Though stage directing has traditionally been a male-dominated profession, the number of women directors in the United States has grown significantly in recent years. In this work, 35 contemporary women stage directors, with regional, national and international theater backgrounds, share their views on the creative process and the influences of gender on their artistic decision making. How does it feel to be defined as a woman director rather than simply a director? Does gender affect their authority? These questions and many others are explored in this study.

The first reference tool to focus on American women directors

This volume assesses the contributions of David Belasco, Arthur Hopkins, and Margaret Webster, whose careers shaped the artistic and specialist identity of the Broadway director. Their work spans almost a century and captures the rapidly changing social and cultural landscape of 20th-century America. While their aesthetic styles differed greatly, they were united in their mastery of theatre craft and their impact on theatrical collaboration. The essays in this volume explore how these directors established and exploited Broadway as the epicentre of theatre in the United States, blended the role of producer and director, and managed the tensions between commercial success and artistic ambition. The Great North American Stage Directors series provides an authoritative account of the art of directing in North America by examining the work of twenty-four major practitioners from the late 19th century to the present. Each of the eight volumes examines three directors and offers an overview of their practices, theoretical ideas, and contributions to modern theatre. The studies chart the life and work of each director, placing his or her achievement in the context of other important theatre practitioners and broader social history. Written by a team of leading experts, the series presents the genealogy of directing in North America while simultaneously chronicling crucial trends and championing contemporary interpretation.

Collaborative Stage Directing: A Guide to Creating and Managing a Positive Theatre Environment focuses on the director's collaboration with actors and the creative team, and the importance of communication and leadership skills to create and manage a healthy working environment. Speaking directly to the student, this compact resource walks the aspiring director through basic principles of group dynamics, active listening, open-ended questioning, brainstorming, and motivational leadership, supported by examples and case studies offered by current professional and academic directors. With a focus on preparing the student director for resume-building opportunities beyond the studio lab, Collaborative Stage Directing challenges readers with reflective activities, a series of guiding questions to apply to three short plays, and an extensive checklist to assist them with independent directing projects. As an easy-to-use resource, Collaborative Stage Directing works as a supplement to a classic directing text or as a stand-alone guide.

Contemporary Women Stage Directors opens the door into the minds of 27 prolific female theatre directors, allowing you to explore their experience, wisdom and knowledge. Directors give insight into their diverse approaches to the key challenges of directing theatre, including choosing projects, engaging with scripts, conceptualizing visual and acoustic production elements, collaborating with actors and production teams, building their careers, and navigating challenges and opportunities posed by gender, race and ethnicity. The directors featured include Maria Aberg, May Adrales, Sarah Benson, Karin Coonrod, Rachel Chavkin, Lear deBessonet, Nadia Fall, Vicky Featherstone, Polly Findlay, Leah Gardiner, Anne Kauffman, Lucy Kerbel, Young Jean Lee, Patricia McGregor, Blanche McIntyre, Paulette Randall, Diane Rodriguez, Indhu Rubasingham, KJ Sanchez, Tina Satter, Kimberly Senior, Roxana Silbert, Leigh Silverman, Caroline Steinbeis, Liesl Tommy, Lyndsey Turner, and Erica Whyman. These women are making profoundly exciting theatre in some of the most influential organizations across the English-speaking world- from Broadway to the West End, from the National Theatre in London to Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. As generally mid-career professionals, they are informed by both their hard-earned expertise and their forward-looking energy. They offer astute observations about the current state of the art form, as well as inspiring visions of what theatre can accomplish in the decades to come.

"Play Directing, Sixth Edition" describes the various roles a director plays, from selection and analysis of the play to working with actors and designers to bring it to life. The authors emphasize that the role of the director is not as a dictator, but as a leader of artists working in collaboration who look to the director for ideas that will give impetus to their fullest, most creative expressions. The text emphasizes that directing is not a finite and specific "system" of production, but rather is a means for providing an intensive look at the structure of plays, of acting and actor-ownership, and of all the other crafts that together make a produced play. New to This Edition Features new author Michael McLain, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and founding Artistic Associate and Literary Director of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, who brings a fresh new voice to "Play Directing, Sixth Edition" while retaining the point of view and fundamentals that have made the text a success in its earlier editions. Adds new chapters on working with actors (Chapter 16) and on the director and the dramaturg (Appendix 2), as well as new material on the director in opera, offering a wealth of new information on the director's role. Revises many exercises for increased focus on points discussed in the text, expanding the opportunities for practical application. Includes an expanded bibliography with an updated survey of a diverse range of works related to directing, providing students with valuable guidelines to further study.

A groundbreaking study of successful women theatre directors.