Script Selection

I have a love/hate relationship with script selection.  It's just so intricate.  As a director, I gravitate towards two types of shows: emotional roller-coaster dramedies and suspenseful mysteries.  I like to work in these genres, but it gives me a lot to do - with mysteries, you constantly have to plant little clues and subtleties to help move things along and make the resolution believable and layered, and with dramedies it's all about finding the transitions from happy to sad, making the characters believable and relatable. In order to keep Valley Theatre fresh and interesting for our audience, I have to fight the urge to just alternate between these two genres.  

Right now we are looking to find a straight-up comedy; something that is just fun and enjoyable.  We are having a particularly difficult time finding something that seems right.  So much of stage comedy relies on physicality and delivery that it's difficult to get the full effect from a dry reading.  We've taken to reading them out loud to get a better idea of what we have to work with.  Typically I read 6 or 7 new scripts each time I sit down to select a show (and that's not including the stockpile of scripts I've read that are already clunking around in my head).  It looks like I'll have to double that this time around.

There are a lot of criteria to consider when it comes to settling on a script.  Obviously, the first question is whether or not we like it.  If the answer is yes, we move on to content.  Is it too racy for the audiences we tend to get?  If not, we move on the cast breakdown.  We can't do anything with too large a cast, and we have to pay attention to the gender breakdown.  If it requires a lot of men, that may be a problem.  Next comes set requirements.  Will it involve a lot of scene changes, and, if so, can we make that work given our limitations?  Then there is tech stuff to consider.  Does the script call for specific/elaborate lighting and/or effects.  If so we may have to reconsider given our current limitation in that area.  We also have to consider how physical the show is; if it requires a lot of running or action, that could wreak havoc on our regular stage set up.

Finding a script that will fit all of the criteria is always a challenge.  In a way, it's a blessing because it requires us to really dig to find a script that is just right.  We have to be very purposeful about the shows we choose.  That means we sometimes have to reject scripts that we love, but it also means we discover new shows and delve into plays we might not normally have considered.  We've already blown through half a dozen scripts and have several more on the way.  Hopefully Valley Theatre's spring comedy is somewhere in the stack.