Notizie Dal Mio Cuore - 48
Of course… it’s also good to have fantasies and dreams…..
“The Butterfingers Angel, Mary and Joseph, Herod the Nut and the Slaughter of 12 Hit Carols in a Pear Tree” was – in essence – my directorial debut. Was it wise to choose a play with 19 people (7 of them children), 12 songs and a weak plot (not that I’m saying a story about the birth of Jesus doesn’t have a strong story line… just that the way Mr. Gibson strung it together left… well… challenges). Of course the play originally only called for 14 people, 4 of them children. But when you are new at something…… why not just add three singers to round out the sound of the choir and then give two more children roles so that they are a part of things as well and of course you can’t leave out the sister of the donkey who is only six and can’t possibly act on stage so why not decide to have her be in the choir part of the pre-show… why not create a choir part of the pre show in fact that will add more necessary rehearsal time, costume concerns and planning because you have this large vision as Artistic Director for how important the audience’s experience is the minute they walk into the lobby?
And then – also - try to figure out how to fit all these people onto a stage which is about as wide as my living room and only slightly deeper. In fact, just for fun, why not have a budget which has no room for rehearsal space rental, and while you are trying to figure out who to beg from in the comune (city government) for space… use your own apartment to rehearse these 19 people? In fact… just for further giggles… why not stage a dance number for the wedding scene under a chupah with everyone dancing the horah in three circles moving in opposite directions trying to avoid hitting the sofa or stepping on Matilda or Louis (my cats) who insist on being in the middle of all the scenes?
My problem is several-fold: I have large visions I don’t seem to believe can’t be realized, I want to grow as an artist, I want others to grow as artists and…. I treat children like adults. Oh… and I also treat all actors equally – I expect them to understand and embrace the gorgeousness of the theatrical as I do…. Even when they have never acted before. Or when they have never acted in English before. Or when they have certain habits they’ve formed doing years of amateur theatre or haven’t been acting long enough to form bad habits but haven’t yet accessed themselves as fully expressive creatures. I also expect a great deal from people. I expect them to have passion. I expect them to commit themselves fully to things when they say “yes.” I have a strong sense of professionalism which terrifies some people in Florence and intimidates many more. This I’ve learned in hind-sight. But I’ll get to that another time. Or maybe we’ll just talk about the costume designer.
When I meet people, I truly want to help them. I don’t know what this is in me. Someone will say something about themselves, their life, their passion and I sit there like an idiot thinking “well if I do this or talk to this person I could hook him/her up with them and maybe we could get them where they want to go.” This – I have learned clearly here in Florence – is a part of what drives me so powerfully it can be overwhelming. Sometimes it’s a detriment. Let’s now discuss Giovanna (not her name).
Giovanna is a young Italian costume designer from a group of theatre artists outside of Florence who work at Teatro Studio in Scandicci. I will make a long, exhausting, frustrating story as short as possible. I should have done something when Giovanna didn’t come to the first design meeting. Or – maybe – when she didn’t have sketches for me on the costumes. I thought at first it was a language problem… I was trying to convey pretty specific but creative ideas in Italian to her and give her room for input, maybe it was my fault. I wanted to help her. She worked at a bar and had obvious basic skills and seemed sweet. We need a costumer…. Why couldn’t it work? Well, maybe the clue would have been when I told her (three weeks from her deadline of having costumes ready and still “sketchless”) that the actors need to know what they are wearing (did I mention I wanted to use masks as well and put two actresses on roller skates?) – that her reaction was a bit… well… extreme. Basically she said (with a LOT of venom) the actors will get the costumes when they are ready and they will like it. Then I got mad and used the word “cara” a lot with her (dear) to let her know that she was way out of her league… even if she thought it was cultural (such things as showing sketches to the director before seeing the rehearsal apparently aren’t done in Italy according to her). But, like the idiot I am… I kept giving her second, third and fourth opportunities. Such as inviting her to the run through FOR designers…. Of which she came late and sat through for all of 20 minutes or giving her a Creative Campus student she never would take advantage of to help her. Then she made certain choices like making a bag from scratch for the role of The Courier before the requested imperative costumes and masks for the roller-blading, not-ever-before-having-acted young ladies who were terrified of being in a play much less rolling around in one.
So…. With one week to opening, we had nothing to believe we would get what we needed. The horrible pieces which she actually did do – badly sewn, not fitting properly…. In other words – useless….. left me suddenly in the position of having to costume a 19 person show (let’s not forget the choir robes for the lobby pre-show!). Oh… did I mention that I was without a stage manager or assistant stage managers on this production? Or that, because he needed to put a lot more time toward work to make some money (a good portion of which is owed to FITC) that Aaron was also not quite as available to help with the producing factors as in the past, or that Trui for some reason (I’m sure it was the two other operas she was designing at the same time!) – our scenic/lighting designer – never gave me a model or sketch of the set so I had to figure out on my own how to move around 19 people in a world that was never specifically defined for me (I’m great at little stick figures now)….. that all of this was happening while we had no costumes…… and I was trying to direct something of artistic merit of which we all would be deeply proud and – from my Artistic Director perspective – move FITC forward into the heart of the community. OH! I forgot at that same time I was directing, writing and producing on my own our children’s theatre presentation to take to schools…. and of course all the other aspects of FITC that was happening. BOY! Did I need a costumer …. But…. We didn’t have one.
So we called on the cast to help out… they brought tons of stuff to pick from, put it all on and…. They looked like absolute crap. They looked like an amateur production of a combination of “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Rent.” So I said to Aaron that we can’t let this happen… and then Clelia and Aaron and I went into full steam with help from the cast and costumed 19 people in three days time… and when they were done.. the show looked GREAT! (And Clelia and I know where to find GREAT deals from the Chinese warehouses in Prato!)
This is the experience of this first time director. The play was a huge success – 72% capacity, 50-60% of them Italians which always makes me happy. It was visually beautiful, the singing – thanks to the genius of our Musical Director James Gray – was stunning, the set and props and lights were rich – because Trui is truly gifted. She created so much with nothing…. In fact she’s starting a new business “your trash is our treasure”….. which it was. And the acting was strong, deep, and fun. In fact, three of the actors were immediately offered roles in other productions from 2 directors who came to the show.
I could not have been prouder of this production if I had a rehearsal hall, stage manager, costume designer, model or available producing partner. At the end…. All came together. At the end… so many people understood what was being built and went beyond their comfort level. They were passionate about what they were doing. The children cried at closing night, a new couple was formed, creative partnerships launched and deepened.
All in all a good FITC moment.
But, again, the saddest thing in my heart….
Is that you weren’t there to see it.
Ciao ragazzi miei,
Bari
