INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN YORKEY
Brian, I understand you are from the Seattle area having gone to school at Issaquah High School and are an alum of Village
Theatre's Kidstage. Can you tell us a little bit about your background in theatre (i.e. how you got interested in theatre,
the path your work took you and where you are now with your work)?
I've been involved in theatre as long as I can remember. Back to writing little mystery plays for my fourth-grade class that were
blatant Encyclopedia Brown ripoffs. One of my best friends growing up in Issaquah was Heidi Darchuk, whose father Carl started Village Theatre,
and I naturally sort of fell in there, and ended up doing just about everything, on stage or off, at one time or another. It was in
the Kidstage summer program there, and at Issaquah High School, that I first started directing and writing -- the writing more
or less so I'd have something to direct. I went to college in New York City, and got a dual BA in Literature and Religion -- my thesis was in
ritual and performance theory -- while getting my theatre education outside the classroom. I was lucky enough to work with and observe some
incredible directors, including Anne Bogart, who remains a hero and an influence.
What do you enjoy most in the process of directing?
I enjoy rehearsal. Being in a room with a small collective of artists, each bringing distinct ideas, aesthetics, and approaches,
all working toward the same goal. I love discovery, discussion, argument, breaking through. I love not knowing, exploring, and finding out.
I feel at home in a rehearsal room, like I know who I am and what I'm supposed to be doing. It's sort of the only room in my life that's like that.
You have an impressive range in your work as a director, playwright, author and lyricist working in California, New York and here in Seattle.
Can you describe your experiences here versus your work in New York and California (i.e. how does working/living in these cities inform your work)?
In New York, I work primarily as a writer -- with two musicals on their (agonizingly slow) way to Broadway. Most of my directing work now
happens at Village, where I have run the new musicals program for seven years as well as directing on the mainstage. In Los Angeles, I'm
strictly a screenwriter, and though I always joke that it's my day job and I do it for the money, I find that every project in one discipline
teaches me things about the others. In particular, I'm always learning about characters and how they reveal themselves, how each story dictates
its own structure, and how visual imagination and information breathe life into storytelling. In a practical sense, each city treats its artists
differently, and each offers something unique: Seattle, a nurturing community and inspiring setting; New York, a rough-and-tumble trial by fire
and a cacophony of humanity to inform your work; Los Angeles, a lifestyle, some esteem, and the opportunity to make a living.
What do you think are the basic set of core skills a director needs to have?
Wow. That's an excellent question. You'd think I'd have a pat answer, wouldn't you, since I'm teaching a beginning directing class? Honestly,
I can't be so arrogant as to claim I know every tool a director needs. This I can say: a director should have the biggest toolbox she can, and
should always be looking to expand it. Some basic, essential tools that have been very important to me include the ability to communicate; active
listening skills; a strong sense of curiosity about people and why and how they do what they do; a love of the spoken word, of music, of silence;
an understanding of the body and the voice; a working knowledge of as many prominent acting disciplines as you can manage; a sense of visual and
spatial composition; some sort of grounding in the breadth of theatrical history; basic knowledge of all the different technical departments; and,
perhaps most important, a genuine love for actors and what they do.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing a director?
Artistically, in our age and country, the director must be immensely flexible and versatile to bring together actors (and designers and technicians)
of many different schools of thought and training to produce a cohesive work of theatre. Practically, making theatre out of limited resources of people,
material, and time. All can be done -- but, wow, it takes work.
What is the most rewarding part of the work you experience as a director?
Working with actors and other theatre artists and craftspeople at the top of their games-learning from them, challenging them, sharing breakthroughs
and discoveries.
What unique qualities and skills do you see yourself bringing to the role of instructor of the upcoming directing class?
I've worked in venues of all sizes, from Carnegie Hall or the National Theatre of Taiwan to Village's decrepit First Stage or a twenty-seat garage on
the Lower East Side. I've worked with actors of all skill levels, and designers of many different backgrounds. I've learned a lot about how to adapt to
every situation without losing sight of the artist you wish to be. I hope to distill that experience into some
basic starting points for the class.
How would you describe the role of the audience and how much do you think the director should consider them anyway?
The audience are the final collaborator in any theatrical event. We want to engage them, to invite them in to discover with us. Give them enough
to get them hooked, but make them work for the rest. I'm not above pandering, though I try to avoid it. Writers often talk about the "ideal reader",
and in one of her books Anne Bogart talks about the concept applying to theatre as well-we shouldn't try to make theatre that will appeal to anyone or
everyone, but we should work to reach that "ideal reader" and create an experience that will touch their lives. I always think of the moments in theatre
that left me transformed, changed forever, and I seek to do the same for someone else's.
I understand that Universal Pictures has acquired rights to Prospect Pictures' fantasy musical film Time After Time, to be written by you and directed
by Marcos Siega. I read that Time After Time is the story of a teenage girl who finds herself going back in time to 1985 and a world where people break
out into song. It is true that you pitched the movie by staging part of it, complete with actors, dancers and singers and that Cyndi Lauper may take a
role in the film? (Other artists used in the pitch were the Cure, Soft Cell, the Police, Erasure and the Go-Gos) What was that experience like?"
It was a trip. We toured the boardrooms of all the major studios with a cast of teenagers singing and dancing to the greatest hits of the 80s, while I
told the story. The execs were sort of bowled over. They'd never really seen anything like it. Of course, in New York, that's how you pitch a musical
-- but in LA, the closest they'd seen (one Paramount VP told me) was the time the Spice Girls danced on the table.
Ah, LA. You gotta love it.
The great Russian director Vakhtangov, according to his pupil Nikolai Gorchakov, 'believed that directors should be trained at a theatre, learning as
they went along. He affirmed that director-to-be should accumulate experience at every rehearsal and work out his own laws of directing.' Your thoughts
on that perspective?
Wholeheartedly agree. The only way to truly learn directing is to direct. It goes back to your toolbox question -- each director must determine for him-
or herself what tools they need, and they should constantly be adding, removing, and shaping the tools they use. I feel about directing like I feel about
life -- you're never done learning.
Can you describe what your experience (challenges/benefits) has been working on film as a playwright and working with a director instead of being in
the role of director?
I actually enjoy working with a director as a writer, whether for film or theatre. A director's job is to nurture the whole vision of a piece, and the
breadth and depth of their perspective informs the writing. And the best directors are also excellent editors (and not just of writers, but of actors
and designers as well!) clarifying intent, focusing the work, making the meaning clear and strong.
That said, it's always nice to go back to directing and be in charge. Heh heh.
We are thrilled to have you teaching the directing class. Can you talk a bit about what you are hoping your students come away with at
completion of the class?
More than anything, I hope students come away with a sense of the director's job in all its facets, and their own strengths and areas for improvement.
As we've discussed, learning directing is an ongoing process, and if this class can give students the tools to get started, and the excitement to learn more,
I'll be gratified.
What other directors' work do you most admire?
Sheesh. That's a huge list. Off the top of my head, in no particular order: Anne Bogart, James Lapine, Peter Sellars, Peter Brook, Dan Sullivan,
Nicholas Hytner, Robert Wilson, Moises Kaufman, Richard Foreman, Sam Mendes, Warner Shook, George Wolfe, David Esbjornson, Jack O'Brien, Doug Hughes,
Jeff Steitzer. If I had to pick three: Anne Bogart, Dan Sullivan, George Wolfe. And though I haven't experienced their work firsthand, I learned so
much from the writings of Harold Clurman, William Ball, Michael Bloom, and Jon Jory.
Any words you might share with budding directors? Things that you wish someone had told you when you were starting out as a director?
Be honest, be truthful, be passionate. Don't give in to easy irony or idiot snark. Darkness is fashionable, but light is much harder to find.
Dare to make something that matters.
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We are very lucky to have a wide array of incredibly talented and prolific Freehold Faculty and are excited to
announce that BRIAN YORKEY will be joining that distinguished group this Spring Quarter teaching our new Directing Class.
In January of this year, Freehold Theatre presented its Thirteenth Annual Studio Series. The popular series
featured works created and performed by Freehold students, alumni, faculty and community members and included dance,
monologues, spoken word, scene work and clown performances. The Studio Series presented an entirely different program
of work each week, Thursday to Sunday and this year for the first time the Studio Series Encore was added for the fourth week,
which included a selection of work from the first three weeks.