Coffee-Fetching and Expertise

Posted by Margot Bordelon; Director of Upstairs/Downstairs by Wendy MacLeod

I first met Wendy MacLeod in the spring of 2003. I was Assistant Directing the world premiere of Things Being What They Are at the Seattle Repertory Theater and she came out from Ohio for a week to watch rehearsals, give notes and do rewrites. I was in charge of making and distributing all of the script changes and I took my job very seriously – this was the woman who wrote The House of Yes after all! And The Water Children and Schoolgirl Figure and Apocalyptic Butterflies and her newest piece at the time, Juvenilia. Before the first day of rehearsal I read as many of her plays as I could get my hands on. I was determined to possess an intimate understanding of her voice and style. I would be an expert on the MacLeod canon!

Now I’m not sure how many of you blog readers are familiar with the duties of an AD, but they can range anywhere from fetching coffee for the Director, to rehearsing scenes with actors. And besides assisting Wendy when she was in town, this particular gig tended to lean more toward coffee-fetching responsibilities than anything else. Needless to say, my self-titled expertise was rarely called upon. (Read More)