Overview

Terry McCabe, himself an accomplished stage director and teacher of theatre arts, here attacks what he calls the growing decadence that plagues contemporary stage directing. He argues for a radical reorganization of the director’s view of his role. It has become an article of faith in the theatre, Mr. McCabe observes, that a play is about what the director chooses to have it be about. But what right does a director have to treat a play as a found object, to be reshaped to express the director’s concerns? None whatsoever, Mr. McCabe replies. He examines anecdotally a range of work by different directors by way of offering a substantial critique of today’s leading theory of stage directing, and he offers an alternate approach. He challenges the notion that a play is the director’s vehicle for self-expression, arguing that the idea of the director as centerpiece of the theatre tends to distort plays and oppress actors. He explores what it means to direct a play when directing is properly understood as a process of self-effacement. Mis-directing the Play examines the role of the director as collaborator with actors, designers, dramaturges, and playwrights. Throughout, the book’s focus is on shedding the counterproductive myth of the director as creative auteur and urging in its place a return to first principles: the idea of the director as the interpretive artist in charge of putting the playwright’s play onstage.

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9781566637992

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Reviews

One of the paradoxes of the theatre is that the artistry of its greatest directors is largely invisible...Terry McCabe raises the curtain on why this must be so.--Gregory Mosher

Eminently sensible, delivered with cogent examples and equally cogent arguments. It is a heartfelt cry that needs to be heard. -- Nicholas Rudall One of the paradoxes of the theatre is that the artistry of its greatest directors is largely invisible...Terry McCabe raises the curtain on why this must be so. -- Gregory Mosher I would be delighted if every director I work with read and gave serious consideration to the ideas in this book. -- Jeffrey Sweet

Author Information

Terry McCabe has directed plays professionally in the Chicago area for more than twenty years, winning two Jefferson citations and a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh International Arts Festival. He studied theatre at Indiana and Northwestern universities and now teaches directing and other theatre classes at Columbia College in Chicago. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

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