Insights as of now

I decided to give some of my insights on directing the show Baby Food 
thus far and some things that have learned and discoveries I have made. First of all one 
activity that I felt was very beneficial was one that I did at my very first read through. 
Since I have to couple in my show I told them to get with their partners and to come up 
with their back stories as couples and also come up with a story of how the two couples 
became friends. My cast was very excited to do this activity and they took it very 
seriously. After giving them about seven minutes I had the couples take turns presenting 
what they have come up with. It was very amusing and interesting to see what they 
came up with. Even though they were very different it was good to let the actors come 
up with what they wanted. Another activity I also felt was very beneficial for the actor’s 
character work was the circus walks activity. I had the actors do this before our second 
rehearsal and I could tell such an immediate difference after the activity. I also had them 
say what their characters likes and dislikes were one at a time. This was also very 
entertaining to see them decide what their characters would say. For my rehearsal 
process I decided to do the bite size chunk method. I broke the show into 2 pages at a 
time and did the blocking organically. I found this to work very well. It was a nice way to 
block because it is very collaborative with you and your cast and gives them freedom to 
form their characters. Sometimes I worry that I am a director that just goes with the flow 
and isn’t very by the book. I don’t want my cast to think I’m unprepared or careless. The 
other day at rehearsal my cast and I were waiting for one cast member to arrive and two 
of my cast members told me something that really put a smile on my face. He said, “You 
know what Casey, I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy your directing 
style.” “You are really laid back and don’t tell us what’s right and wrong, instead you give 
us the freedom to choose and help us if we stray.” “I really like that and I think that a lot 
of people are going to want to work with you in the future.” That really made me feel 
great about my directing. So it just goes to show have more confidence in what you do 
because even though you may think you are not doing things right, other people might 
think what you do is great. My show opens next weekend and I am thrilled to have an 
audience and see my finished product.