Makers of Belief

Theater artists must believe in the world of the play. We are makers of belief. The director is the one who begins the process of creating belief.  I begin this process by analyzing the text/script and asking: “what is the general beauty in the play?” The general beauty embodies the theme/main idea and the truth that the play represents. The general beauty is the reason we feel passionately that an audience should witness it.

When talking to designers, it is important to begin discussions with a description of the general beauty. I leave the discussion of mechanical details until a later time. In order to make the best use of the designers’ creative imagination, I begin by talking about what excites me about the script and why I am compelled to direct it. In these early discussions, we agree on some metaphors…and then the design team present ideas for the metaphors: photographs, paintings, music and research etc.

I am very specific about my impressions regarding the script and the world of the play etc. I talk generally and vividly about the style of writing and about the tempo and rhythm of the text. We discuss movement, action and color. We talk about every impression. And among this great salad of impressions, we find a central image emerging that increases our mutual enthusiasm. This is usually when the design begins to take shape…because we have developed a collaborative vocabulary.

—Ed Herendeen