From the Director
Usually, a director’s note waxes philosophically on the show they directed. What does the show mean? What does it say about our current society? What deeper meaning do they hope you glean from their direction of the production? But this production has had a unique trajectory from its start, so why stick with tradition now? Instead, I’ll fill you in on all the dirt. Besides, the only takeaway I hope you have is, “Damn, that was a fun night at the theatre.”
I came to direct this evening of scenes written by David Ives via a very unconventional path. I was not hired to direct this play. In fact, the Department of Theatre and Dance had no intention of even producing this play. Tonight you were supposed to be seeing Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, a hilarious Mel Brooks-style send-up of the classic Bram Stoker tale. But four days before auditions, the publishing house pulled the rights, presumably in support of an upcoming national tour. With no show to produce and only four days to fix it, the department (myself included) scrambled to find a new show and landed on John Proctor is the Villain, the hit Broadway play which closed last month amid seemingly unanimous praise. It is a timely and important work about power dynamics, coming of age, inappropriate relationships, and the #metoo movement. We auditioned and cast the production. And the next day, the publishing house pulled the rights on that show as well. As my late mother used to say, “You plan and God laughs.”
With this newfound hole in our season, and a cast of students that now needed a performance
opportunity, I found myself in a predicament not many directors experience. Instead of casting a group of actors to fit a play, I was now tasked with casting a play to fit a group of actors. This new play had to not only accommodate the makeup of the cast, but also provide them with enough “meat on the bone” to make it worth their while, lest an actor who was cast as a lead now finds themselves in a minor role.
While other plays were considered, I kept coming back to a production I saw while I myself was a freshman in the Catawba theatre department, which was directed by one of this evening’s Hall of Fame inductees, Andrew Tucci. It was the late 1900s, a time of no social media or digital evidence of all the college rules being regularly broken. Gas was $0.99 at the station on the corner of W. Innes and Mahaley. A simpler time indeed. That show was All in the Timing, a collection of scenes by playwright David Ives.
Ives’s incredible wit, proclivity for the absurd, and constant examination of how we communicate with one another certainly fit my own personal tastes, and upon further examination, by cobbling together scenes from two of his collections, it fit the cast as well. I found myself not only with a play that would work, but one that I was just as excited to direct as I had been the previous two selections.
Sometimes the universe provides you with what you didn’t know you needed, and finding myself directing this cast in this play has turned out to be just that. From watching the actors pivot without hesitation, to being able to essentially direct eight plays in one go (if you are reading this before the show, don’t worry, you’ll see what I mean). I could not have asked for a better experience directing my first show at my beloved alma mater. I am proud of the team of student performers and designers who you will soon see knock it out of the park. I am proud of my fellow professors, who stepped up to help in any way they could. I am proud of my son for understanding why Dad isn’t at bedtime for a few weeks, and my wife for taking on the responsibility of said bedtime solo. But most importantly, this experience has given me a new reason to be a proud alum of Catawba College.
— Director, Tom Lapke
I came to direct this evening of scenes written by David Ives via a very unconventional path. I was not hired to direct this play. In fact, the Department of Theatre and Dance had no intention of even producing this play. Tonight you were supposed to be seeing Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, a hilarious Mel Brooks-style send-up of the classic Bram Stoker tale. But four days before auditions, the publishing house pulled the rights, presumably in support of an upcoming national tour. With no show to produce and only four days to fix it, the department (myself included) scrambled to find a new show and landed on John Proctor is the Villain, the hit Broadway play which closed last month amid seemingly unanimous praise. It is a timely and important work about power dynamics, coming of age, inappropriate relationships, and the #metoo movement. We auditioned and cast the production. And the next day, the publishing house pulled the rights on that show as well. As my late mother used to say, “You plan and God laughs.”
With this newfound hole in our season, and a cast of students that now needed a performance
opportunity, I found myself in a predicament not many directors experience. Instead of casting a group of actors to fit a play, I was now tasked with casting a play to fit a group of actors. This new play had to not only accommodate the makeup of the cast, but also provide them with enough “meat on the bone” to make it worth their while, lest an actor who was cast as a lead now finds themselves in a minor role.
While other plays were considered, I kept coming back to a production I saw while I myself was a freshman in the Catawba theatre department, which was directed by one of this evening’s Hall of Fame inductees, Andrew Tucci. It was the late 1900s, a time of no social media or digital evidence of all the college rules being regularly broken. Gas was $0.99 at the station on the corner of W. Innes and Mahaley. A simpler time indeed. That show was All in the Timing, a collection of scenes by playwright David Ives.
Ives’s incredible wit, proclivity for the absurd, and constant examination of how we communicate with one another certainly fit my own personal tastes, and upon further examination, by cobbling together scenes from two of his collections, it fit the cast as well. I found myself not only with a play that would work, but one that I was just as excited to direct as I had been the previous two selections.
Sometimes the universe provides you with what you didn’t know you needed, and finding myself directing this cast in this play has turned out to be just that. From watching the actors pivot without hesitation, to being able to essentially direct eight plays in one go (if you are reading this before the show, don’t worry, you’ll see what I mean). I could not have asked for a better experience directing my first show at my beloved alma mater. I am proud of the team of student performers and designers who you will soon see knock it out of the park. I am proud of my fellow professors, who stepped up to help in any way they could. I am proud of my son for understanding why Dad isn’t at bedtime for a few weeks, and my wife for taking on the responsibility of said bedtime solo. But most importantly, this experience has given me a new reason to be a proud alum of Catawba College.
— Director, Tom Lapke
