Cabaret Post Paper Work

8/12/2019 Cabaret Post Paper Work

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/cabaret-post-paper-work 1/21

whyshouldiwakeupthisdreamisgoing

owellwhyshouldiwakeupthisdreamis

oingsowellwhyshouldiwakeupthisdre

misgoingsowellwhyshouldiwakeupth

dreamisgoingsowellwhyshouldiwak

upthisdreamisgoingsowellwhyshould

wakeupthisdreamisgoingsowellwhys

ouldiwakeupthisdreamisgoingsowell

hyshouldiwakeupthisdreamisgoingso

wellwhyshouldiwakeupthisdreamisgngsowellwhyshouldiwakeupthisdrea

sgoingsowellwhyshouldiwakeupthis

eamisgoingsowellwhyshouldiwakeuhisdreamisgoingsowellwhyshouldiw

keupthisdreamisgoingsowellwhyshou

diwakeupthisdreamisgoingsowellwh

Waking Up: The Morning After

M.F.A. Thesis Project Post Production Response

to CabaretPerformed at Western Illinois University

11/10-11/13

11/22/2010

Directed/Written by:Craig A. Fisher



Fisher, Post Production Paperwork, Cabaret

2

Cabaret Post-Production Paperwork

This paper is a response to the directorial work that was completed on a production of

Cabaret at Western Illinois University performed November 10th- 13th. I feel as though the

production was ultimately a success, there were some stressful, and high anxiety moments involvedbut ultimately I feel as though I learned so much about myself as a director, how to communicate

with actors, and how to speak a concept to an audience. I feel as though I have learned something

invaluable during this process, and because of that fact I can whole heartedly call it a success. This

paper will look at the pre-production paperwork and offer a point by point response to the initial

ideas, and how they ultimately worked in production. The paper will also offer a response to the

work of the actors, designers, and management, as well my own directorial process. As well a

response I will also include excerpts from my production journal in order to illustrate points and to

support ideas.

Response to Basic Interpretation:

As I discovered when working on the pre production paperwork for this production I found

that the spine or core of the works of Kander and Ebb with Cabaret being at the center, were

intensely about survival, and how one must work to survive in the world that they have created.

This was a central point in the table work process and ultimately in character work as well with the

actors and on the page. It became very apparent throughout the process that in order to

communicate this idea more fully we would have to establish early on how these people were

trying to survive and what their modes of survival were. Fraulein Schneider was the easiest

character to approach from this angle, as her super objective was to survive, and her modes of

survival were very clear. This was a topic and an idea that the actress, Nicole Farmerie, also picked

up on very early and was clearly able to communicate.

The hardest part about making this clear, was working with Sally and Cliff to get them to

truly understand what their modes of survival were, the actors were competent, but it was a

challenge to get them to accept how survival played into their super objectives and their character

choices. Ultimately, Mary-Margaret was able to latch onto that idea, however it did come rather late

in the game because of my lack of clear direction in the beginning. I feel as though this idea was

successfully communicated by a majority of the cast, and had I asked people after the fact what they

thought the play was about I feel confident enough to know that they would have responded with

survival, in fact in my THEA 101 class we discussed the basic theme/idea of the play and many of

the students said survival.

I feel as though I understood this play in a way that became very easy to communicate withthe actors and team in a clear enough fashion as to help them understand it as well. The pre

production paperwork of course helped with this, but I also think I was clearly attached to the

world of this play and in being that way, I was certainly able to communicate in a concise and clear

way. The interpretation process was a relatively easy one because the script and the music are

written so well that it’s not tough to really figure out. There are clearly some hang-ups when trying




3

to stuff anything into an analytical model, but this piece works very well and is easy to understand

in that way.

JOURNAL ENTRY: (10/5)

“Tonight was very much a giant step forward in the process. I know that it’s only the

second evening of rehearsal, but the table work went so well, that I think we could

ultimately eliminate out the other scheduled times and just focus on the rest when we need

to, and when we make new discoveries. Everyone came in with a really solid understanding

of character and of objective. I gave a lot of background on the play and historical

information as well, and that really seemed to resonate. I also discussed the style and the

influence of German expressionism, this seemed to resonate although I don’t know if I really

tackled how to make sure that comes out in the performance style.”

Response to Genre & Style:

I had a lot of trouble initially communicating what the style of the piece was in my

paperwork; I mentioned that it was a meld much like the play is on the page, of two different styles.

I was worried about how to truly communicate this on stage, and to the design team and still

manage to have a cohesive show, because if it doesn’t work things seem to scattered and too

disjointed for an audience.

I expressed that the style of the play would have to be a mixture of expressionism and

realism, to truly make as clear as possible what the play was trying to communicate. I feel as though

this ended up being very successful. While at the same time I know there were things that could

have been pushed harder, or been made more clear. What surprised me was how much of the

Brechtian epic theatre techniques came into play. I discussed the influence on the writing and the

style of the piece, but I never fully intended to employ them as heavily as we ended up doing. This is

partially what I think made the show a success because I had an actor who understood those

techniques. He was truly able to embrace them as a part of his performance and transform himself

into this Brechtian voice that haunted much of the play.

With expressionism stated as a jumping off point for style, I knew initially that there would

be some difficulty in truly communicating this as an expressionistic piece of theatre, because the

style doesn’t suit the entirety of the play. The elements we used I felt were successful. In a

discussion with David Patrick, our scene designer, we very clearly stated that everything we see

needs to be through Cliff’s eyes that we are seeing the world as he sees it, and how it was for him.This meant that every piece of furniture and every costume and prop had to be touched with Cliff’s

vision of what he remembered as we were looking through his eyes at what had happened to him.

This was successful and not successful at the same time, because I felt that when we talked about

the furniture that was too be used, it became clear throughout the process that I put too much stuff

in Cliff’s room, it not only made scene changes longer, but it cluttered the space. If we were to go

truly expressionistic with it, it would have been what are the essential pieces that Cliff remembers,




4

what are the pieces that defined this space for him, but it became these are the pieces that the script

dictates, and that might have been a pitfall on our part. Ultimately the pieces should have been a

desk and typewriter and a chair, and maybe a bed. Those were the things that Cliff did in that room,

he wrote and slept, and the actors could have imbued the space with their own sense of clutter and

ownership.


“I met with DP today to discuss furniture, and what not, I let him know the essential

pieces we needed, but the more I think about our conversation the more I wonder if I

should have talked more about expressionism to help define that. Because if we are seeing

the world through Cliff’s eyes, then perhaps the furniture should only be the bare essentials,

but after we blocked things tonight and used some furniture stand in’s I realized that I

think it needs all that stuff. I can’t decide if I should really pare down, or keep what we

have.”

I also felt as though I may not have communicated the expressionistic ideas to the costume

designer as well as I could have. While I felt very positive about the work that was done on the

costume end I know that it didn’t all fit into that mold and that blame falls totally on me for not

communicating it as clearly as I could have. There were certain elements that I do feel did work in

the costumes as expressionistic tools, Sally was predominately in red the entire time, and as she

became more domesticated and less who she truly was the red’s become dulled down into more

texture. When she was in the club she was stripped down to almost her bare essentials and was

black, this symbolized so much for the character and for her journey, and that’s an element that I

felt was really successful.Ultimately, in communicating style to an audience its difficult when you have an

amalgamation of styles, but I feel as though most every element was cohesive enough to help

communicate a solid stylistic choice. There was a unity between the design elements that truly

helped that. I think I could have communicated more to the actors about how to truly incorporate

this into their acting style as well. While I know that there were certain choices that were made

that may have seemed stylistically off kilter or out of whack with everything else, I know that

overall most of the elements helped communicate this successfully.

Response to the Influence of German Expressionistic Cabaret

This is an element that I feel I was truly successful at understanding and ultimatelycommunicating to the actor and directorial team. Initially I had written in my paperwork that the

club numbers specifically would be heavily influenced by the German Expressionist Cabarets of the

time period, which were political hot beds, and satirical beyond belief, until the Third Reich truly

came to power and began to shut these places down, or forced them to change their set lists. This is

a part of the process that I feel really outstanding about, because as a group the Kit Kat Klub boys

and girls were truly able to understand what this meant in terms of their performances and more




5

than anything, Andrew (The Emcee), also really grabbed a hold of this idea and helped flesh it out to

make it as clear as possible.

The reason I feel as though it was as successful as it was is because we had a natural

progression through the club numbers. They started off very smooth and inviting and welcoming,

and slowly became more and more political until it was very clear that the Emcee was pushing his

own political agenda on the audience. The numbers themselves became more and more heavilysatirical and poked fun at the politics of the Third Reich. Andrew’s jokes that helped mask

transitions also did the same thing, and even they became less funny and more pointed throughout.

The beginning of this transition is ‘Tomorrow Belongs to Me’ which is our first indication of the

Emcee’s political thoughts, and while he is still having fun with it, its also making a very big

statement as well, and the numbers in the club from that point on begin to take a much darker and

political route.

In storyboarding the play beforehand and giving that to the creative team was very helpful

in making sure that this was heavily communicated. Specifically referring to Heidi and the process

of choreography, I think that the storyboards helped her understand the overall vision and journey

of the show so she could shape it through dance as well. This also allowed me to be absent fromthose initial dance rehearsals in order to block the show so that we could get as much done as

possible, and still have faith and know that the dances would communicate the ideas that we

wanted to communicate with the entire production.

Response to Theme:

I feel very strongly that I had a very good grasp on the theme of the piece from a very early

point and was truly able to communicate that to the design team and the actors. I know that often

times we come up with theme statements as directors and just hope that an audience will truly

understand what the piece is about. Cabaret as a script kind of did that for me. I feel as though the

theme is so clearly written into the bones of the script that it would be very difficult to miss.

However, I do feel as though everyone on the team had a good grasp of what this play was trying to

say to an audience and was able to help communicate through all facets of the production.

In looking at the final poster design, I feel very confident that it communicates volumes

about the theme of the play just in looking at it. It’s a solid, bold statement that says to anyone who

passes it by, that someone is trying to pay attention but something is covering their eyes. I feel as

much of the design elements that could communicated this idea as well to the audience. The giant

swastikas that flew in not only helped indicate the pressures that were beginning to press down on

these people, but also as a disturbingly huge reminder of what was going on around the characters,

and even still many of them were unable to simply open their eyes, look up and see them. It also

made it very clear to the audience what was happening.Overall I feel as though the theme was communicated very strongly in this production, and

in fact became the basis of our work in the process, predominately with the actors and it became

very easy for them to understand how to communicate that to an audience as well. The only

negative thing I will say about our work with theme, is that it could have been stronger. While yes,

it was there, and it was clear, I feel as though I could have been more heavy handed with the cast

and really made the theme crystal clear.




6


“Tonight was rough. We blocked the finale, and it didn’t work. I can’t figure out in my

head how to adjust it to make it work. Ray told me this idea about having the Emcee step

over the bodies of the fallen as he works his way to the end. I got to the end of blocking thefinale, and I realized I totally forgot about that. I don’t feel like I can go back and change

that up on them. I am also worried that there isn’t a clear understanding of what it’s

trying to say. Barb stopped me tonight and asked me what the point of this was, and why

they were doing what they were doing. I got flustered, and I couldn’t speak for a minute,

as usual when I am put on the spot. I told her that this is a flash forward in time, this is

Cliff imagining the devastation that he has probably left behind. I think that helped them,

but I also know that the idea of Cliff watching this unfold in his mind may not be clear yet,

and perhaps lighting will help that, but I feel kind of lost right now about this. I think its

pretty chilling, but only because I know what I am trying to say. I hope it communicates to

people in the same way it does to me.”

Response to Anticipated Problems/Soultions:

“One problem that we can foresee happening is confusion for the audience with the two

worlds of this play. The concept musical and the book musical exist in two seemingly

different worlds. “

This problem was perhaps one of the biggest in beginning the process. How we were going

to successfully merge the two worlds that were inherent in the script. I feel as though although I

was initially concerned with how to do it, the problems were solved pretty instantly. The costume

designer came up with an idea to distinguish two worlds using solids and textures which from a

strictly design point seemed to work out very well. Lighting was going to be the major thing that set

us apart and I feel it did that, and it also allowed the Emcee to really bridge the two worlds and

comment in the way we wanted him to. The scenic elements allowed for smooth transitions and for

the worlds to co-exist pretty seamlessly. I also felt that the two worlds lived inside each other pretty

easily and we could shift in and out of them with a smooth ease.

“Another big issue comes from a clear analytical standpoint. There tends to be confusion on

the protagonist and antagonist of this piece, and there must be a clear decision made, or

else the audience will be left wondering whose story they just watched.”

This issue was solved almost immediately, in working with the actor and tweaking the

beginning in order to bookend the show in a way that we knew and understood we were watching




7

the story that Cliff had created, this helped the audience (I believe) to really solidify in their minds

who the protagonist was. While the performance may not have ultimately been as solid as I would

have wished, I do think the actor was able to understand his role as protagonist and how the story

was seen predominantly through his eyes, and how he had to help us understand that. T.J. has a

charm and an ease about him as a person that really was easy for him to communicate through Cliff,

which also makes him charming and interesting to watch, and this also would help focus theaudience into the fact that it was his story we were telling.

Another potential problem is casting.

I will admit that I was concerned when we started auditions, there weren’t clear

frontrunners in my mind, and I had a hard time picturing certain people in roles and other people

didn’t live up to the expectations that I placed on them in callbacks and that was hard to kind of

cope with. All that being said however, I would never regret any casting decision that was made, the

people were picked because at the time they showed me something that worked for the production,

and everyone worked so hard to get it right that I wouldn’t have changed a thing. There were someissues about how I dealt with that in rehearsal that I will respond to later on when talking about the

characters and a response to the work of the actors. I was pushed to make tough decisions in the

casting process, and I made gambles on people I wasn’t 100% sure about, but it all paid off in a

really solid learning experience for myself and for the rest of the cast and crew.


“Tonight was our first rehearsal. I am excited to get started, and I have to admit that I

was a little nervous going in. There are some people who I know can knock it out of the

park, but there are a few others who I am concerned about. We were also missing a few

people, and it’s imperative that we build a community, a family, a unit because we have to

work so closely together for the next six weeks that I hope we can truly all come together,

and that everyone gives 100%”

Response to Character:

In this section I will respond to the work that was done with each actor portraying the

various characters, what expectations I had of them, what was accomplished and what wasn’t. This

will also be a place I will share journal entries from the rehearsal process. I will respond not only to

the character work that I came into the process with but also that of the actor and the decisions that

were ultimately made as a group.

As I mentioned above, casting made me nervous at first. I knew I had cast a good mixture of

graduate and undergraduate actors, and people who were at varying levels of development as

actors, and I fully accepted that. My biggest critique of myself is something that I’ve done before and

wasn’t able to abandon in this process. I devoted a lot of my attention to the one character I thought




8

was struggling the most or who needed the most work, and I ignored others and trusted them at

their acting levels to do their best work, and it wasn’t until it was brought to my attention that they

were merely sliding by that I began to see the huge mistake I had made. I had turned my focus away

from them and they in turn got frustrated. This was a huge mistake on my part and led to some of

the main stress that came with this project. I couldn’t see their st ruggling for all the work and focus

I was giving one actor. I felt that I attempted to rectify it, but it was almost too late, and I thankheaven that the actors in those roles are resilient and talented enough that despite the fact that our

main push of work came pretty late in the process that they were still able to turn out a fantastic

performance.

Clifford Bradshaw as played by T.J. Ellis:

I have told many people this in the course of the days following the show closing. I believe I

learned more in this process from working with T.J. than I did from many of the other parts of the

process. He is a very green actor, who has rarely had his time on the mainstage or in many

productions at all for that matter. He has a gorgeous voice and I was convinced that he would be aproject but that he was worth it, and the people who told me that were right. I knew that I would

have my work cut out for me in working with him, but I prepared myself beforehand with a bag of

tricks to use to help him meet all of the expectations that myself and others around him were

placing on him. I wasn’t prepared enough, I tried to learn very early on what his learning style was,

and how I could adapt to truly help him through the process. He came in with a million fantastic

ideas, and our character work actually gelled a lot at the beginning, and he was on board with my

choices and I was on board with his.

T.J.’s main issue is that he has an emotional block up personally, and that was creating a

difficulty in him connecting with other characters on stage and getting past just a simple superficial

performance. This took much of the time to break that down and figure out where he needed to go.

He was frustrated with me through the process because I wasn’t easy on him, and I tried many

different tactics to help guide him in the right direction. I was frustrated for a long while in the

rehearsal process, and was even hearing things out side of rehearsals from other actors about their

frustrations with him. It made me angry and embarrassed that this was happening, because I knew

the potential he had, and I knew we just had to crack through the emotional walls he had built up.

We had a couple of break-throughs in rehearsal where we had nights of real, honest

connection on stage. The trouble was that we would get to that place and then the next night take a

few steps back and have to work even harder to get back where we had just been. This was a

dominant aspect of our later rehearsal work, and it was figuring out how to maintain the

momentum that we had built that was tricky. I think ultimately he got it, and it took me telling him

to stop acting, and to stop worrying about creating all the facades that he was making, and to just behimself, real, and vulnerable, and once he was finally able to do that we finally made it to where we

needed to be.

I learned more from him simply because I have never had to try so many different tactics

with an actor before. He and I not only formed a very close bond through the process, but really got

to know one another well, and he pushed me to find new way of communicating and new ideas to

help actors who are struggling. He taught me patience and understanding where I normally have




9

very little. He also taught me how I can easily confuse actors with directorspeak, and how some

actors really don’t respond to that. Despite the challenges and the setbacks that we faced, T.J.

ultimately impressed me by the end of the run, and while, yes, with another two weeks of rehearsal

maybe things would have been different, but I can’t live in that world, because what we presented is

what we presented, and I am proud of him for taking the journey and really finding himself as an

actor.


“I think T.J. Ellis is scared of me. Bill seems to think so too. I yelled a lot tonight, and I

shouldn’t have. I let all the frustrations I had with him just not ge tting it, or taking steps

back get to me and I got mean. That’s not who I am as a director, I have never been the

guy that yells and screams and is kind of an ass. I will talk with him tomorrow and let him

know that I’m not mad at him, just frustrated with the entirety of the situation . We tried

some exercises earlier in the process with him and Mary Margaret. We had somebreakthroughs, we tried the silent objective, where he cant speak, but can only physically

pursue his objective, and that seemed to work nicely for him. I also put him in a chair, and

told him he couldn’t move, but he had to make Mary Margaret come to him with his

words, tone and objective, and every time she believed him or wanted to be with him she

took a step toward him, and every time he was insincere then she took a step back. This

physicalized the connection problem between the two of them and I am sure that he is

finally able to see that. Tonight I just yelled at him when I didn’t believe what he was

saying, or couldn’t see his objective, or when he was disconnected from the scene. I hate

that this happened so late in the process, but at least it’s happening I guess.”

Sally Bowles as played by Mary-Margaret Roberts

Mary-Margaret and I had already established a pretty easy working relationship that

stemmed out of our personal affection for each other. I felt that I had a pretty good grasp of her

abilities and her pitfalls as an actor, but she and I actually were presented with some rough patches

through this process that really challenged our friendship, and our working relationship as well.Ultimately I was very happy with what we ended up with, but the road to that point was more

challenging than I had imagined it would be.

Our biggest issue during the process was figuring out who Sally was. I felt that I understood

pretty clearly the character of Sally, but Mary Margaret brought some different ideas to the table

that worked as well. My biggest challenge in the beginning was that I felt I was dictating to her too

much of my vision and giving her no room to really make her own choices. This may have been the

thing that caused the strife later on, because I backed off pretty early in order to let her make




10

choices. This worked for a while, but she began to get frustrated by the lack of connection that she

was get ting from Cliff, and wasn’t able to connect with him on any kind of emotional level. She also

wasn’t finding the performer in Sally, the woman who is always on, who is always doing a show. She

clearly understood when that façade breaks down for Sally and those moments were very strong,

but it was the moments where she was creating the world around her, and manipulating the people

in that world that wasn’t becoming clear.Despite the personal drama we faced, Mary Margaret was able to manufacture the

connection she wasn’t getting from her acting partner, which in turn made the character much

richer and more interesting, than when she was struggling. I found that she needs constant care and

attention as an actor, and I hesitate to use the word caudling, because of the negative connotation

that places on it, but she definitely needed to be nurtured and given positive affirmation, which I

wasn’t doing in the process, and it wasn’t until later in the process that I was made aware of this,

and once that light bulb was screwed on in my head, we were finally able to get somewhere.

She understood the complexity of the character and I think her shining moment was the

song Cabaret , it ended up being this beautiful emotional journey that an audience got to watch her

go through. She nailed every bit of that number and the complexity of what that song is sayingversus what is going behind all of it. It was compelling every time I got to watch her do it once it

finally clicked. I think she was truly able to pull it off, and to make the role her own in a way I

haven’t seen her do in quite some time.


“So I have decided to try something unconventional in rehearsals. I have asked Mary

Margaret and T.J. Ellis to start hanging out together at rehearsal, and try to develop a

personal relationship outside of the characters. I figure if they can connect personally as

two friends, then perhaps they can connect on stage better as well. This was a tactic Ithought would be easy, and would hopefully translate, but Mary Margaret seemed to have

issue with it. She would rather spend her time with her boyfriend, or friends and not with

T.J. I think that this could also be causing the lack of connection between the two of them.

I know it predominantly comes from T.J. Ellis and his huge emotional block that he has up,

but it seems as though Mary Margaret doesn’t really en joy being around him either, so that

doesn’t really help anything. That part I am not sure how to fix, short of asking her to

manufacture chemistry. ”

The Emcee as played by Andrew Behling

I couldn’t have constructed a better Emcee if I had tried. Andrew was an absolute dream to

work with. He came in with the work done beforehand, and actually ended up kind of changing my

ideas and notions about the character throughout our table work. He brought with him an

intimidating knowledge of the time period and of the historical background to the character that




11

made me feel as though my work hadn’t been good enough, but we were able to take our ideas and

meld them together to create the character. It was truly a collaborative process, which is fantastic to

have.

There were moments where I would give Andrew a note, and he would say “ok, I like that,

let me try it this way” and he would do it, and while it may have worked or not worked, he tried

almost everything that we came up with in order to find the thing that worked. He would come tome with a lot of ideas that were so well thought out and constructed and so based in the text or in

the time period that I couldn’t ignore it. He was truly able to create a character and build into that

character a story that really isn’t there.

He also had a lot riding on him in this production. He had to be the energy that moved the

show forward, he had to maintain the pace and to really make sure the audience truly understood

what was going on. Andrew took on those tasks and really, truly made them his own. He worked

ridiculously hard, coming in when he was ill, and pushing himself to every extreme you could

imagine.

Our working relationship was such a fantastic one that I truly have nothing negative to say

about him, or about our process. He and I have spoken since and have agreed that we work verywell together, and I couldn’t have been more thankful to have him in this role, and to have him truly

leading the cast through this process.

Fraulein Schneider/Herr Schultz as played by Nicole Farmerie and Chad Tallon

I thoroughly enjoy working with these two individuals, half because they are my classmates

and friends, but on the flip side of that they also understand the craft, and the work, and it’s easy

(sometimes) to communicate to them. Our working relationship started off really well, and was

going smoothly, but then I was plagued by a problem that I have had before. I neglected them. I had

a lot of work to do in another part of the production and that became my focus and I was unable to

look at everything objectively and they began to fade from my radar. This is partly because I knew I

could trust them to do the work, and that I knew they had a firm grasp on the

characters/objectives/moments, but the further we got into the process the more I began to realize

they were floundering a bit with no direction and no road map, and then I realized I had made a

HUGE mistake.

I think this came about because initially when we began the working process it was easy to

communicate and they took notes very well. Blocking was a breeze, and they in fact added a lot to

the process. As things began to move forward, and rehearsals became more hectic and bigger

problems began to present themselves, I noticed that they weren’t giving 100% anymore, and that

things seemed low energy a lot of the time. When we had working rehearsals to which they were

called, the work would go smoothly for the most part, but there was always a sense of confusionabout the direction that they were being given and I wasn’t sure how to remedy that.

Eventually I spoke to the majority of my committee and realized that while I was placing

much of the work focus on T.J. they refocused me and showed me how things were not working

with this couple either. I think my views and opinions on these characters differed greatly from

those around me, and those who were directly involved with the process, and that caused me to

pause for a second and to reexamine what I was thinking. Ultimately I feel as though we were finally




12

able to pull out the true center and meaning of their relationship and play that to our advantage.

The two actors took giant steps out of their comfort zones and were extremely successful in my

opinion.

In response to working with these two actors: I have had the chance to work with Nicole on many

occasions. I feel that this is her best work to date. I know her very well as a friend, but more so as an

actress and I know the tricks and the hang-ups she has, and she was able to work past most of them.Her research and her strong character work was such a blessing to have when we started the

process. I know she was nervous about having to sing, but I feel as though Kitty was able to really

work with her to hone her voice to make it work for this character, and I was so proud of her for

doing it. I was moved every time she sang ‘What Would You Do’ because her understanding of what

the character is going through at the point was so intense, and she was truly able to connect her

acting and singing together in that moment. I know by most people’s standards that she isn’t a great

singer, nor will she be a musical theatre star anytime in the future, but her work on this production

blew me away.

There have been awkward moments or rifts between the two of us during working

rehearsals before, and this wasn’t any dif ferent. I think the main difference here is that she wasreceiving outside notes and guidance which I wasn’t always made aware of, and so in one moment

specifically I was noticing that a certain number wasn’t engaging and wasn’t as interesting as it had

been, and I asked her to try using more physicality to really beg us to come in, this frustrated her

beyond belief to a point in which I think she may have shut down for the rest of the night. What I

didn’t know was that she was given a note by one her committee members (a note which I totally

agreed with once I found out) that was antithetical to what I was saying and she was very confused.

Chad was much of a different story. He and I had no moments of contention, but I went in to

this process with Chad with a very specific goal in mind, to rid or quell him of some of his actor

tricks that I KNEW wouldn’t work for this role. I admire Chad greatly as a person and as an actor,

and he and I both know that there are things that he typically does on stage that wouldn’t work for

Herr Schultz, so I tried to help him identify those things and hopefully cure some of them. I don’t

think I was as successful as I would have wanted to be, partially because of the split focus issue I

mentioned earlier, and partially because by the time we began to really work it might have been too

late. We talked at length about how he leads himself on stage, and that is usually with this head, and

I asked him to really identify a true physical center for the character that maybe…just this one

time…wasn’t his head. He agreed and that was one thing that worked well. The other issues were in

how he uses his voice, and how a strong character choice could help that, although it ended up

aiding the trick more than anything else, we talked extensively about awkward, nervous energy,

and he was very much able to do that, but that only enhanced his glottal attacks, and stops and

adding of umm’s in.

Overall, these two actors were probably frustrated with me throughout some of the process,but their work on this show was some of the best I have seen them do. I wouldn’t have been able to

get through this without them there, as my best friends, and as actors in the process. It was

reassuring to have them there, so they could also help kick my butt when I needed it.




13

Fraulein Kost/Ernst as played by Anna Zerwer and Tj Nicol

These two actors were pretty much a breeze to work with, and our working relationship

was strong and well-built. The initial fears I had about these two characters and the work of the

actors was strictly to bring justice to the very pivotal and important but sometimes grossly ignored

characters. The actors and I had an excellent working relationship and their pre production work asastounding. What ultimately came from these sessions that wasn’t part of my pre production plan

was the idea of Kost as the person who kind of sets the events of Act 2 into motion, the actress

really latched onto this idea and played it very well. She understood the mode of survival that her

character was grasping at and was able to play it up nicely. Both of the actors understood the

complexity of the characters and their job in the plot.

Kost is a really fascinating character, because its seemingly written for comic relief but it

takes a much more serious and dark tone throughout the end of Act 1. Anna was certainly able to

pick up on this and play it up, she also understood the comedy and the need for levity in the more

serious situations. She came in with very strong ideas and I think her biggest pitfall was

understanding that there was more to this character than written on the page, that she isn’t thissmall, throwaway character. She ultimately embraced that idea and was able to really communicate

the complexity of the character.

Our biggest challenge with Ernst was to make sure that the actor really understood the

journey he takes and why he takes it. Ernst cannot be played a villain from the beginning and Tj

understood how to play him as friendly and then build him into the bad guy that we see by Act 2.

The thing about Tj was, that he truly understood why Ernst had made this choice, he understood

the rationale behind it and how it wasn’t just to serve the plot, but that he was like every other

person who was heavily effected by the poverty after WWI and was looking for a solution. Tj has

very good instincts and is able to really find the complexity in the character. The only drawback

about Tj is that he gets heavily immersed in the character, so much so that he can’t seem to separate

himself and the character and when you are dealing with someone who has some demons and has

to go to some dark places that can be hard. This hindered communication during stop and starts

sometimes and it was difficult to understand his attitude until I approached him and asked him

what was up and he told me. This made the working relationship much easier after that.

Kit Kat Klub Ensemble:

One of the biggest challenges I faced in this project was really working with an ensemble,

and being able to communicate with all of them. This group of people made that very easy for the

most part. We started early with them to try and make sure they felt really cohesive and very

entangled with each other in the hopes that it would play in performance. We also talked

extensively about the influence of German Cabarets at the time and who these people really were.We encouraged them to create their own characters to really help define the world as clearly as

possible. This was not an easy task for some of them. To take pretty much nothing and make it into

something, was difficult. We were asking them to be a chorus, but on the same token to not be a

chorus and to express their individual voices.

This was a challenge that kind of came down to the wire, and when I realized that certain

people were getting it and certain people weren’t it became almost too late to really make it




14

happen. This was entirely my fault because I was so singularly focused on one actor that I tended to

ignore the others and so I waited until the last minute to really try and get something out of them.

I think they understood the influences were talking, and their primary mode of

communication became the choreography and they really truly nailed it, and were able to infuse

their own character choices into the dance as well. Without them there would have been no show,

and they worked unbelievably hard not only in their specific roles, but also in transitioning everyscene, and working as crew as well. I commend most of them for their positive working attitude and

for really giving 100% which was very nice to have in the process.

Response to Technical Elements

Concept:

This production had to be so heavily based in the concept so that every actor and designer

and ultimately audience member understood what the story/production was trying to say. Initially

I wasn’t happy with the concept statement, mainly because it didn’t encompass the theme of the

play very well, and I think what we ultimately settled on communicated strongly the world of theplay, but also the theme and the overall vision of the production. I think that this came out very

clear in the design elements and while there were moments that could have been more heavy

handed, and stronger, I think as an overall concept it worked on stage.

This was vitally important for me as this isn’t something that I have been notoriously able to

do very well. It was half the reason why I picked this musical because it was so heavily entrenched

in the concept, and it was going to be important for me to communicate that as clearly and concisely

as possible. I felt like every designer I worked with on this production picked up on what the

concept statement was trying to say was really able to communicate that in their designs. I feel as

though I could have done more staging wise to really help make that as clear as possible, and that I

could have pushed myself a little harder to make sure that the concept was at the forefront of all

those conversations. The problem there is that the concept takes over and the story loses it’s

human touch, and that was a challenge in and of itself.

Music and Choreography:

I have to say that Kitty Karn saved my ass on more than one occasion during this process.

She became a sounding board for almost every idea and proposition and was able to help me figure

out solutions to problems. I have to say that our experience working together, at least on my end

was very collaborative and the dynamic between the two of us was fantastic. I couldn’t imagine

having anyone else work on this project with me but her. She got the music figured out with the cast

well within the first week, and they were rehearsed, well rehearsed, and ready to go into blockingand major dance rehearsals which was nice. She also was a saint when it came to the cuts I was

looking to make. I explained the concept to her early on, and she got it, and was able to go with me

very easily down that path. She supported decisions about cutting, but also made me look critically

as to why I was cutting things, which is what she ended up doing at many points and with many

aspects of the show. She looked at me once after we staged the finale, and said, “I don’t get it”, and I




15

had no idea what to say, so we sat down and we talked through it and we figured out solutions that

would make it clear.

I think the only thing I would have changed musically is adding in the numbers we originally

wanted to. I think songs like, “Maybe This Time”, “Why Should I Wake Up” and “Mein Herr” would

have helped tell the story in a much more complete way. I, of course, understand the legality of

doing that and of course wouldn’t want to have put the school in jeopardy, but my f rustrations aremerely with Tams Witmark. Kitty and I had fully worked out what we wanted to do, and how I have

seen the production cut and changed a million times, and didn’t figure that it would be an issue, but

when DP shared with me the problems we had with Tams, I got very nervous and scared. It was a

stressful time, and admittedly I don’t think I handled it as well as I could have.

Choreographically the show was a much different beast. I feel as though Heidi did an

excellent job with the choreography, and that it communicated (for the most part) what we were

trying to say. I think storyboarding the show saved my butt again in this instance, because I was

able to give those to Heidi and say, this is how I think this number fits into the overall vision of the

piece and I knew I could trust her to communicate that to the dancers. There were some moments

of stress when I was blocking and I had heard that dance rehearsals got out and the people were letgo when I had specifically laid out the rehearsal schedule so that I could finish up blocking and

come watch the work they had done. Not only because I wanted to see it, but also because I felt like

I needed to keep a constant eye on so that I was sure that we were communicating 100% of the

message, 100% of the time.


“I am a little concerned about the choreography. I hope that everything works out

according to plan. I know that Heidi works in a much different way than me or Kitty and I

have been told that, and I know to expect it, but I have asked Anya and Kelsey to write

everything down so that we don’t forget anything as far as dance goes, and I am a little

concerned that some things look as though they are made up on spot. This concerns me

strictly from a time standpoint, we don’t have all the time in the world, and I keep getting

pressure from Heidi for more time, or at least letting me know that 3 hours isn’t enough

time. This is hard for me to balance with the fact that I know the show also needs to be

blocked and we need to get it on its feet soon. My biggest fear is that it will end up being

too late, and I will be forced to either cut something or say, this isn’t working…how do we

adjust it.”

Dance can sometimes be the last thing that we focus on, and I didn’t want that to be t he case

because I knew how important it was to the show, and because of that I wanted to make sure I was

involved. I didn’t let myself just trust Heidi initially in the same way I did Kitty. I think I was silly to

have worried because most of the work that was done was spot on, and when I was in rehearsals

she listened to me and took the notes I gave her, and made specific adjustments. I was very happy




16

with how it turned out, and I feel as though it added another storytelling dynamic to the show that

it needed.

Scenic:

Admittedly I was very nervous working with faculty designers on this process. I was

nervous about being able to communicate and not coming across in the way I had planned. I knew Ihad done the work beforehand and that this musical was in my blood, and that I could talk about it,

but I was worried that my ideas weren’t strong, that my concept didn’t communicate, or that I

wasn’t going to live up to expectations. I was again wrong, which is a very nice thing to be in

regards to this at least.

After my initial meeting with DP, I was very pleased. Things went very smoothly, I felt as

though we were able to talk about the play in a very concise and easy way. I felt that our language

was the same, which was refreshing. I do feel as though I put a lot of pressure on in the beginning to

really see what he was thinking, and that might not have been the best option in the moment, but

what happened was that I ended up being VERY happy with how things looked with the set. At first

glance, it seems to be very simple, and pretty un-complex, but there was a lot of “stuff” as it were,and all of that only helped us transition smoothly from scene to scene.

I think that was my biggest concern going in was how were going to move so quickly from

book to concept and from scene to scene without having to do major blackouts or ruin the pacing of

the show, and DP provided and very easy solution in the slip stages. I loved the ladders and the

theatricality of the curtains and how the actors were able to use them and imbue them with either a

“door-ness” or a “curtain-ness” they worked universally for every scene, and it, again, helped make

things move smoothly. The furniture in every scene was excellent and all worked out very well for

me, I think the only thing that I could have done was pared down more. I went to him and said these

are the essential pieces and we could have had more but I felt these were the things that we needed

to define the space, and that actually ended up being quite a bit of stuff, and it occasionally made

transitions difficult, and even the ACTF Respondent said something about there being less things on

stage to help move things a little quicker.

I felt very much involved in his process, and I hope he felt the same way, I know that I

probably stepped on toes, but I did offer to go pull the furniture we needed and have him ok it, I

figured with busy schedules and with the amount of work we all do outside of production, if I could

help out in any way I wanted to. I went and pulled a lot of the furniture with DP, and then when we

needed to adjust I pulled what other stuff we needed, and had him look at it to ok it and make sure

it was what he wanted. I feel as though I might have been a little annoying at times, pressing for

things, visiting his office an awful lot, and that I could’ve been a bit more hands off because I trusted

my entire design team complicity to be able to communicate and had I left it alone I knew it would

have been fine.My response to what ended up being the set on stage was great, I loved how everything

could so easily transform and could become one thing or another, and that it didn’t ever look the

same even though it was, things were changing and shifting. I loved the color and texture that was

part of the book world, and the lack of color and texture that was part of the club world, it all

communicated to me exactly what the show needed. The other things that really worked that I don’t

think some people in the audience understood completely were the swastikas and the mirrors.




17

Initially we joked about there being 7 billion swastikas in the show, but really what they did was

communicate a towering sense of encapsulation, of something terrible pressing down on the world,

and that part was made very clear. The ACTF respondent also said the same thing, that he felt that

pressure and that weight every time we added another row. The mirrors also did their job quite

effectively, and on opening night, one of the older gentlemen from the LIFE group was there and he

asked me what the point of the mirrors was, and I told him, and he said, “that’s pretty genius” and Iagree. I know that the script mentions using them, but the way that DP came up with to use them in

this production was amazing, the only downside was that they were a bit cumbersome occasionally

and I know that they had to be, but it involved a couple rehearsals of working and figuring and the

cast may not have completely made it smooth, but they figured it out. They not only helped to echo

the Brechtian elements of the Emcee but also served a performance tool as well. Overall, I was

VERY happy with how everything looked scenically, and I couldn’t have imagined anything else.

Lighting:

I will echo almost everything I said above. I was nervous, scared, tentative, but Tim was mychampion and my butt kicker through this process. He laid down the law very clearly, and also

supported me where I needed it. He was a fantastic addition to the process, and I felt like the lights

helped to compliment the story we were telling, but also helped tell the story in a very Brechtian,

heavy handed way. Everything worked for me, the only thing I wish I would have done differently

was be a little more picky when it came down to tech week. I was so stressed out and running

around like a chicken with my head cut off that I almost said yes to everything and for one day

stopped looking at things critically which became a problem. There were some moments that I

wanted to give nit picky notes, but since I was so happy with everything overall, I kept it in.

I was happy that Tim and Mark had everything done three days before tech which allowed

us to run the show twice with the production stage manager and really figure out the timing of the

cues so that tech could go smoothly, and I have to say, it was perhaps one of the smoothest techs I

have been in, and it was jovial and stress free, which was VERY nice. This was due to the

camaraderie and working relationship that the design team brought with them to this process.

Without them that week might have been more of a nightmare’.


“Tech has begun. Tonight we added costumes for the first time. I felt like the last two days

were a breeze, and thankfully Tim and DP were there to really help it go as smoothly as

possible. Got through the whole show and Act 2 twice, which set us up very nicely for

tonight. I am getting notes from all sides during these nights, and I feel like I haven’t been

able to really watch the show very much.. Everything looks pretty good. I gave some notes

to Cyndi, she didn’t agree with me, and I heard some notes from DP and read an email

that he sent out, and I tended to agree with almost everything. Here is hoping tomorrow

goes just as well.




18

Costumes:

I know that Cyndi and I both felt the pressure of what this project meant for the both of us

and I know that it was the driving force behind our work on this production, but I also feel as

though Cyndi and I developed a really nice working relationship through the process. I feel as

though I didn’t do her any favors early on, I communicated the concept statement to her, but I alsodidn’t try to help her understand what it meant. I became to dictator-y very early on because I felt a

sense of confusion from her, and I dealt with it in the wrong way. She has developed really nice

design instincts and I think she understood the show in a similar way that I did.

Our working relationship has built over the years and I feel really solid about the work that

we achieved, I think that the story that was told with costumes was very concise but clear. I offered,

similar to my work with DP, to help Cyndi however she needed it. I know she was dealing with

adversity in other facets, so I wanted to be as helpful as possible. I came over and helped her pull

things from storage on two separate occasions and we filled an entire rack with clothes, I also

helped up in the shop one weekend, serging and sewing what I could when it was ready. I think this

helped us out a lot to develop a distinct director designer dialogue.There were of course some moments of contention but that is fully expected in any process,

and some moments where we didn’t see eye to eye on everything, but we worked past those and I

think her design skills have gotten so much better. I was happy how everything looked and I think

Cyndi’s texture vs. non-texture concept was a very VERY smart one and really helped communicate

the nature of the two worlds of the play. I was very happy with how things turned out, and I

wouldn’t have asked her to change very much.

Overall Tech/Design Response:

I think overall the worlds all came together, the stars aligned and everything worked out

according to plan, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team to help make this happen. I was

worried at first that we might have a lot of disparate worlds on stage because of our lack of meeting

together in one room, but everything really kind of linked together very nicely. I think the only

complaint I would ever have about anything technically was our lack of production meetings. I

think the few that we had certainly helped to make us all on track, and all aware of what the others

were doing/thinking. I think we only had two full production meetings with almost everyone there,

and that was disconcerting. Trying to put together a meeting with 8 people who have such

ridiculously conflicting schedules was a challenge, and ultimately it just became easier to go talk to

people individually or to do it via email. This was a bit frustrating at times because I felt like we

could never get everyone into a room together at one time to discuss the show. I know the reality of

the situation and why it happened that way, but it was frustrating in the process.Despite that frustration, again I couldn’t have been happier with how everything turned out.

I know that I wish I would have been more solid in concept, and more able to stand my ground on

certain things, I discovered through this process that I am a peacemaker more than some who is

mega decisive. I would rather quell conflict than further it or stand up for myself sometimes and

that’s what I felt like I was doing occasionally in all aspects of the show, especially as we got later

and later in the process. There were things that were discussed at production meetings and




19

individual meetings that people didn’t remember and when I would attempt to remind them they

assured me that they never happened, and that was frustrating so eventually rather than fight or

pick I let things go a lot of the time, and didn’t always stand up where I should have, and that, in

hindsight was a bad move on my part. I think every technical element despite any behind the scenes

drama, worked seamlessly together, a world was created and a story was told, and that is our most

important task as artists.

Response to Management

I was so thankful to have found Kara and Kat to be a part of the management team. They

were hard workers, and did everything they were asked to, and really worked ridiculously hard at

their jobs. That being said, both of them have little to no stage management experience, their work

was great, and I couldn’t have done it without them, I have no complaints about them or their work,

the only issue I had was that occasionally, especially in the beginning I recognized that I was

training these two girls, or helping them navigate a crash course in stage management.

I’m hesitant to even say anything here, because no matter how many times I write this, Icome across as a total ass. I felt like, a lot of the time that I was not only directing the production,

but also stage managing the production as well, and that Kat and Kara were my assistants. I was

organizing meetings, and scheduling rehearsal spaces, and helping with rehearsal reports. It wasn’t

as though I hadn’t essentially done this before, and yes, it’s stressful, but I could manage. The

trouble was, I began to break down through the process a little bit.

At one point, I went in DP’s office, when I realized that I had never asked anyone to do

sound, and that I would probably have to do it myself, and he said “you shouldn’t have to” and while

in the moment I understood that, I also understood that if I didn’t, I didn’t know who would, and

that question mark is all I could see. It was the same with the management team, I knew that if I left

things alone and reminded them, that things would probably get done, but maybe they wouldn’t get

done in the way someone wanted, or as quickly as we expected or as well as we could do, but they

would get done, and I wasn’t able to accept that. So I chose to do a lot of the things myself, and take

on the extra stress, which I admittedly didn’t deal with so well.

None of the fault of this lies on anyone but myself for a.) not being able to deal with stress

very well, and b.) not trusting or being able to relinquish control. I only wish that Klippert would

have sat the two girls down and explained what was expected of them, and made sure they

understood how it worked exactly. Instead I did it. I love those two girls for having the gall to step

up and take on this huge show, and they did a tremendous job. Kara was sick for the last two weeks

of the run and was there every night as early as 6 making sure everything was set up. I gave her a

lot of work and she coped very well with it. They really did do an amazing job, and the show nor

myself would have been the same without them.

Overall Response

I can’t tell you how much I really learned through this process. If I had written a letter to

myself at the beginning wishing and hoping on how it would be, the way in which I would read that

letter now is completely different, but not in a bad way at all. I had/have a severe case of separation




20

anxiety from the show, I miss it. Normally in the rehearsal process there is a decided moment

where I get a little bored or tired of rehearsing and sometimes tire of watching the show. This never

happened with this project. In fact, I would be happy to keep rehearsing over and over and over. I

had a blast working on this show, and despite the stress, and the frustration it was all worth it.


“Well, it has opened and I couldn’t be prouder. I looked back from the beginning and I

wondered how we got here. It was a long process, but one that never felt that long, it was

stressful but I never got tired of coming here every night. I will miss this. I learned more

than anything how to have patience and respect for the people you are working with, and

how to pick your battles, and give up where you need to, and advance where you need to

as well. I learned how to employ different tactics with a wide array of actors at varying

skill levels, and how to communicate to them at their developmental level. I also learned to

can the directorspeak, and to start creating a universal language spoken by the entire cast

and crew. I have learned that in order to build a show, there needs to be a base of mutual

love and respect built between the cast and director and the designers and the director,

and I feel as though I was truly able to do that (in almost every case) and that made this

production that much more successful for me. Also, I learned personally how to deal with

stress in a smarter, mature way, and how to make myself approachable, and how to be

kind and loving and respectful. All things that I needed not only as a director but as a

person. With this tools in my luggage of life, I feel prepared to take on the world.”

It was worth it because I learned more about myself doing this show than I could have ever

imagined. We always joke that you learn sometimes more what not to do in these processes more

than you learn what TO do, and that is true too. I had some things that worked, and some things

that definitely didn’t, but I learned how to manage and handle all of them. That to me makes this a

success. We can too easily get bogged down in the specifics of everything we’ve done wrong and

don’t see the big picture for what it really is. Everything is a learning experience, everything teaches

us something new, and we move forward a better/more educated person.

Sometimes as theatre artists we get too concerned with being critical or picky about things

and don’t let ourselves be submerged in a world and truly go there. My vision for this show, and mychoices may not have been anyone else’s choices and that’s fine. We (myself included) need to stop

thinking, “well, this is how I would do it” and embrace how it was done, embrace the work that was

done, and the world that was created for what it was. I hope to never become the person who hates

going to see live theatre, and who sits in the audience critiquing every moment, because if I become

that person I might as well start working at bank, because I’ve lost sight of what we are really trying

to do as an artists, and that’s to entice an audience in, to seduce them, charm them, and then before

they leave, we ask them to think about their world in a more critical way.




21

In this paper, I have picked out the specifics of what I would have changed, or the things I

would have done differently if I could in hindsight, but in reality, I wouldn’t have done the

production any other way, because I wouldn’t have learned the things I did, had the experiences

that I had, and fell in love in the way that I did if I had done it differently. I am thankful to everyone

who worked on this production for their hard work, and I hope that they were just as happy as I

was with the product and ultimately the process.

Documents

Cabaret Post Paper Work