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theatredirectors · 5 years

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Lauren Hlubny

Hometown?

I’m originally from a small town in South Jersey called Shamong.

Where are you now?

I live in Brooklyn, NY

What's your current project?

I’m currently working on Thoughts & Prayers — a dance-theatre-concerto—which for us means a dance-heavy, music-driven theatre piece. It presents my thoughts on the American way of dealing with calamity - be it an act of man or a natural disaster. This work is about many things, but the most compelling for me is the focus on how to fight complacency and engage in the world in a way that makes a difference. Thoughts & Prayers is about the different ways we can react to catastrophe. Through music, dialogue, and dance, we explore human reactions, such as numbness, mourning, guilt, laughter, and more which keep us stuck in cycles of disaster, until there reaches a point where something changes, someone listens. We take the audience on a journey from letting things happen and feeling trapped and hopeless, to taking whatever agency they can. This piece is tragic, funny even at moments, but overall it is about hope. Tragedy may happen, but we have the power to do something about it. It is our goal that the audience leaves with the tools necessary to take that next step towards action. Please join us September 19-29 (tech is in less than two weeks!) at TADA! Theatre in Manhattan.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

My first exposure to theatre was sneaking into my living room way past my bedtime and catching the ending of the movie version of Evita featuring Madonna. From then on, I was hooked on movie musicals, borrowing them in bulk from the local library and devouring them learning everything I could. When I got to high school, and they didn’t have a theatre teacher, I went around getting students to sign a petition so that the school would hire one (and they did!). I was really lucky to go to Florida State University for theatre and cultural anthropology, and it was there that I studied under some of the premier specialists of Jerzy Grotowski and Vsevolod Meyerhold in the United States, both trailblazers in experimental physical theatre, and that’s what kept me in this field years later. It’s really incredible that almost the entirety of the creative team for Thoughts & Prayers studied at some point in time at FSU, whether it be for their undergrad or doctorate, and every collaborator on the team has had the capacity to tour the world, speaking at conferences, performing music, presenting work, and engaging with the best of the best around about town here in NYC too, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alvin Ailey, NY Deaf Theatre, Joe’s Pub, and countless other top-notch places.

What is your directing dream project?

My directing dream project is one which is capable of paying everyone involved the amount they deserve while not compromising our desire to innovate in the space between circus, theatre, dance, and music or our values of focusing on work which is conscious of the political climate in which it is created. When I started to devote myself to being a director, I started a list of projects, and they range in scope, some are huge circus-style pieces (yes, complete with stilts) which I want to stage in public arenas in Paris and make them free to anyone who would like to come, while some are smaller--like staging a classical story on a sailboat sailed by dancers. I’ve always been fond of taking well-known stories and completely upending them, finding a way to make the work accessible without sacrificing the desire for positive change. I don’t have my sights set on staging any canon works, I’m more invigorated by the idea of continuing to make something completely new--and to challenge myself in ways that make my craft harder and harder. The audience arrangement is one example of how I’ve been able to do this and staging Thoughts & Prayers in tennis court style seating was incredibly challenging. How can I keep developing my research and the research of theatre practitioners before me while pushing myself to take risks that are almost insurmountable?

What kind of theatre excites you?

The kind of theatre that excites me is aware of the theatre researchers that came before and also conscious of the world in which it is made—the type of theatre that provides a call to action without sacrificing the desire to present the highest caliber of skill in its performers. I’m excited by theatre which pushes people just outside of their comfort zones, performers included. Examples of shows that take risks like this include Fairview, Indecent, and Mlima’s Tale, shows that take risks with their visuals and their audiences, and do not shy away from the decision to make something new and meaningful in the current climate. I am moved by theatre which considers the range of accessibility that their audience has to the content. I am thrilled by theatre which entices its audience away from complacency and vaults them into a conversation, keeping them buzzing weeks, months, even years after with the memories and the call to action embedded in the piece. Embedded in this work, we are challenging the audience to observe one another, and be on both sides of the discussion.

What do you want to change about theatre today?

A big difficulty for theatre-makers today is finding outside-the-box ways to survive. Taking big risks to make work you believe in is difficult when you have to put food on the table, but risks are what make history—and make truly compelling work. It is the responsibility of theatre to make change happen in the world and not to recycle stories that glorify problems (like mistreatment of women), to provide a safe space (especially for makers from less represented communities) to question society and inspire change. In order to make this sort of theatre commercially accessible, producers and benefactors need to put money into it and people need to stop stigmatizing humans who wish to become artists. In my own practice, I only work on shows that deliver a message of equality and positive social change to their audiences. I endeavor to be inclusive in my casting. I do not condone aimless violence on stage—as violence is violence no matter the setting. I am committed to ensuring that my performers and collaborators feel safe to be vulnerable in our rehearsal and performance spaces. I find ways to compensate my teams any way I can, whether it be by honing skills they are interested in acquiring or tirelessly raising money so that everyone on the team gets paid. I don’t compromise when it comes to my values. I like to recall a meeting I had with an acclaimed neurosurgeon in Lublin, Poland, where he told me he actually admired what I do more than I could even know. When I asked him why, he said, “What I do saves lives, what you do gives people a reason to live.”

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?

It’s a prudent move if you wish to teach at the university level.

Who are your theatrical heroes?

Pina Bausch. Crystal Pite. Yes, they’re both in the dance community, but for me, they are trailblazers in the performing arts, past and present, and it’s difficult to find historical role models in the dance-theatre field who are not men identifying. These two women have an incredible capability to create movement vocabularies which not only captivate me but take me places narratively that I cannot get out of my memory. The specificity in their work is not only physical but the emotional throughline, the hopelessness and the joy, the dark and the bright all wrapped into one moment--they make me want to keep working harder to find that place in my narratives. I find myself holding my breath when I see their works, and when the curtain falls I’m saddened that the experience has ended.

Any advice for directors just starting out?

Practice. Hone your craft. Take weird gigs. Respect your performers. You never know where an opportunity will come from. Before I was a director, I was a performer and a stage electrician. My devotion towards learning those two crafts, and the ins and outs of how they could inter-play on stage gave me the skills to create the images on stage I see only in my dreams, and in a safe, respectful, and resourceful way. Taking on strange challenges, like directing a circus-theatre show in a backyard in Maine for a community, that included gathering arborists to make sure the tree is safe enough for a trapeze to be strung up (and there are pictures of me stringing up a thirty-foot sheet to a tree limb so I could backlight a trapeze artist). My biggest advice would be to work with collaborators that you believe in—surround yourself with people who are willing to put the work in, and are not willing to compromise their values, and you will always feel fulfilled.

Plugs?

Join us for Thoughts & Prayers and for various post-show panel discussions led by social justice and arts organizations, September 19-29. Since the show is in tennis court-style seating (audience on both sides of the stage), plan to come at least twice to catch all of the action!

https://thoughtsandprayerstheshow.brownpapertickets.com/.

#Lauren Hlubny #askadirector #theatre directors

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theatredirectors · 4 years

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268 Directors and the end of the blog

This post marks the end of the Ask a Director experiment. I’m so grateful to all who have contributed, supported and engaged with it over the past six and a half years.

This blog was started at a time when I felt incredibly alone in the directing field. I had always been taught that a director operates solo, that it was a lonely career and above all, it was based on scarcity. This was a style of working and living that didn't fit for me. I wanted to talk to other directors about their practice and thoughts about the field, both national and international. This blog was started as a way to connect, to uplift other directors and to create a conversation about the changing field and practices.

It's surpassed all of these goals and brought me more joy than I can name.

I'm now at a moment where my practice and advocacy are taking different and exciting paths and it's time for me to put this site to bed. I remain committed to uplifting other directors, to talking about the practice, to flattening hierarchies, to opening doors for new ways of working, and leading rehearsal rooms, companies, and classrooms away from silos and vacuums. Featuring these 268 different directors was just the beginning.

I encourage you all to hire them (and others), advocate for them (and others) and choose to work in a system that values connection and generosity.

Abhishek Majumdar

Adam Fitzgerald

Alice Stanley

Aliza Shane

Amanda McRaven

Amy Corcoran

Amy Jephta

Anisa George

Ana Margineau

Andrew Scoville

Anna Stromberg

Anne Cecelia Haney

Ariel Francoeur

Arpita Mukherjee

Ashley Hollingshead

Ashley Marinaccio

Andrew Neisler

Beng Oh

Ben Randle

Ben Stockman

Benjamin Kamine

Beth Lopes

Bo Powell

Bogdan Georgescu

Bonnie Gabel

Brandon Ivie

Brandon Woolf

Brian Hashimoto

Cait Robinson

Caitlin Ryan O’Connell

Caitlin Sullivan

Catie Davis

Cara Phipps

Carol Ann Tan

Carsen Joenk

Chari Arespacochaga

Cheryl Faraone

Chloe Treat

Christin Eve Cato

Christine Zagrobelny

Christopher Diercksen

Colette Robert

Colleen Hughes

Cyndy Marion

Dado Gyure

Dan Rothenberg

Daniel Irizarry

Danielle Ozymandias

Danny Sharon

Dara Malina

David Charles

Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li

Derek Spencer

Donald Brenner

Doug Oliphant

Eamon Boylan

Elena Araoz

Emily Lyons

Emma Miller

Eric Kildow

Eric Wallach

Eric Powell Holm

Estefania Fadul

Evelina Stampa

Evren Odcikin

Evi Stamatiou

Francesca Montanile Lyons

Gabriel Vega Weissman

Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte

Graham Schmidt

Gregg Wiggans

Hannah Ryan

Hannah Wolf

Heather Bagnall

Horia Suru

Ilana Becker

Ilana Ransom Toeplitz

Illana Stein

Ioanna Katsarou

Ioli Andreadi

Irina Abraham Chigiryov

Iris Sowlat

Isaac Klein

J Paul Nicholas

Jack Tamburri

Jaclyn Biskup

Jacob Basri

Jake Beckhard

Jaki Bradley

Jamie Watkins

Javier Molina

Jay Stern

Jay Stull

Jenna Rossman

Jenna Worsham

Jennifer Chambers

Jenny Bennett

Jenny Reed

Jeremy Bloom

Jeremy Pickard

Jerrell Henderson

Jess Hutchinson

Jess Shoemaker

Jesse Jou

Jessi D Hill

Jessica Burr

Jessica Holt

Jillian Carucci

Joanne Zipay

Jo Cattell

John Michael Diresta

John Kurzynowski

Joe Hedel

Jonathan Munoz-Proulx

Jose Zayas

Josh Kelley

Josh Sobel

Joshua Kahan Brody

Joshua William Gelb

Julia Sears

Justin Schlabach

Kareem Fahmy

Karen Christina Jones

Kate Bergstrom

Kate Hopkins

Kate Jopson

Kate Moore Heaney

Katherine M. Carter

Katherine Wilkinson

Kathy Gail MacGowan

Katie Chidester

Kendall Cornell

Kendra Augustin

Kholoud Sawaf

Kimberly Faith Hickmann

Kim Weild

KJ Sanchez

Knud Adams

Kristin Marting

Kristin McCarthy Parker

Kristin Skye Hoffman

Kristy Chambrelli

Kristy Dodson

KT Shorb

Kyle Metzger

Kylie M. Brown

Larissa Fasthorse

Larissa Lury

Laura Brandel

Laura Steinroeder

Lauren Hlubny

Lauren Keating

Lavina Jadhwani

Jenn Haltman

Leta Tremblay

Lila Rachel Becker

Lillian Meredith

Lily Riopelle

Lindsey Hope Pearlman

Lisa Rothe

Lisa Sanaye Dring

Liz Thaler

Lori Wolter Hudson

Lucie Tiberghien

Luke Comer

Luke Tudball

Lyndsay Burch

Lynn Lammers

Mallory Catlett

Manon Manavit

Margarett Perry

Maridee Slater

Marina Bergenstock

Marti Lyons

Martin Jago

Matt Cosper

Matt Ritchey

Max Hunter

Megan Sandberg-Zakian

Megan Weaver

Meghan Finn

Melissa Crespo

Melody Erfani

Michael Alvarez

Michael T. Williams

Michaela Escarcega

Michelle Tattenbaum

Mimi Barcomi

Miranda Haymon

Molly Beach Murphy

Molly Clifford

Molly Noble

Morgan Gould

Morgan Green

Murielle Borst-Tarrant

Nana Dakin

Natalie Novacek

Neal Kowalsky

Nell Bang-Jensen

Nick Benacerraf

Noa Egozi

Norah Elges

Normandy Sherwood

Olivia Lilley

Orly Noa Rabinyan

Oscar Mendoza

Pablo Paz

Padraic Lillis

Patrick Walsh

Pete Danelski

Pirronne Yousefzadeh

Portia Krieger

Rachel Karp

Rachel Wohlander

Randolph Curtis Rand

Raz Golden

Rebecca Cunningham

Rebecca Martinez

Rebecca Wear

Renee Phillippi

Renee Yeong

Rich Brown

Rick St. Peter

Robert Schneider

Ryan Anthony Nicotra

Sammi Cannold

Sammy Zeisel

Sanaz Ghajar

Sara Holdren

Sara Lyons

Sara Rademacher

Sarah Elizabeth Wansley

Sarah Hughes

Sarah M. Chichester

Sarah Rose Leonard

Sash Bischoff

Scarlett Kim

Seonjae Kim

Seth Pyatt

Sharifa Elkady

Shaun Patrick Tubbs

Sherri Eden Barber

Simon Hanukai

Sophia Watt

Suchan Vodoor

Stephen Cedars

Steven Kopp

Steven Wilson

Talya Klein

Tana Siros

Tara Ahmadinejad

Tara Cioletti

Tara Elliott

Tatiana Pandiani

Taylor Reynolds

TerryandtheCuz

Tommy Schoffler

Tracy Bersley

Trevor Biship

Tyler Mercer

Wednesday Sue Derrico

Will Dagger

Will Davis

Will Detlefsen

Will Steinberger

Yojiro Ichikawa

Yoni Oppenheim

Zi Alikhan

Zoya Kachardurian

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