ABSTRACT
The point of the rehearsal process is to create a set of habits in the actors that will enable them to play freely and spontaneously. The lines must become habitual. Playing the actions in each scene must become habitual. Any external adjustments must become habitual. It is important to understand how the director’s job differs when working with a living playwright or screenwriter on original material. A long-time colleague of mine, a terrific actress, once kvetched to the author about the pressure the cast felt by the presence of a skittish, intrusive writer in the early rehearsals. The good director recognizes that all those fears and insecurities are in fact the seat of great acting because therein lies the actor’s greatest gift: courage in the face of fear. Good actors will focus their attention on their scene partners and react spontaneously and truthfully to their partner’s behavior, according to the dictates of their actions.
