Disagreement with the director

[MKeck]

Hello,

I'm working as the technical director at a local high school. This upcoming spring show will be my fourth musical at the school. The director and I get along very well, having worked on projects outside of the building and the shows there. The director announced today that she intends to put on Dreamgirls this spring. The students aren't theatrically strong and our past shows tend to be original short plays, modified scripts, or heavily ad-libbed. I don't feel that the quality will be strong enough for that show, causing us a bad reputation from the audience she's coveting. She wants to do the show to draw audience and make money, which I understand. My question is, how to cross this bridge without burning it? Should I just keep quiet and build a set for a show that the odds are against?

 

[josh88]

Make your case and those points. Sometimes that's all you can do. It takes a great idea flopping hard sometimes for a director to get that realization, of course nobody wishes for that to happen, but sometimes directors latch onto something so hard that you can't change their mind, make your case, do what you an and if you feel really uncertain about the final product and are able to step out of doing it, that'll make a point. If you can't, do the best you can on your end and don't say I told you so when it goes badly. If you draw a ton of people in with the name of the show and then put out something that doesn't live up to the name and expectations, all you'll do is turn those people off from coming back. Word of mouth is your best friend and worst enemy.


Via tapatalk

 

[MPowers]

State your opinion, let her know your reasons for reluctance. Then dive in and go with the flow. Make it clear that you are supporting her decision, 100%, one way or the other, and really support her. Don't just play the game, do it for real. It's her win or lose position, not yours. Just make sure you do everything in your power to make her decision a winning move. Everything we do in this business is a gamble. Make sure you tilt the odds in your favor as much as possible. By taking this path, success is her glory but you share. Failure in hers alone as you did all you could to achieve success. Always take the high road, it will prove to be the right path. Trust me, your efforts to make her vision succeed will follow you far more than her success or failure. People in this business know the difference between great work on a lame project and poor work or effort on even a poor project. Let her know your objections, then support her to the nth degree of your skills and talent. For you, your reliability and faithfulness are the prime directive. Making her succeed will improve your value and reputation. Making her fail can end your career.

In my years in this business I have encountered directors with their heads up their ### ones I really thought were crazy and ones who were inspired and ones who had no clue but produced brilliant results.

Go with the flow, let your opinions be known. and do your best to make it work. You'll come out ahead.

 

[MNicolai]

I like to honest but cautious in these situations.

Recently we had a local dance studio director who did Peter Pan. Presumably she chose it because it had flying, and flying sells tickets (or so she thought). She spent a substantial part of her budget on the flying effect and had enough money left to use kids' playhouses as scenery and no room left in the fly loft for almost any lighting. Show ended up being basically sidelit, staged in front of a plain black curtain, with a cast that barely knew their lines. Bottom line was, the choice of show should never be a desperate reach beyond your capabilities in order to get butts in seats, and nothing like a fancy flying effect will increase attendance dramatically for a one-week show in the middle of summer. The studio ended up not even within striking distance of breaking even.

That said, big shows can attract more student interest, and more student interest can lead to more promising auditions. The larger pool from which to draw your talent can lead to delightfully unexpected results.

Also, some shows I've worked that I thought had potential for tanking ended up being spectacular and shows I thought would be spectacular ended up being received as mediocre.

Most importantly, it's education. A high-quality show is always preferred in that you don't want to put on a bad show that scars students from wanting to participate again, but the main point is to get students performing on stage. Generally, the more you can get involved, the better. Straight plays limit you often to less than 15 performers. A musical gets you 50 without breaking a sweat. Usually it gets you a larger audience too because more parents attend and because community members are more likely to attend a musical than a straight play. Not all programs can support putting on a quality musical, but you don't want to let that make you think you shouldn't try and you especially don't want to deprive students of the opportunity to perform in a musical. Instead, as a production team you should try to identify what the weaknesses are and do what you can to confront them and make them irrelevant.

Be advised, affecting that level of change may take a few years. It can take a lot of time and commitment for a program, the production team, the students, and the audiences to gain traction and momentum.

 

[lwinters630]

I agreed with Mpowers.
Be firm and honest with what is technically possible, what the results will be with certain choices. If you always deliver your best everyone will know the tech was great even when the actors were not. One show (Dracula), I built a set that went far beyond what the script called for with special FX. The students and the director were motivated to work even harder to meet a higher level of expectations.

Over the years I have convinced the director to add a producer and use a committee of producer, Tech Dir, some other key parents. This has helped keep the director moving in a direction that works for all interests.

By all means don't keep quiet, but season your words, sharing your vision for the good of the whole, and your support for the final decisions.