ABSTRACT
Almost every script contains textual elements that offer clues to the staging possibilities of the play: components comprised or suggested by the playwright's text, which the director must find and which can serve as a springboard for several possible interpretations of the play. These elements include the structure of the play (such as units, subunits, and key moments); actions and objectives of the characters and the play (moment to moment, scene to scene, and over the course of the entire play); each character's unique, distinguishing qualities; the groundplan (suggested by the setting of the action, but created by the set designer with the director); the frequently shifting relationships among characters; and the language of the play. I find it constructive to see these elements as part of the immense collaboration that goes into staging a play, more akin to clues from the playwright than blueprints. The words themselves may be unchangeable-that is a decision for the playwright and director, controlled by a living playwright's flexibility or a dead playwright's estate I-but the director ultimately interprets the play and brings it to life on stage with the ensemble. Through the work of the ensemble, the words take on a more concrete form, one that is embodied on stage and then eventually finds its final form in the minds of the individual audience members. The director uses textual elements as one way of understanding and shaping the action of the play into tangible form on stage.
