Chapter 8Movement, Gestures, and Adapting Stage Directions in Rehearsal

As discussed, distributing Reading drafts to actors makes the best use of time. If the stage directions have been edited but the actors do not have Reading drafts, the edits for the entire play can be given to the actors at the start of rehearsal. Another approach is to provide actors with the edits for each scene before that scene is rehearsed. Actors should note all edits and revisions in the stage directions legibly in the scripts.

As the team works through the text, the playwright, director and actors explore each stage direction. Some will be eliminated or reinstated. Others may need to be revised or rewritten. If the director chose to wait until rehearsal, the creative ...

Get Play Readings now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.