Women and Wallace was a fantastic challenge. There were many moving parts but I think that with the my work and the incredibly hard work of my cast and crew, we put together a fantastic show. I loved my time directing and the most important that I can think of looking back was when I was watching one of the final run throughs. I was watching Jon perform his final monologue of “wanting to change history” and it hit me that this was a real, live, breathing show. I felt an enormous sense of pride. This felt like my project and it was one that was shaped by my cast so wonderfully.
For my strengths, I think that I did a great job of getting my actors to get where they needed to go for their characters. Their acting was superb and I felt that I worked out the comedic moments as well as the poignant ones. I think that I handled the mother’s death scene well and that it got the message across without excessive gore. The cohesion of the cast was also palpable even though they were never on stage together at the same time. They were all working together and were supportive of one another during the rehearsal period. They drew on the things that their characters came up with to enhance their own backstories and I think that it showed.
Things to work on for next time would be my tech design. I had a very clear vision for the story, but not necessarily how the tech would lend itself to that (besides the mother’s death scene). If I had a clearer vision for tech it might have been my music for transitions might have translated better. I am also excited to possibly work with more seasoned designers. Although my sound and light designers were great, both had their own projects they were working on at the same time and weren’t devoting their full attention to the show. Totally understandable that as students they had other things going on I would, I just wish that I had someone to help me make decisions instead of making them all for myself.
Overall, I am so proud of this project and I cannot wait to gain more experience and direct another show.