I'm going to be presenting a seminar on directing at the ACSI Teacher's Convention just before Thanksgiving.  This seminar is aimed at the teacher who has no directing experience at all and has been handed the Christmas or Easter program or even the school play.

I am asking all of you friendly folk for one or two things you really wish somebody had told you before you directed your first show.

Thanks for your time.

I wish someone had told me that as a director  70% of the work and 100% of the planning is done before the first rehearsal. If they did tell me, I wish I had believed them.

L.

Wow!  Great responses.  Thanks for your input.

Allison

Two things:

1. Always cast the best people you reasonably can.  I've sometimes had to make a choice between a phenomenal actor who was busy during the rehearsal period (e.g., opening another show), versus an actor who had no conflicts at all, but really couldn't act.  You will "waste" the same amount of rehearsal time whomever you choose, so you might as well go with the better actor.  If you go with the great actor, scheduling rehearsals where he can come may be a challenge, but you accomplish much more per rehearsal than you would with the lousy actor.

2. Always have a "vision."  This word sometimes scares newbie directors- they think having ideas for how they want a show to be will limit the creativity of the actors.  Not at all.  Good actors will take your vision and expand upon it.  And your vision will likely evolve during rehearsals.  Still, a vision is absolutely essential for a great show.

1.  All actors want to be directors, and will try to do so during rehearsals, so put an end to it early.

2.  All actors should direct at least once so they understand what JACKASSES they make out of themselves by providing evidence of lesson number 1.

3.  It is a matter of TRUST.  If you trust your actors and they trust you in return, there is very little that you can not accomplish.

4. The best way to Direct is to know everything you wish to accomplish ahead of time, a follow through to your goal with little deviation from your intended path.  In other words, be prepared, know all your characters inside and out, and plot out the path on which you will enable their journey.  Never Direct on the fly unless it is a moment of genius that better leads your show down the intended path.

This is a great topic.

1. Everyone learns differently. For some actors, all you have to do is ever-so-slightly suggest a direction, and they get it and off they go to do great things. With others, you may need to get up there and walk with them for a bit. Accept the differences cheerfully, and do what is needed to ensure each actor succeeds.

2. Get up onstage and act once in a while so you remember how terrifying it can be up there and how vulnerable actors -- even good ones -- can feel without your help.

3. Don't try to be popular. Do what is needed to deliver the best product you can, even if that means going back through a scene when you think the actors will hate you for it. Inside, they know they need the work, and they will be grateful.

4. Praise, praise, praise what people do well. Then, they will be more accepting of your ideas for improving what they don't.

5. You can't thank your crew enough, so do so generously, often and with sincerity.

6. Try to never lose your temper. You may feel better at the moment, but later you'll wish you could take your words back. Nothing -- no matter how bad -- is worth humilitating someone else.

7. Directing can be a lonely -- but very rewarding -- business.

Much like my other avocation, umpiring:

If everything goes wrong, it's your fault.  If everything goes right, nobody will ever know you existed.

There's actually a great article on this site about directing that touches on this issue.  You never want to ACTUALLY lose your temper, because then you're out of control and will say things that are very damaging.  But if you do get really angry for a justifiable reason, it can be useful, once you've calmed down, to have a "fake" bout of anger, where you yell at people who need to be yelled at, and make them settle down, but you're always in control, and your "angry" words are carefully chosen to hit the notes they need to.  It's a careful distinction.