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Managing Successful Rehearsals

Going from Chaotic to Constructive 

By Edith Weiss 

Edith Weiss is the author of several published children’s plays, including six with Pioneer Drama Service.  A lot of Edith’s writing time goes into her stand-up comedy routine, which has taken her all over the country and on three overseas military tours.  Besides writing, she also acts and directs in both children’s and adult theatre. 

The first time I directed teenagers, I was all open heart, friendship, and good intentions.  Rehearsals were going to be fun, and we were all going to be best friends forever...  or at least until the show closed.  Surprise, it didn’t work out that way!

Under my too-gentle tutelage, I watched rehearsals erode into Cirque du Chaos.  I had left the room momentarily and upon returning found a student whooping and swinging from a light fixture in the ceiling — literally, egged on by others.  Until that moment, I thought that only happened in the movies by characters named Tarzan or Pirate One Eye!  In corners of the room sat other actors, slightly traumatized and wishing they had gone out for sports.  They were certainly not learning what they could have been had I been a tougher director.

It was then I decided that I would always follow the protocol of professional theater.  My opening line at the first rehearsal is, “Ladies and Gentlemen, theater is not a democracy.  It’s a dictatorship.  I’m the dictator.”  I am unsmiling when I say this, by the way.  Then, I lay out the rules, the same ones that they will follow if they go into theater as a profession.  I start with this rule, which is the most effective way I’ve found to get teens out of their cliques and able to form an ensemble:  actors are NEVER to criticize, make suggestions or give unsolicited advice to another actor.  Any creative suggestions you might have should be used for your own character, not someone else’s.

Teenagers love to point out how someone else could do better.  I tell them if they have a problem with another actor or a suggestion for them, they should bring it to me privately.  In the professional theater, it’s absolutely taboo for an actor to complain about or critique another actor.  The hierarchy is there for a reason:  everyone can play good cop, but only the director should play bad cop.  You want the kids to form a cohesive ensemble built on trust so that they’re willing to take risks with their characters.

The next time you are working with teenage actors, if you, the director, start by instilling this discipline from the beginning, chances are you’ll soon be able to lighten up, have fun and direct the best possible show you can get out of your kids.

Read more of Edith's advice in Directing Student Actors:  The Ten Commandments.