EVERYTHING BUT REHEARSAL:
a workshop in director preparation

A substantial amount of a director's work is done during the time before rehearsal begins, yet what a director does in this period can be mysterious because much of it is done alone. This online workshop is for directors to expand their toolbox of techniques and exercise their skills in director preparation. Each participant will bring a play to prepare for the six-week workshop. During weekly Zoom sessions, we will read about and try different preparation methods and practice moments with guest professionals such as pitching a play, first meeting with designers, and first rehearsal in a supportive setting to learn and develop skills.

Topics
Week 1: Following your first instincts. Beginning of Text Analysis
Week 2: Text analysis continued. Dramaturgical Research and Images.
Week 3: Pitching Plays to an Artistic Director or company.
Week 4: Collaborating with Designers
Week 5: Casting!
Week 6: Presentations for first rehearsal.

 

Instructor: Joanie Schultz

August 10 - September 21
Mondays, 7-10pm
(No class on September 7)

Location: All class sessions will be hosted online using Zoom.

Cost: $250 (scholarships available)
Application Deadline: July 31, 2020, 11:59pm


To Apply

This application is closed.
The application includes three steps: uploading your resume, completing an application form, and an optional scholarship application form. Both steps 1 and 2 must be completed for your application to be considered.
Admissions decisions are expected around August 5, and class will begin on August 10. To ensure a collaborative and engaging process, the class will be limited to eight students. Admissions decisions will be made separately from scholarship decisions, and every effort will be made to assemble a group of eight directors that is diverse along a range of criteria.

Step 1 - Resume

Please save your resume as a PDF, using your name as the file name: Last_First.pdf
Click below to upload your resume. If this upload option gives you trouble, you may also email your resume to info@steeptheatre.com with “Directing Workshop Resume” in the subject line.

Step 2 - Application Form

Step 3 - Scholarship Application (Optional)

Tuition for this workshop provides compensation for the instructor and guest artists and covers essential class supplies and technology. We never want money to stand in the way of art, and we know that this is a particularly challenging time for many artists. To request a scholarship, please complete the form below. These requests will be reviewed separately from class applications and will not influence the application review process.

Scholarship funds are limited, and the amount we are able to offer to any individual student will depend on the number of scholarships requested.


About the Instructor

Joanie Schultz is a director, educator, and arts leader of theatre and opera. She calls home Chicago, but makes homes wherever she is.

In 2017 & 2018, Joanie served as Artistic Director of WaterTower Theatre in Dallas-Fort Worth, where she oversaw two years of diverse, exciting, and award-winning work. From 2014-16, Joanie served as Associate Artistic Producer at Victory Gardens Theater, as part of the Leadership U One-on-One Fellowship funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by TCG.

Joanie’s work includes directing for The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, The Cleveland Play House, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre in Washington DC, and at least 30 other theatre and opera companies throughout Chicago and the US.

Select notable work has included directing the smash hit and long-extended immersive production of Hand to God (Studio Theatre & WaterTower Theatre); her own new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (WaterTower Theatre); the visually stunning world premiere of Frida…A Self Portrait (Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Portland Center Stage); the world premieres of Sarah Gubbins’ Cocked (Victory Gardens Theater), fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life (Steppenwolf Theatre), and The Kid Thing (About Face Theatre/Chicago Dramatists); the critically lauded The Whale and Rest by Samuel D. Hunter (Victory Gardens Theater); the Jeff Award winning productions of In Arabia We’d All be Kings and The Brief History of Helen of Troy (Steep Theatre); site-specific performances of the operas Acis and Galatea (Chicago Cultural Center) and Bluebeard’s Castle (New Millennium Orchestra); and co-creating and directing a 6-hour theatrical adaptation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle (The Building Stage).

Joanie holds an MFA in directing from Northwestern University and a BA in directing from Columbia College Chicago. She was a Drama League Fellow; The Goodman Theatre's Michael Maggio Directing Fellow; the SDCF Denham Fellow; a Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab participant; and was 2013 Co-Artistic Curator for Theater on the Lake. Joanie was co-Artistic Director of Estrogen Fest; Associate Artistic Director of The Building Stage; and co-Founder/Artistic Director of Flush Puppy Productions.

Along with being an ensemble member at Steep Theatre, she is an artistic associate with Victory Gardens Theater; and an artistic cabinet member at Studio Theatre in DC. She has been on theater faculty of Columbia College Chicago and University of Chicago, the opera faculty of Roosevelt University, and has taught for the School at Steppenwolf, the Audition Studio, and Italian Operatic Experience.