Thursday, May 21, 1998
Theater professor leads students in right direction
Mel Shapiro gives aspiring directors chance to tell their own
stories
By Jammie Salagubang
Daily Bruin Contributor
The scene: you’re a director. You’ve finally managed to land
yourself a major play but – horror of horrors – you’re stumped on
staging and plagued by other directing problems. For example, you
don’t know how to direct. Frantically you tear out your hair. Is
there anything out there to help you?!
Fortunately there is "The Director’s Companion," by Mel Shapiro,
a veteran director, playwright and professor of theater and head of
the acting program at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and
Television. Published by Harcourt and Brace, "The Director’s
Companion" is Shapiro’s second book.
"The whole idea of directing is to tell a story," Shapiro
explains. "The author tells the story in words, but the director
has to tell the story visually."
Shapiro first became interested in directing as a teenager
growing up in Brooklyn and watching the matinees on Broadway. He
first started to direct in Tokyo when he was in the Army. During
his off-hours, he would direct plays put on by the Tokyo Amateur
Dramatic Club.
Later, he studied directing at Carnegie-Mellon (then the
Carnegie Institute of Technology). He went on to become one of the
founding members of New York University’s School of the Arts
theater program and then head of the drama department of
Carnegie-Mellon. Afterward, he came to UCLA and has taught here
since 1990.
"I’m teaching that directing is a very personal craft, and a lot
of times, student directors don’t use the things that they feel,
the things that have happened in their lives," Shapiro says.
"Telling your own story, since you know that story, is what you
should do first before you start telling another person’s
story."
Shapiro tries to get that idea across to the students in his
Theater Arts 103B class (Directing for the Stage). Because, in his
class, directing is not about telling other people what to do, he
has the students do exercises and scenes based on personal
experience.
"One of the main reasons that (Mel) has us work on
autobiographical scenes is that it’s very important to connect with
everything you’re working on," says Kia Hellman, a fifth-year
theater arts student and member of his class.
"You need to have a personal stake in what you’re working on, or
else the work will not be fully explored."
Some words of Shapiro’s wisdom, or something his students call
"Mel Quotes," are:
*Get it out of your head and put it on the stage.
*Find yourself even if you’re buried.
*Life is more interesting than art half the time.
Granted, not all of these sayings may be found in his book, but
Shapiro says he wrote it with a lot of personal anecdotes.
He adds that he didn’t want his book to sound extremely dry and
technical like the book he read when he was first studying
directing.
Shapiro uses his book in class, and it doesn’t seem like the
students are complaining.
"Everything he teaches in class comes straight out of the book,"
says Steve Connell, a third-year transfer theater student.
Bryan Stoops, his second-year theater classmate, adds, "There
hasn’t been a problem in class that we haven’t been able to read
(about)."
But don’t think that Shapiro’s class runs strictly "by the
book." Actually, Kristin Hanggi, a third-year theater student,
reveals that Shapiro doesn’t teach according to a lesson plan or a
syllabus; he lets students work individually according to their
instincts and then fine-tunes their ideas.
"You’re allowed to go on your own impulses, and then you find
out later on through the process how to make these impulses work in
the context of stage-craft," says class member John Boaz, a
third-year transfer theater student.
Shapiro may not teach his class in a conventional way, but don’t
think the class is one big happy-fest.
"He tells it like it is," remarks Sarah Rincon, a fourth-year
theater student, "and that is something we can all appreciate,
especially in theater (where) you need honest critiques,"
However, Shapiro still makes time to do a number of
time-consuming activities.
"I still write and teach and direct," Shapiro says. "I find the
time because I don’t watch television."
This may sound a little odd coming from a man who has directed
episodes for the Mary Tyler Moore productions and various soap
operas while in New York. He has also won the Tony, the Obie and
the New York Drama Critics Award.
But, according to his students, none of the acclaim has gone to
his head.
"For me, he’s like one of the fellas. He makes it very easy to
feel like you’re on the same level," Connell comments. "You’re
allowed to have different opinions, but even if you don’t agree,
you can still see his point and understand why. He makes it real
easy to talk and listen and learn."
To his students, Shapiro seems to have told his story well.
"Mel makes theater make sense," Hellman says.
School of Theatre, Film and Television
Mel Shapiro wrote "The Director’s Companion" and is head of the
acting program at UCLA.
Harcourt Brace
"The Director’s Companion."