We have some more video content from THE CONVERT - including interviews with Director Emily Mann, Playwright Danai Gurira, and some members of the cast.

What do you want to know about the show next?

Posted by Amanda Coe, Digital Media Specialist at McCarter Theatre

We want to share part of the Meet & Greet from The Convert. The Meet & Greet for a show happens on the first day of rehearsal. A show’s artistic staff, cast, and other members of staff get together to talk about the sets, costumes, music, and other show elements. For The Convert we were lucky to be able to have Danai Gurira, the show’s playwright, with us as well.

Sam Buntrock is the Resident Director at McCarter Theatre for the 2011-2012 season, and will be directing both Travesties and Are You There, McPhee? this spring. Artistic Programs Associate Erica Nagel sat down to ask him about his history with McCarter and what he’s looking forward to during his time here.

Erica Nagel: How did you initially become involved with McCarter?

Sam Buntrock: I directed an earlier incarnation of the Maltby-Shire-Weidman musical Take Flight in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2008, and Laura Stanzyck, who does the casting for McCarter, saw that production. The writers wanted to carry on development of the piece, and there was a history between the writers and [McCarter’s Artistic Director] Emily Mann. [McCarter’s Producing Director] Mara Isaacs pursued it passionately, we did a number of developmental readings, and it was produced at McCarter in 2010.

Sam Buntrock during rehearsals for McCarter’s production of Take Flight.
Photo by John Baer 

That’s one of the great assets of McCarter as a producing house – the sense of family, the sense of community within those walls. So, after Take Flight, Mara and I immediately began to talk about other potential projects. We settled on Stoppard’s Travesties, and I agreed to direct it at McCarter in the 2011-2012 season. Not long after that decision, I was directing a play at Manhattan Theatre Club, and [playwright] John Guare realized I was in New York. He had always assumed, as people do assume, that I only worked in London, because that’s where I’m from. Mara sent me John’s new play, Are You There, McPhee? and I had a very strong reaction to it. I fell in love with it immediately. So John and I met, and suddenly I was directing two plays this season at McCarter. Then the phone rang – and I remember taking the call and seeing it was Mara, and thinking, “Okay, well one of them is not going to happen.” And Mara said, “I have a third thing for you.” And I said, “Are you joking?” And she said, “We’d like to make you the director in residence for this coming season.” And I laughed and said, “Yes please.” So that’s how I come to take this position.

EN: What does the position of Resident Director mean in addition to directing these two plays?

SB: It means I am part of the artistic staff of the building. I’m not only involved in my own productions, but I’m also involved in the other projects that are being produced and developed at McCarter. I’m going to be living in Princeton during the two productions, so I’ll be in there from the first day of rehearsal for Travesties – Valentine’s Day, which is quite fitting, even though the play isn’t necessarily… well, every play in the world is a love story, you just have to find who’s in love with who, or what, or why – until the summer. As a freelance director, you float from place to place; you put a show into rehearsals and into a theater and then you leave. It’s very rare that you get to develop an ongoing, long-lasting relationship with the people responsible for those theaters in the long-term. And it’s those relationships that are extremely important to me at this moment in my life and career. People ask if I’m interested in running a building someday, and I’m not necessarily that interested at this point in my career, but the ability that this is giving me to be part of the running of the building, to be inside the creative process that takes place outside of the rehearsal room is extraordinary. When I first came out of college I landed a great job as the Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse, and as a young, early-twenties director I was obsessed with what happens in the rehearsal room. All I was interested in at that point was how does so-and-so work in the room, how does so-and-so rehearse this play, that play. I wasn’t that interested in the bigger picture. And this feels a bit like I’ve gone back to that position again but in a much stronger capacity as a director in my own right. Now I’m able to experience the other aspects of the creative process. There’s the artistic element of my job, but there is so much of my job that is about management, and working with others that I, for one reason or another, was very shy of earlier in my days. I sound like I’m eighty – I’m actually only seventy six…

EN: You’re in fact younger than that by several decades! This season at McCarter you’ll be working on two plays by master playwrights of a much different generation. Do you have any thoughts on being labeled or thought of as a “young director”?

SB: I was just having this conversation with [scenic and costume designer] David Farley the other day. For the first time, I don’t feel like I’m in the kindergarten of the industry anymore. I feel like I’m probably in the…middle school? What we would call primary school (you Americans and your strange schooling!) I’m now really aware of a younger generation in the field, who I find exciting and terrifying in equal measure. After working as an assistant in my early twenties, I actually moved away from this art form for a while. I remember reading an interview with Simon McBurney, a director whose work I admired so greatly, and there was a picture of him and a caption that said something like “Simon McBurney: Hot Young Director, 39.” And I was in my early twenties, so of course at that point 39 felt like an octogenarian. I’d always been interested in animation. Alongside theatre it was my great passion as a child. My father was an art director, my mother a journalist. Pictures and words! So I developed a career for myself as a freelance animator and animation director. Because I knew that being so young in the theater business back then… it just felt like I was hitting my fist against doors and not getting through. I also wasn’t very good about “selling myself.” It just wasn’t something I was naturally comfortable with. I had – I still have, but it was much worse back then – a stammer, a stutter. And the idea that I’d need to go out every morning and hustle work just broke me out in a cold sweat, especially knowing that I’d be seen as so young, and that a director’s lifeblood is his ability to communicate. It felt like an insurmountable combination of circumstances. So to come back on the question, now I’m 36, I don’t feel young any more. Of course, I say that to someone like John Guare and I get a funny look. And I do feel very privileged to be getting to do this work at this point in my life. I think there’s a lot of distrust of younger directors. There’s this sort of preconceived notion that in order to be able to direct theater with insight and authority you have to be old enough to have that authority. And I immediately dismiss that notion because I don’t think of a director as an authority. I think of a director as a collaborator with others. I do guide the work home, but it’s not on my own.

EN: You mentioned David Farley, a long-time collaborator of yours who will be designing sets and costumes for both Travesties and Are You There, McPhee? Could you talk more about your history working with him?

SB: The running joke is that McCarter’s asked me to be Resident Director because they know if they ask me nicely I’ll bring David Farley along. David did Sunday in the Park with George with me; that was the first time we worked together. We’ve also done the current European tour of the Rocky Horror Show which…there’s no…I mean, it’s chalk and cheese between Sunday and Rocky Horror Show! He also designed Take Flight in London and at MCCarter, and he’s designing both Travesties and Mcphee with me. We just have this great, long relationship, this great vocabulary together. I’ve worked with a number of other designers here in the states now, and I’ve loved working with every single one of them, but there’s something particular about working with David that’s like…wearing a good old comfortable pair of shoes. No, that’s terrible! It’s just…there’s just something great about working together, especially with these two upcoming pieces which are very challenging in very particular ways. To take on one of these plays would be a challenge. To take on both of them could be a little daunting, but knowing that I have David on the creative team is a thrill.

Sam Buntrock during rehearsals for McCarter’s production of Take Flight.
Photo by John Baer  

EN: What excites you most about each of these upcoming productions?

SB: Well, Travesties is one of the great comedic masterpieces of the 20^th century. I am of the belief that it’s Stoppard’s greatest play. Put simply… it’s a memory play of events in 1917 remembered by a man in 1974, and not necessarily remembered correctly. And as with all of Tom’s plays, it contains extraordinary ruminations on life and art. But it does it in a way that is so boldly comedic. It’s like a play of ideas has smashed into a farce and they’re both competing for the stage. It’s a challenge in its scope, it’s a challenge tonally, and it makes such exceptional demands of its performers. But it’s one of those plays which is so theatrical and entertaining and moving. To get to do this play, which is so rarely produced because it’s such a challenge to do so, to do this play with this particular theater company is really exciting.

McPhee is a world premiere by John Guare. It is the work of a master playwright and it is… I actually don’t want to say too much about it other than: it’s hysterically funny, it’s dark, and it produces an emotional response in me that I haven’t had since really… it’s taken me by surprise. I’ve not reacted to material in this way since Sunday in the Park. One thing with this play, to reveal something of it, is that it tells the story of a man in his mid thirties. That time of life is a vital factor in it. So I feel a huge affinity to that. This piece…it captivates me. Again, it’s a challenge – I don’t want to say exactly why because I don’t want to spoil it – but it’s a real example of working at McCarter that we’re approaching this material as a team, with John very much at the center of the process. I couldn’t imagine being able to do the world premiere of this piece anywhere else but McCarter. From Emily to Mara to the whole artistic and production team – everyone in that building recognizes the immense potential of this play.

EN: Do you have a dream project?

SB: I’m actually a firm believer that you shouldn’t talk too much about your dreams, because if they don’t come true you’ve not let anyone else down! But yeah, I do have a number of dream projects, a number of things I’m developing or working on. I’d love to do another big musical at some point. But I’ve made a very distinct decision to concentrate on plays at the moment because that’s something I trained in. I studied Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama at Bristol University. I always had a passion for musicals but my training was with the classics. What you first do in New York defines you, and I had the great good fortune to direct a musical on Broadway, so for a while that defined the work I did. But I would love to do more Shakespeare; I just did Much Ado about Nothing with Michael Cumpsty and Kathryn Meisle at Two River Theatre Company, which was one of the most satisfying experiences of my career so far.

EN: How do you think your training in the classics serves you as you approach more contemporary work?

SB: It gave me a very strong understanding of the power of language and the importance of engaging the audience’s imagination. That is the most vital tool in the theater. We have all these tools at our disposal – we have actors, we have scenery, we have lights, we have sound – but actually the thing that has the most versatility and scope and range is the audience’s imagination. Training in the classics taught me that theatre should strive to be at all times theatrical – and that sounds like a truism, or an obvious statement – but what I mean is that theater should transcend and transport as opposed to just entertaining. It’s amazing how much you can communicate to an audience with so little. That’s one of the great lessons of my training.

Sam Buntrock with actors Jenn Colella and Michael Cumpsty during rehearsals for McCarter’s production of Take Flight. Photo by John Baer. 

EN: One last question. What makes McCarter a good artistic home?

SB: McCarter is a great artistic home because of the community within the building, but that community is a reflection of the audience community. Also, the wide and varied programming that occurs at McCarter, not only in the theater series but also the visiting work — it’s exceptional. It’s world-class. There’s no other way of defining it. And that level of excellence is again a reflection of the audience and the larger community that McCarter is serving. I think that’s exciting. I mean, just have a look at the season! Just have a look at the slate of work that’s on their stages this year. Across the board it’s varied, it’s daring, it’s entertaining – it’s all those things that you hope theater could be.

Posted by Amanda Coe, Digital Media Specialist at McCarter Theatre

Imagine that you are working on a five thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. You haven’t been able to eat at your kitchen table for weeks because it has been covered with these fiddly little bits of cardboard. There have been untold hours of work since you found that first corner piece and slowly built the edge of the puzzle. You enlisted friends and family members to help with the vast swaths of undifferentiated blue sky. Finally, it is about to be completed. You go to grab the final piece to slot into the middle of the puzzle and…

It’s not there.

…

Few things aggravate like a missing puzzle piece. All of your work cannot reach its conclusion. No matter how you look at your puzzle, you see that blank spot where the piece should be. You try to come to terms with it, but you know in your heart that it’s not the same without that final piece.

But then, miraculously, you find the final piece on the floor. You slide that final piece into the puzzle, and the unfinished work transforms into something magical. That final piece has the power to render your puzzle a beautiful success, and without it, the puzzle will always feel unfinished.

Now, by this point you are probably wondering why I am talking about jigsaw puzzles on the McCarter Theatre blog. Well, the first show of McCarter’s season, Ten Cents A Dance, had its first preview two weeks ago. It taught me, once again, that the audience is the final, crucial jigsaw piece. No matter how brilliant the lighting, how famous the actors, or how big the budget, theater is about the interaction of the performer and the audience member. It exists not on stage, but in the space between the stage and the audience. Without the audience, a play is unfinished, just like the jigsaw puzzle. The audience has the power to transform the show into a beautiful success, and I saw that transformation for Ten Cents A Dance. The surprises of where and how they reacted imbued the show with a life it could never have without that final piece of the puzzle.

Posted by Daniel Tobin, Directing/Producing Intern at McCarter Theatre

Last Thursday evening, Ten Cents A Dance director John Doyle met with McCarter friends for wine, cheese, and good conversation. It was a great group of McCarter fans that included Trustees, just after their first Board Meeting of the season, and McCarter supporters on their way to the final preview performance.

Associate Producer Adam Immewahr interviewed John about his directing process and the development of Ten Cents A Dance, which debuted at the U.K.’s Watermill Theatre in 2002 and just opened at McCarter after a run at Williamstown Theater Festival. He spoke to his signature style of using actors as the orchestra, a technique that was born out of financial need during the cash-strapped 80s and 90s. Over the past two decades, John has perfected this unconventional method of staging musicals.

John commended our Princeton audiences for their willingness to “lean forward” and truly engage in the quiet moments that are created on stage. Most of the musical theater we see today has the exact opposite effect, causing theatergoers to lean back in attempt to take it all in, but Doyle takes a different approach. Ten Cents A Dance is a testament to how compelling and theatrical his style can be.

Having an opportunity to sit down and talk was John was a great way to kickoff our 2011-2012 Theater Season. We are incredibly excited by all of the events that will be happening at McCarter this year and we hope to see you here soon! To find out more about future donor events and learn how you can get involved visit us online.

Posted by Melissa Egan, Development Assosicate at McCarter Theatre

Welcome to the first post in our new “McInterns” series! Throughout the season, we will be introducing you to our Artistic and Marketing Interns. Through their personal blog entries we hope to give you a glimpse into their busy, fascinating lives here at McCarter Theatre.

This year you will meet -
David Cannon: Marketing and Special Events Intern
Shannon Cameron: Directing/Producing Intern
Daniel Tobin: Directing/Producing Intern
Kaitlin Stillwell: Literary Intern

We’ve been able to ask them some questions in order to help you get to know them better -

Did you study theater in college?

I went to Washington University in St. Louis where I was a double major in Drama and Anthropology. I also studied for a summer at the Globe Theatre in London. - Daniel

I started off as a Musical Theatre major at Webster University in St. Louis. I loved my studies there, but felt more and more that I wasn’t meant to be an actor. After some time spent studying in London, I decided to apply for theater education programs back in the United States. I landed at Emerson College where I finished my undergraduate degree. I spent several years as an educator and director before moving back to my home state of Nebraska to attend the University of Nebraska, Lincoln to work on an MFA in Directing for Stage and screen. - Shannon

I studied Spanish and Economics at the University of Vanderbilt. So why theater marketing? I acted in musicals from high school through college and got involved in publicity in the last few years. - David

I started in theater as an actor/singer and I have a BFA in Musical Theatre from Ithaca College. After a few years of working professionally, I decided that what I really wanted to be was a dramaturg. So I began seeking out projects, meeting other dramaturgs, and looking into Master’s programs. I ended up doing my MA at Loughborough University in England and I’m just about to hand in my dissertation on the dramaturgy of climate change plays in this past year’s London season! - Kaitlin

What drew you to the internship program here at McCarter?

I was interested in McCarter because I noticed over the years that some of my favorite plays had their beginnings here. It was clear to me that the McCarter aesthetic was similar to mine.  But beyond that, I was most interested in the people. I expected everyone here to be brilliant, and after one week I can confirm that expectation met. – Shannon

I was drawn to this program because I have only ever heard amazing things about the work McCarter does. The focus on world premieres creates an exhilarating artistic atmosphere, but they also have the power to produce moving renditions of the classics. Finally, they also treat us, the interns, very well. There is an environment that seeks to nurture us, while also giving us real responsibilities and duties. – Daniel

The field of dramaturgy and literary management encompasses a lot of different types of tasks and in looking for an internship, I was hoping to experience as many as possible. That’s one of the wonderful elements of the Literary Internship at McCarter: I’m learning to contribute in so many different ways, from literary administration to production research to script reading to new play dramaturgy and beyond! I also love that I get the opportunity to really engage across departments and learn what makes a world class regional theater run. But the most extraordinary thing about being a McCarter intern, that I couldn’t have predicted, is how central mentorship is to the culture here. - Kaitlin

What drew me to McCarter? The people, the opportunity, the performing arts center, and the location. My phone interview with Natalie Jankowski (Communications Manager) and Megan Johnston (Director of Group Services) was informative and exciting and not at all intimidating. I felt a positive connection even over the phone. The opportunity is the best in the biz—housing and a stipend can’t be beat for an internship. In addition to producing five shows a year and A Christmas Carol, McCarter hosts numerous arts events from many different genres: jazz, classical, dance, circus, magic, cabaret, etc. This is important because it promises to leave me a well-rounded arts marketer.
- David

How have your first weeks at McCarter been?

I have already had the chance to assist John Doyle [the director] on Ten Cents A Dance and learned a tremendous amount about directing. His warm demeanor creates an amazingly collaborative spirit in the rehearsal hall that allows everyone to flourish. Watching him work has further taught me how a seemingly small note can lead to drastic changes in a performance. – Daniel

My job got really busy really quickly. I started with the daily administrative tasks of writing purchase orders, responding to donation requests, and running the New Neighbors program. But things got really exciting as we were hosting the first annual McCarter Block Party only a few weeks in. This was a great undertaking with vendors, live jazz, and many activities for the kids. I accumulated the grand prizes from vendors. I gathered and helped hang the numerous strands of lights that illuminated the evening. And during the event, I bartended. – David

Well, I just finished yesterday, my first official week. So far, I’ve done several things. I’ve read new scripts, staffed the A Christmas Carol young ensemble auditions and sign ups, attended several detailed meetings orienting me about my various intern duties and even worked a few shifts at the company store!
- Shannon

I’m just finishing my third week at McCarter and my head is still spinning with all the new information! But I’m also starting to find my feet. In addition to learning new things (such as how to format the rehearsal script for Phaedra Backwards or what kinds of pictures are best for a rehearsal image board), I’m also learning the best way to do things to fill the needs of my office. I think I’m getting quicker without losing my conscientiousness, and I think that’s the goal!
- Kaitlin

What are you looking forward to the most during our 2011-2012 season?

I’m most looking forward to starting Phaedra Backwards rehearsals. I’m eager to see what it is like at McCarter to work on a commissioned play and see Emily Mann’s vision come to life. – Shannon

Right now, I’m looking forward to witnessing rehearsals for Phaedra Backwards and watching that thrilling script continue to evolve. - Kaitlin

I’m looking forward to the relationships that I form here, the knowledge I obtain, and the experiences that will shape my time in Princeton. - David

I am most looking forward to working with my three different directors. I have already gotten to work with John Doyle and it has been an eye opening experience. I know I will learn just as much from Emily Mann and Sam Buntrock. - Daniel

Do you have any questions for the McInterns? Leave us a comment!

Posted by Amanda Coe, Digital Media Specialist at McCarter Theatre

Brendan Milburn is the composer of Sleeping Beauty Wakes and a member of GrooveLily, a pop/rock band. The post below is published with permission from Brendan, and courtesy of GrooveLily’s website. For details, visit:
  http://www.groovelily.com/

The muse receptor, the source of our orchestrational mojo for this production

The Muse Receptor, the TV to show what’s happening on stage, and various other rawk band accoutrements

Our Sound Designer, Leon Rothenberg, had to carefully design how the five-piece band would fit in this room behind and beneath the stage…

And what’s great about it is that if any band members happen to soil their clothing during the performance, there’s a washer and dryer area handy, as they’re in the Wardrobe Room

Brendan Milburn is the composer of Sleeping Beauty Wakes and a member of GrooveLily, a pop/rock band. The post below is published with permission from Brendan, and courtesy of GrooveLily’s website. For details, visit:
http://www.groovelily.com/

We are in the endgame. We are shifting tiny puzzle pieces around in the last few minutes of the show, tweaking how things land, checking to make sure we like the tone, trying hard not to hold on to something just because we did a lot of work on it and only keeping it if it actually works and contributes to the whole.

Yesterday we ran the last ten minutes of the show many, many, many times, with Doug and Rebecca making fixes to staging each time, trying to iron out kinks in the tone. And while this is a musical COMEDY, there is a lot of emotional stuff in this piece. And much of the emotional stuff is at the end. And yesterday we rehearsed these emotional beats over and over and over, and after a while everyone was very, very, very wrung out. Kudos especially to Bob Stillman, Aspen Vincent, and Bryce Ryness for investing fully each and every time. After one run-through which left actors, director, stage managers, writers and assistant director in tears and reaching for kleenexes, Aspen burst the bubble of lingering sadness by quipping, “aw, this job sucks.”

This morning I will finish sheet music for the transitions in Act 2 and return my attention to Act 1, which we are going back to polish piece by piece today. After a week working Act 2, Act 1 feels like a foreign country where we were all raised as children and are returning to after forty years overseas.

The other day in rehearsal, we had to run through the choreography in one of the dream sequences, but we were missing the actress playing the Doctor/Bad Fairy. Our choreographer, Doug Varone, graciously stepped into her role (and her costume) for the session!

Brendan Milburn is the composer of Sleeping Beauty Wakes and a member of GrooveLily, a pop/rock band. The post below is published with permission from Brendan, and courtesy of GrooveLily’s website. For details, visit:
http://www.groovelily.com/

Another read-through of Act 2 yesterday, now that they’ve learned the music at the end. Everyone feels we’ve got the overall structure for Act 2 down now, but we’re missing crucial pieces that we couldn’t see when we were down in the trees, missing the forest.

Today, Rachel is coming back to our apartment and we’ll spend the day—and only this one day—rewriting the last 10 minutes again, and trying to find a satisfying thread for the Doctor/Bad Fairy, whose fairy tale parallel we have kinda let drop without meaning to. Now everyone has a satisfying finish *except* the Doctor. While her parallel to the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale has always been a bit more tenuous, it’s now our job to make it more concrete and satisfying.

Lest you think that working on this musical is all wrestling with plot and character and sheet music software, I’d like to share a little about last night’s Company Dinner. One of my favorite memories from working on Midsummer here in 2006 was a full cast and creative team dinner at Mara Isaacs’s house (Mara being the producing director at McCarter, and the main impetus behind getting SBW to where it is today).

It seems so simple when you think about it, but when you’re in the thick of rehearsing and writing and analyzing and burying your head in the text and trying to find your way out, it can be very valuable to meet in another place with your co-laborators and break bread and have fun for a minute. And that’s exactly what we did last night. Mara cooked up a storm for what felt like thirty people, and everybody showed up with husbands, wives, kids, and a splendid time was had by all. And somehow I was able to breathe a sigh of relief and get a little perspective—we don’t have the ending perfect yet, but we will keep working towards it.

For the full text of this blog post, visit www.groovelily.com