I need to set the
stage for my answer, so please be patient.
High Schools that offer any form of drama curriculum are VERY rare (at least in the state of Ohio they are). Curricular drama programs are not required for state certified diplomas (unlike the 4 years of English, 3 years of mathematics,
etc...). With this in mind, they are the first items cut when times become economically tough OR are never really initiated to begin with. This leads to most drama programs being offered as extracurricular activities staffed by teachers, many of whom may not have any knowledge about theater art, but who might have acted in a production or two in college or community theater.
As gafftaper (I really enjoyed your post, by the way) said... since drama programs are mostly offered as an extracurricular program, the experience of your advisor will fluctuate highly depending upon your school circumstances. Some schools in my area are very supportive of their arts programs and have multiple advisorships (for lack of a better word) available... Director, Asst. Director, Music Director, Choreographer, Technical Director,
etc. At most schools, though, there is but one... the "drama club advisor".
Because of this, the drama advisor, by necessity, is required to wear many different hats. They not only direct the production, but also produce it, design sets for it, construct sets for it,
plot the lighting and sound for it, design costumes for it, market it, fund it (usually by running a seperate fundraiser).......
This means that when the tech crews are finished for the night aiming lights, the advisor is on to another committee meeting or rehearsal. When the
stage construction crew is finished, the advisor is going home and working for several hours on the fundraiser (ours us usually selling advertisement space in our program). Long story... long (sorry)... the drama advisor works very long work weeks (my family refers to me as the stranger who invades the
house every now and then).
I don't say this so that we can feel sorry for them. That is the complete opposite of what I am trying to
point out. What I am saying, though, is that people in positions of authority who work long hours on projects take an ownership of them and are often times loath to turn over control when the time comes for them to actually do so. It is a hard weakness to overcome. My
Stage manager is Nate here on the boards. I am very confident in his abilities to manage a show (I was ever since he, as a sophomore fledgeling
stage manager, confronted a senior for refering to my wife as a ... B#$%# when I wasn't around to hear). However... I still tend to try to run things during the show. I have to concentrate to give ownership of the production over to the appropriate student positions to run because at heart... I'm a control freak... made doubly worse by the incredibly long hours I worked on the production. This is probably what is happening with your director.
What can you do to stop it. I know that if I am calling a show or running the sound or lights or am sitting in the booth... this means that sometime during the technical rehearsals happened that shook my confidence with the people in the technical positions. You need to be sure that you are completely competent with your job AND demonstrate this competence on a daily basis. I have had years where I have had extremely knowledgeable students running tech, who also had bad habits of leaving the booth to go get a drink or go to the restroom. Whatthis lead to was me sitting in the booth because I wasn't confident enough that they would be there when a
cue was called...usually because cues were often missed during tech week.
A second thing that you can try... Sometimes people are doing annoying things and have zero clue that they are doing so. If her calling the show is upsetting to you, don't be afraid to ask... why are you calling the show when it is my responsibility to do so? Have I done something wrong? What can I do to
gain your confidence in me? This is a hard thing to do because it will involve you as a student taking in a very mature fashion to an adult in a position of authority. Be very diplomatic. Don't approach your director and say... "listen... I am sick of it when you
call cues over my calls". The person will instantly be defensive and nothing will be gained. Instead say "Mr. or Mrs. so and so... I have created a
cue book for the show. Will you go over it with me so that I can be sure that all of the cues that I will be calling as your
stage manager are in the proper place?" This will let them see that (1) you are organized and that (2) you want to
call the show. Maybe they will then give up a tad more of their ownership.
I think I have rambled enough for one day. I hope that this helps. I will post more ideas later.