I know that our Community Theater Board of Directors is going to ask me to direct the upcoming fall dinner theatre musical (cast of 16 -mostly teens).  The Board must be desperate because I have only directed once before - a short one-act this past spring with 7 in the cast, although I just finished stage managing and being AD for our huge summer musical with cast and crew of over 50 (what a nightmare to manage!  We sold out every night and got rave reviews, though).

Honestly, I would be more comfortable settling back into the AD or SM position - I feel that I simply don't have enough directing experience.  I am intrigued but don't want to ruin the production  - I haven't even been given the finished script yet!  Anyone have advice? 

It worries me that you have not seen a "finished script" yet.  I have read hundreds of new scripts and 99.9% of them are not worth producing.  There are tens of thousands of scripts in the French and DPS catalogs (and on line) to choose from.  If I was making my directing debut, I would want to work from a script that had passed the test of time and had been successfully produced by many other theaters.  You are liable to be blamed when the show fails when the real problem was a terrible script.

Just my thoughts.

 

Thanks for the replies.  I just got hold of the (still unfinished) script and it needs work.  Unfortunately the writer is on the Board of Directors (a huge mistake which I will bring up at the next meeting), so we will have to go ahead with this script.  Our audiences LOVE having local talent and original dinner theaters.  To force me to direct the President found another SM.  She really wants me to at least co-direct.  If I want to stay involved (and after reading the script I feel like I need to help salvage the production), I am going to say yes.