Theater and Dance department to add new directing classes

The BW Department of Theatre and Dance is expanding its program next semester by adding two new student directing classes to further develop the directing side of the B.A. Acting and Directing track.  

The BW Department of Theatre and Dance is expanding its program next semester by adding two new student directing classes to further develop the directing side of the B.A. Acting and Directing track.   

The program will be adding a Fundamentals of Directing and Intermediate Directing course, while also making their advanced directing course permanent.   

“Basically what we’re doing is we’re adding another level to directing,” said René Copeland, the professor leading the new classes. “So before, there was one directing class. Now there’s going to be a Fundamentals of Directing class and an Intermediate Directing class, so it’ll be a sequence.”  

At the fundamental level, students will learn the “building blocks” of directing, such as analyzing a script, making a rehearsal schedule, running a rehearsal and directing a scene, Copeland said. The intermediate level will be akin to a scene study for directors, with students directing three or four scenes by semester’s end.   

At the advanced level, students will direct a play in the 10-Minute Play Festival held during the spring, where they will use the skills they’ve learned in all three classes to successfully run a performance, Copeland said.   

“My job is to just sort of guide them and help them,” Copeland said, “but they have to pick the plays, they have to schedule everything, they have to make all their own rehearsal schedules, they have to rehearse the plays, they have to figure out what marking ideas will be and they have to figure out what the sequence of the plays needs to be on the night of performance.”  

Rachel Gold, a senior B.F.A. Acting major who recently directed a Lab Series production of “Stop Kiss” at BW, said taking directing classes and participating in the 10-Minute Play Festival made her realize all the hard work that goes into directing, and it encouraged her to take her passion for directing further.  

“And from that point on, I knew I wanted to direct a full length play, so I submitted for the Lab Series spot which is filled by students,” Gold said.   

According to Copeland, these new classes will be open to non-theatre majors, given the necessary prerequisites are completed.   

For theatre students, taking a directing class can provide understanding and respect for what goes into directing, Gold said, and for those outside of theatre, a directing class can provide a means for creative expression while also helping to utilize certain critical skills.   

“It’s a really fun artistic outlet that is still educational and academic in the way that you have to … figure out where to input certain variables,” Gold said. “It’s applying the skills that you learn in a more academic course like science or math, but by utilizing your left brain, so it’s in a creative outlet.”  

These new directing classes will be available next semester. The work by current Advanced Directing students can be viewed in this year’s 10-Minute Play Festival on May 2.