ABSTRACT
Directing elements shape the pattern of a play in production in the same way that tones, notes, rhythms, melodies, and harmonies shape a piece of music, or size, shape, colour, patterns, and spatial relationships shape a painting. Almost every script contains textual elements that offer clues to the staging possibilities of the play: components comprised of or suggested by the playwright's text. By discovering these, the director might use them as a springboard for several different interpretations of the play. At the same time, every production employs visceral elements, such as rhythm and tempo, sound and mood, visual composition, movement and gesture, environment, and style. Together, the textual and visceral elements of directing comprise the vast majority of the director's tools—what a director and ensemble use to bring a play to life on stage. Directors use action analysis to find the shape of a scene, and eventually a play, in order to build a production.
