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Two Aspects of the Director's Creative Thinking: Extrapolation and Perceptual Intuition

1992; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 2; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/tt.2010.0064

1086-3346

Tom Mitchell,

Creativity in Education and Neuroscience

Two Aspects of the Director's Creative Thinking: Extrapolation and Perceptual Intuition Tom Mitchell I. This paper on aspects of the director's creative thinking grows out of a more extensive examination of directorial craft. "The Framework of the Director's Work in the Theatre" has been an attempt by Professor Burnet Hobgood and myself to identify and name the particular elements of directing practice. The Framework is intended as an objective examination of the processes pursued and the methods employed by theatre directors in America and Europe. It is a phenomenological study which distills from extensive observation and critical scrutiny the essential activities and purposes of acknowledged artists of the contemporary stage. The Framework study has relied on a series of intensive summer workshops known as "Directing Colloquiums." From 1973 to 1985, six of these colloquiums took place bringing together for four weeks leading director-artists with university educators-directors who were interested in observing and learning from the guest artists. On the staff of each colloquium a small group served as a research team. These teams reviewed and discussed in detail the varieties of directorial techniques exhibited. The Framework offers the cumulative findings of a succession of research teams all under the supervision of the continuing colloquium coordinator, Burnet Hobgood. A tentative first Framework (1980) was given only limited distribution; a second one (1982) followed upon favorable reactions to the initial version on the part of colleagues and students; the third Framework (1984) which dealt with directorial craft at greater length was published in the annual number of Empirical Research in Theatre. The fourth and latest revision of the Framework was completed in 1986, and has been distributed and presented at various regional and national conferences. Central to the thinking which has gone into the Framework is the assertion that directing in the theatre is an idiosyncratic craft due for more intensive 51 52 Tom Mitchell analysis. It is unlike the skill of acting which has been closely observed., The theories and techniques of acting are passed along in the teaching and texts of Stanislavsky, Lee Strasberg, Michael Chekhov, Viola Spolin, and others. How actors use their voice and movement are the subjects of intensive training in schools and conservatories everywhere. The result is that a body of theories and approaches to acting are available to those who give critical consideration to theatre practice, and for those who train young actors. In discussions and texts on directing, however, it is common to find only anecdotal descriptions of rehearsals of formulaic "how-to" books which primarily address the strategic work of scheduling production work and arranging action onstage. The essential tasks in which a director engages in order to translate a playwright's text into a theatrical event have not been clearly described or critically analyzed in the same way the work of the actor has been. Most directors learn their craft through some kind of apprenticeship, either as assistants to senior directors, or as actors, designers, or stage managers who absorb ideas about directing by working with a variety of good or bad role models. This is especially true of those aspects which involve communication with collaborating artists and discreet aesthetic decision-making. There is no doubt such apprenticeship can be effective, but it perpetuates idiosyncrasy in directing practice as one director mimics the personality traits of a mentor. In order to understand the work of directors, a vocabulary needs to go beyond naming the obvious observable elements to focus on the essence of the director's craft. What makes the work of the director unique from the work of other contributors in the production process? What is directing talent? How can we recognize a director's style? What skills should be emphasized in training young directors? Professor Hobgood and I have intended this Framework to provide a more specific terminology and critical grid for considering the approaches of directors in the theatre. Out of the Framework come two terms for aspects which are central to the director's contribution to the creation of a performance: "extrapolation " and "perceptual intuition." This paper attempts to examine these aspects of directorial activity in the light of contemporary thinking about creativity...