The Science of Shadowing

I used this week to monitor my everyday directors a bit more closely. Typically when I go to a theatre rehearsal, I tend to focus on my job as an actor. But since I will soon take on a completely new task as a director, I decided to spend my rehearsal time this week shadowing my directors and taking note of what they do in a typical rehearsal. On Saturday, I had a three and a half hour rehearsal in which we worked on many things. Our director would multitask by pulling actors aside to run the more intimate scenes. This way everybody was in use at all times, maximizing the time we had. I also asked my director about his blocking methods. He told me that he has visualized the set and blocking so much, that he can see it when he closes his eyes. He then would match each of the actors to his mental image. I’ve seen many directors do blocking in many different ways, and this one was definitely interesting. After rehearsal, I stayed for just a bit to ask some questions about how to block a show in a pandemic with proper social distancing guidelines. He expressed how safety comes before vision in this case and how any clear vision will be able to stand sturdy even after making compromises. I really enjoyed being able to imagine myself in a directors shoes. It made me all the more excited to direct my very own show soon!