Lindsay Johnson, Wander Boesjes, Brenly Treece, and Jonah Thorpe-Kramp might look like they’re all just sitting around at a badly coordinated outdoor cafe, but they’re actually getting ready to perform “London Fog For Here!” (Oregon Fringe Festival, 2016.)
Theatre Happens Where You Make It Happen.
Admittedly, I'm more of a film director than I am a stage director, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy directing for the stage. I am actually eager to direct more theatre in the future. I think that theatre is a hugely important medium that should not be ignored, particularly environmental theatre, which can pop out at you from just about anywhere you are.
Pictured above is "London Fog For Here," a play I wrote and directed at the 2016 Oregon Fringe Festival. Those aren't just people sitting at a coffee shop in that photograph. With the exception of the blonde (who is me) the gentleman standing near the pole (my stage manager, Peter) and the woman in the fluorescent green headband-shirt-combo (who is just a random passerby who happened to pick a phenomenal seat) the rest of the people in that photograph are about to perform a play to the public. Some knew the play was going to happen - some didn't - but all were entertained. This is the kind of theatre I enjoy doing.
A college production of "The Author's Voice." In this version, Gene is an actual gnome with actual pointy shoes. Good times! Starring Dominique Francis, Reid Honeywell, and Becca Curtis. Stage Managed by Meg Chambers.
I studied directing for the stage at Southern Oregon University, under the instruction of David McCandless and James Jesse Peck, respectively. While at university, the only play I directed that I did not write was "The Author's Voice" by Richard Greenberg. You can watch the first part of it in the video linked above.
The following year I decided I needed to direct something again, and mounted a production of my own one-act play, "Energy Costs." One of the stars of that production was Jon Cates, who went on to work with me on the “I Never” trilogy, “How to Marry a Vampire,” “Down,” and “The Truth About Daisies.”
Martha and Reece, two of the other actors, also later appeared in a workshopped version of “London Fog” (that I did not direct) at the Paschal Winery Reading Series. Small world, right?
“Energy Costs” was so well-received that the University decided to mount another production the following year, directed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Rex Young. I was totally blown away by that version, especially since students were being graded to say dialogue and make stage directions happen that I had written! It’s a bizarre but very wonderful feeling.
Here's my version:
"Energy Costs" was written by Mig Windows. It was directed by Mig Windows and Jesse Earhart and starred Reece Bredl as Emmett, Martha Thatcher as Abby, Jon Cates as Rafe and Kelly Brennan as Heather. The stage manager was Marie-Claire Erdynast.