in love with the impending child and she can go to sleep comforted. It was a challenging piece and spoke to me in a special way as my wife is expecting.
So, after reading through the play and getting the idea of the tone and arc, I set up auditions. I put out ads in Craigslist and Actor’s Access and received an overwhelming response from women and a decent response from men. I held one two hour audition with no time for a callback. I called about ten women and five men and used the fabulous Marlise Garde and Morgan White as my readers. From a solid group, I picked Jessica Renee Russell and James Redfern. Both impressed in different ways. Jessica because she instantly connected and was fully involved and James because he took chances AND he took direction.
Our first rehearsal was a read through and a conversation. The most important thing, I felt, was to build a relationship. And that’s what we did. Through deconstructing the script line by line, improv and basic theater games, the two of them discovered a relationship with me overseeing and sometimes commenting or guiding but mostly keeping my mouth shut. I figured the two characters are married and in love. If I got too involved, I’d just be the third wheel.
After a few rehearsals of that, we started blocking. I let them run a few times the way they felt it should look, going off of their instincts, cleaning up for traffic and such. And then I started going in and getting my hands dirty, so to speak. Since this was such an actor’s piece, I really set it up as a collaboration.
They were more than up to the task. Jessica tried a variety of approaches before settling into her character. What is fun to watch with her is that she is emotionally connected and available every single second. Doesn’t matter if the choice works or not. She’s always committed.
James liked to work and talk through things before moving through them. He would chat about an idea while at rehearsal and come in the next time with a fully genius new moment or interpretation of a line.
Really, again, all I had to do was to keep the tone and pace consistent. I can honestly say they did all the rest.
When it came to working with Theatrerats at Medicine Show, well, it was just so much fun. The tech went swimmingly. Alexis, the former goth, approved highly of the costume choices - particularly James’ getup (which was pretty much all his idea).
And my favorite part, just like last year, was meeting so many committed, interesting actors and directors. The show was the best set of plays I’d seen so far, so it made me very happy when my play swept the awards ceremony at the end: Best Overall Production, Best Script, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor.
Again, I want to thank Alexis and Theatrerats for allowing me to flex my creative muscles and Jessica and James for heartbreakingly honest and sweet performances. And a big thank you to my POY home for giving me the confidence to go out there and be all that I can be without actually having to join the army.
After acting in Theatrerats Annual Chester Horn Short Play Festival last year, I got to direct a piece in this year’s Festival. And I can honestly say, I had a fabulous time. Theatrerats could not have been more accommodating and professional. After five years, they have this thing down pat and I have a packet with handouts and folders to prove it. The fun part is the way that you choose the play: you read the plays, all the directors meet up and draw numbers from a hat, and your order is based on the number you draw. i.e., #1 picks first, #2 picks second all the way down the line. It’s quite fair, because often a play you don’t relate to at all is picked as someone else’s first choice, because they DO relate to it. Practically everyone walks away happy.
I decided to direct “An Actual Baby Person” by Barbara Lindsey. It’s a sweet story about a young, goth married couple. She is about seven months pregnant and worried that he really doesn’t understand what’s in store. It frightens her, so she tries to get him to talk about it. He, of course, is terrified, so he deliberately distracts himself from the idea rather than confront it. By the end of the fifteen minutes, he is head over heels in love with the impending child and she can go to sleep comforted. It was a challenging piece and spoke to me in a special way as my wife is expecting.
So, after reading through the play and getting the idea of the tone and arc, I set up auditions. I put out ads in Craigslist and Actor’s Access and received an overwhelming response from women and a decent response from men. I held one two hour audition with no time for a callback. I called about ten women and five men and used the fabulous Marlise Garde and Morgan White as my readers. From a solid group, I picked Jessica Renee Russell and James Redfern. Both impressed in different ways. Jessica because she instantly connected and was fully involved and James because he took chances AND he took direction.
Our first rehearsal was a read through and a conversation. The most important thing, I felt, was to build a relationship. And that’s what we did. Through deconstructing the script line by line, improv and basic theater games, the two of them discovered a relationship with me overseeing and sometimes commenting or guiding but mostly keeping my mouth shut. I figured the two characters are married and in love. If I got too involved, I’d just be the third wheel.
After a few rehearsals of that, we started blocking. I let them run a few times the way they felt it should look, going off of their instincts, cleaning up for traffic and such. And then I started going in and getting my hands dirty, so to speak. Since this was such an actor’s piece, I really set it up as a collaboration.
They were more than up to the task. Jessica tried a variety of approaches before settling into her character. What is fun to watch with her is that she is emotionally connected and available every single second. Doesn’t matter if the choice works or not. She’s always committed.
James liked to work and talk through things before moving through them. He would chat about an idea while at rehearsal and come in the next time with a fully genius new moment or interpretation of a line.
Really, again, all I had to do was to keep the tone and pace consistent. I can honestly say they did all the rest.
When it came to working with Theatrerats at Medicine Show, well, it was just so much fun. The tech went swimmingly. Alexis, the former goth, approved highly of the costume choices - particularly James’ getup (which was pretty much all his idea).
And my favorite part, just like last year, was meeting so many committed, interesting actors and directors. The show was the best set of plays I’d seen so far, so it made me very happy when my play swept the awards ceremony at the end: Best Overall Production, Best Script, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor.
Again, I want to thank Alexis and Theatrerats for allowing me to flex my creative muscles and Jessica and James for heartbreakingly honest and sweet performances. And a big thank you to my POY home for giving me the confidence to go out there and be all that I can be without actually having to join the army.
posted by Sean Rodriguez at
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