A Director's Perspective on Playwrights

Last night we re-opened our Playroom:Bathroom series to a wonderful little crowd! We were lucky enough to have Kait Burrier in the audience, author of one of my directing pieces, Spill, and on Sunday we also had Jennifer Hill, author of another of my pieces, The Inside of a Watermelon Seed. Slowly but surely the playwrights have been trickling in to witness their works be mounted for the first time. As a director, it’s certainly daunting to know, “This night could be the night they love or hate what they wrote… and that could be because of me.” There’s an undeniable pressure and anxiety when the lights go up and it’s out of your hands. But at the same time, that’s what makes Playroom so exciting. How often can you say you directed an original work that the playwright came to see? How often can you watch their very first reactions to their own dialogue from stage right? And as an audience member, you could very well be sitting right next to that playwright as they hear their own words for that very first time; their giggles and gasps as they revisit their play for the first time in months – how exciting!

This is why the Playroom series is so special and hopefully this is one of the reasons why we’ve been getting some awesome houses… it’s just too interesting of an experience to miss. It’s such a great feeling to be able to talk to your playwright following the show and then feel their gratitude for taking their play and bringing it to life. It’s a wonderful feeling and I thank Kait, Jenny, and all the other playwrights for being a part of this type of theatre.

Now that we’re in our second week we’ve had some MAJOR developments and changes. The directors never stop working, the company is becoming more of a family every day, and we’re getting some wonderful feedback. What’s not to like? One weekend down, one in progress, one to go! Go Gaslight!

-Brandi George