The Hard Way

Simon over at The Next Stage has sent this meme over to me in which I must speak about three things I learned the hard way.  So, here are mine, such as they are:

1. The biggest one for me-- and it is a continual battle-- is to "Beware of Muddle". 
When directing or designing, I really have to work hard at keeping my vision clear, not letting other demands cloud it up. There have been two productions on which I've pulled double duty (as both director & actor or designer & stage manager).  While in both of those cases, the final product was fine-- even exceptional on some scores-- the split focus majorly impeded my leadership and threatened to derail a number of very important working relationships.  Frankly, it's a miracle those shows survived as well as they did. 

2. Beware of Precious.
I have an earlier post on being aware of staging or playing things so that they're beautiful but lifeless.  It also applies to the unwillingness of many directors to EDIT or SIMPLIFY their shows.  Early in my theatrical life, I worked with a lovely and talented director who, unfortunately, was simply unwilling to keep things simple and edit things out.  Once she had an idea for the show, it was in.  And it didn't matter if it wasn't materialized until final dress, cutting it was not an option.  As her stage manager, this is intensely frustrating.  Moreso because I knew that the life of the show was weighed down by her inability to edit and the safety of the actors was in question by her large and last minute additions.  There is a difference between the very precious ideas as they exist in our heads and the form they take on the stage.  A good director can't feel that any element is beyond question.  In fact, every element of a production needs to be questioned, questioned, and questioned again to prove its fruitfulness for the story.  Having stage managed bloated productions for ten years, I can honestly say I came from the school of hard knocks on this one. 

3.  Beware of Expectations
My mother has said since I was a child, "Beware of having too many expectations.  You're sure to be disappointed."  I think that just until these last three years or so, I had expectations that if I did good work, people would automatically appreciate it.  I expected that if I was "easy to work with and accommodating" people would appreciate and reward ME.  And I expected that everyone would come to understand my work. 

I can honestly say I've been disappointed on all counts.  But that's my own fault.

Most of the people in the theatre community are not going to sing your praises if you're doing good or challenging or forward-thinking work.  They're going to feel threatened.  Some will get over it and acknowledge its worthiness, but probably only grudgingly.  (And I have to say that I am guilty of this point, which is why I started writing reviews.  To force myself to acknowledge good work as well as bad).  But still, most of the theatrical community or theatre-goers will pat you on the back, say "good work", and then proceed to rave and publicly acknowledge the most mediocre of work.  So don't expect anything different.  It'll save a lot of frustration in the end. 

Around the same time, I started realizing that while I was trying to make everyone like me and like working with me, I was watering down a lot of my own standards for production.  I was excessively accommodating as a director, a yes man to the company's board, and universally liked as a hard-working contributer to the players.  And, I was completely overlooked the vast majority of the time.  The moment I began questioning things, demanding more substantive work, and-- granted-- being a bit of a bitch, I found people who wanted to be challenged in their work and broke away from those who didn't care to improve the quality of their work.  (Sometimes, you have to make a few bad decisions to create something new for yourself.)

So, I guess that's my top three.  There are certainly others and there will be more to come, I'm sure.  In the words of Shannon McNally:  "I never learn nuthin' but the hard way, cuz at the time it felt SO good."