In this new guide, two veteran theater directors steer away from providing a how-to recipe for staging a production and instead share the advice and tools that emerging directors need in order to nourish their skills and develop their own staging process. As Bob Moss, founder of notable New York theater Play wrights Horizons, notes in the introduction: "One doesn't learn directing from a book. One acquires experience." But by focusing on five crucial elements for staging a play-Story, Intention, Character, Space, and Theme-Moss, in collaboration with Wendy Dann, helps novice directors learn how to build their own practice and begin to master the daunting task of telling a story on stage.
Bob Moss is an American director and the founder of Playwrights Horizons. He helped develop Theater Row on West 42nd Street and has been the Artistic Director at both the Hangar Theatre and Syracuse Stage. He has been a Board Member of the SDC Foundation, TCG, and the Drama League Directors Project. Moss has extensive directing credits around the country, and his teaching credits include initiating the undergraduate directing program at Playwrights Horizons Theatre School and The Lab Company at the Hangar.
Wendy Dann is the co-author of the one-man musical, Sammy & Me with Eric Jordan Young. Her play, The Strangest Thing was a finalist at the National Play wrights Conference. Dann served as associate artistic director under Kevin Moriarty at the Hangar Theatre for seven seasons, and her regional directing work also includes Dallas Theatre Center, Alliance Theatre, Geva Theatre, and Syracuse Stage.
