Incite/Insight Spring-Summer 2019 Incite_Insight—Spring_Summer 2019 Final | Page 5

Approaching Analogue Topics with
Digital Support: Using Skype to
Teach the Staged Reading
WRITTEN BY ANNIE G. LEVY
When it comes to directing as both
a craft and an academic pursuit,
there is no singular correct teaching
method to employ. Teaching
directing can be as varied and as
individualized as both the directing
professor and the directing student.
In creating a unit for her graduate
cohort on directing a staged reading,
Assistant Professor Annie G. Levy
wanted to find a way to introduce as
many professional points of views
as possible. As part of a university
removed from a theatre hub, Levy
decided to experiment with bringing
her professional colleagues into her
classroom with the help of digital
communication, namely Skype. Being
cognizant of what could be lost in a
virtual teaching model, but curious
about what could be gained, Levy
created a six-week unit that included
guest teaching over Skype from two
directors of primarily new works and
two playwrights who are well-versed
in the staged reading process as
part of a play’s journey. This article
will touch upon the experience of
each guest teacher, their reflections
on using digital communication to
teach about a topic of directing, and
replication suggestions for other
professors interested in exploring this
form.
I am an assistant professor and the
head of the MFA concentration in
directing at a university that resides
far away from a theatre hub. When
I recently had the opportunity to
spend a semester away from my
teaching duties, I needed to ensure
that my graduate students would
continue to grow and be challenged
with their studies in my absence.
Being the only academic who
concentrates on directing in my
department, the problem to solve in
planning for the semester was one
of finding an active topic, pertinent
to the advanced study of directing,
where a considerable portion of the
work could be undertaken through
independent exploration. One area
of directing that makes up a large
percentage of an emerging artist’s
professional life is directing staged
readings of new plays. Ironically,
despite the high probability that
an emerging director will be asked
(or hired) to direct staged readings
of new work, the specific needs of
directing a successful staged reading
are not formally studied as part of
advanced training. With that in mind,
I decided to focus the first six weeks
of my grad students’ semester (and
of my time away from campus) on
the skills necessary and practice of
directing a successful staged reading
of a new play.
However, with this topic selected,
I immediately faced a second
challenge: What connotes a
“successful” staged reading?
There is a limited amount of formal
writing (or any writing) on directing
the staged reading, and what is there
cannot be considered a blueprint
or a how-to guide. Learning how to
approach this facet of directing can
be best classified as experiential
learning, and to truly learn how to
do it, one must actually take on the
challenge of doing it. After reaching
out and finding three MFA students
in the university’s Creative Writing
program all with either a new play in
progress or the desire to write a new
play, I paired my grad directors with
the grad writers, satisfied in knowing
that they would have the experience
of learning by doing, bringing a
staged reading of a new work to
fruition. However, in thinking of the
best way to prepare my students for
the work, it felt imperative to expose
them to as many examples of “best
practices” as possible to bring into
their experiential learning process.
The challenge was finding a way to
satisfy the pedagogical desire of
giving them the experience of being
“in the room” for as many successful
stage readings as possible. Not being
able to transport my grad students
into other stage reading processes
in order to give them the opportunity
to observe other directors, I decided
to attempt to bring as much stage
reading experience into their
classroom as I could.
I reached out to two playwrights
(China Hutchinson and L.M. Feldman)
and two directors who have extensive
experience directing new work (Portia
Krieger and Nelson Eusebio). Each of
these artists would have two class
meetings with the grad students
in order to share their insight and
experience with the stage reading
process and to challenge whatever
preconceived notions my students
had about directing staged readings.
However, all of these artists were
located far away from the university,
mostly in and around New York,
as well as Philadelphia. In order to
transcend the reality of distance,
the guest instructors would be
joining them via Skype, or the video
conferencing system of their choice
(for brevity in this article, I am going
to use Skype as the catch-all for the
technology used to instruct).
INCITE/INSIGHT 5