Introduction

Directors tell stories. While others usually write those stories, the director guides their telling. He or she decides what’s important to highlight in the text and how the story will be expressed, and then takes the audience on a journey into and

through that world. In a successful production of even the most complex script, the story emerges clearly and richly for the audience. Arriving at that kind of clarity takes a great deal of preparation and craft. In the musical theatre, this task can be geometrically more complex than in many plays. Yet, the obligation to guide your production with clarity remains. This book is for those of you who take on this task.