TV is the New Reading

What I bring to writing reviews

Directing a show gives you an appreciation for the elements of storytelling in a way that goes beyond writing or acting.

Locally, we just closed our production of “Let’s Murder Marsha,” which I directed. It was the fourth production I directed for the Minot Area Theatrical Society, and I feel it was probably my most successful.

My first production was Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which called for three distinct sets. If I were doing it again, I would have gone much more abstract with it. The set changes were worth the price of admission – and we didn’t have a curtain so everyone got to watch the transformation from one setting to the other. It helped that I had a great crew, but truly my second production, “What’s Your Sign?” was like a vacation. One single set. The problem with that one was that I wrote it and so every syllable was precious to me. In all reality, there was stuff in that show that needed editing, but I was way too close to it. A more experienced director might’ve made those changes.

A writer writes a story. A director tells it. And through a rehearsal process, negotiating with actors on the characters they are creating and their presentation and delivery, that story moves from stilted, disjointed and uncomfortable to something akin to watching a big screen television, which was one reaction to this weekend’s production, and perhaps my favorite.

Everyone needs to suspend disbelief for any constructed story, whether it be to ignore insufficiently masked electrical outlets in a Restoration comedy, or the fact that a fireplace isn’t actually lit, given that there’s no chimney construct or anything that could make it functional on a stage, or the fact that a phone isn’t hooked up to anything. Most people give the theater a pass on stuff like the set and the setting. It’s merely the jumping-off point for the story to carry them along.

In Agatha Christie’s “Toward Zero” I had the problem of being on stage while trying to direct. There are some issues with not having an audience point of view while you’re trying to present a production. I imagine in television and movies it’s easier because there’s playback and you can fix stuff that isn’t working. When I blocked myself into a scene-closing line delivered almost directly upstage – away from the audience – that should’ve been rethought. You rely more on your assistant director in those situations but however well they back you up, they don’t have your eyes or your vision for the overall production, so details like “No one can hear you at that point” might get overlooked.

For Monk Ferris’ “Let’s Murder Marsha,” I had the best of all possible worlds – a dedicated cast, a seasoned crew and a set that was built and dressed beautifully. I had … most of a good story. The script needed some editing, and even after some editing it still had some serious structural flaws. Other directors have confided in me that while the production was well received they hated this script. And I can certainly sympathize. It was the cutting room floor from “Three’s Company.” There was a lot of funny as a stockbroker tries to buy his neurotic, murder-mystery obsessed wife a gift that will really knock her dead and she gets a predictably wrong idea.

However, it can’t be that bad when, by simply eliminating two pages of pointless exchange that covers nothing and takes the story nowhere, redistributing a couple of lines here and there so it makes more sense with the characters delivering them, removing an entirely unnecessary scene break that untenably interrupts a tense situation where the audience would have to have to fight their way back into the story had we taken it, and then reworking the ending only slightly to bring things to a better sense of completion, that’s not a bad script. It’s merely the penultimate draft of a perfectly good script.

And, to spare the author’s feelings, I quote from the last production I appeared in, “Deathtrap,” to wit: “I’ll tell you how good it is: Even a gifted director couldn’t hurt it.”

I started acting in community theater in 1994 with the Bottineau Community Theater production of “Fiddler on the Roof.” I was involved with about one a year through 2000, taking on my first leading role as Willie Clark in the Mouse River Players production of “The Sunshine Boys” by Neil Simon on moving to Minot.

I think the closest role I’ve taken on since then in terms of size or scope is George a couple years back in “When The Cat’s Away,” which seemed like a nice front-and-center neurotic breakdown. My favorites over the years besides that one were probably Elyot Crummels as Bob Cratchit/Ghost of Marley et al. in “A Hopeless Christmas Carol,” Marvin in “California Suite,” Signor Baptiste Minola in “Taming of the Shrew” and Friar Laurence in “Romeo & Juliet,” all with the Minot Area Theatrical Society. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve managed to have a great time with every show I’ve taken on and every company I’ve worked with, but some simply stand out a little more.

What I’m saying is, with my latest production hitting the stage this week I didn’t really get a chance to watch or react to much media. While I’m on vacation this coming week I intend to rectify some of that.

But while I’m reacting to characters and storylines in these reviews I take on, I wanted to give a little bit of insight as to how I approach TV as the New Reading. I want to share where I’m coming from when I say a storyline is stagnant, or the dialogue is weak, or the characters are underdeveloped. I want to share what it is I’m reacting to when I say some show seems to be coming back stronger or when backstories are developing or if I’m reacting to subplots that have outworn their usefulness. Along with a lifelong love of writing and reading, I’m drawing on more than 15 years in community theater, as an actor, a playwright and a director, and the different perspectives provided in each. I approach dynamic storylines and characters with more enthusiasm because that’s my favorite approach to storytelling. Other people prioritize familiarity or nostalgia, or novelty for the sake of it, or wackiness for sake of it and that kind of storytelling has an audience as well. I try to stay aware of and share my reactions to a broad range of storytelling, but I make no bones about my favorite. If characters are taking on transformative challenges and writers are clearly exerting the effort to take us, the viewers, on a journey with them, I’m along for the ride.

Coming up this week, we have the long anticipated return of “Glee” on FOX Tuesday at 9:28/8:28c, and continue the countdown to the series finale of “LOST” starting at 9/8c on ABC. Jenna Elfman comedy “Accidentally on Purpose” is back on a new night Wednesdays at 8:30/7:30c on CBS, which I found out quite by accident when it appeared on my DVR after too long an absence. Whatever happened to marketing, guys, come on! I wish I could just do with “Desperate Housewives” and “Brothers & Sisters” what I did with “Parenthood.” I was sure I’d be watching that thing week in and week out and if I were to DVR it I’d probably watch it, but I quite by chance failed to set a series recording and now I’m sure Peter Krause is knocking it out of the park but he’s doing so entirely unbeknownst to me, and I don’t really feel I’m missing much.

Anyway, we’ve got some good shows coming up this week and I’m sure I’ll have more to say about them once I get a chance to actually watch them. Until then, locally we’ve got a production of “Emma” coming up at the high school and a production coming up at the college called “Extremities.” If you get a little tired of “Ghost Whisperer” and “The Mentalist,” maybe it’s time to head out and take in a show.

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