EXPANDING HORIZONS - BY SCOTT ESPOSITO

I fell in love with being on stage at an early age. I’ve been acting since grade school, through high school, and college (where I majored in theater performance). But in all my thirty plus years of being on stage, I’ve never directed.

One of the beautiful things about being an ensemble member with Seat of the Pants is the company’s encouragement to expand our horizons. We are encouraged to learn and experience different aspects of theater - acting, producing, designing, and directing.  

Last season, I had the opportunity to direct one of the staged readings of our Salon Series (Mrs. Lincoln is Mad by Christopher Johnston). That was a wonderful opportunity to dip my toe into directing. But a staged reading is relatively straightforward. This season offered an even greater opportunity - to assistant direct our recent production of Elephant’s Graveyard, by George Brant.

It was an amazing experience.  Actors really have one job. Directors have many. From auditions and casting, to working with our amazing designers to create the look of the piece, to guiding the tremendous actors, and so much more. I learned a lot about my own strengths and areas for growth.  

I discovered that I felt very comfortable helping guide the actors along in their work. That made sense to me. I got a lot of joy from working with the artists we cast. Recognizing that just because I’m the assistant director doesn’t mean I will have all the answers was important. We can discover the answers together as we go.  

In contrast, I realized that some of the more administrative and technical requirements, like setting a rehearsal schedule, can be incredibly challenging. Fortunately, I had our intrepid director, Craig Joseph, who handled those tasks. But awareness of the volume of detail the director is ultimately responsible for was daunting. Although he may not have realized it, Craig was an amazing help to me as I watched him work.  Taking notes to myself about not only what he was doing as a director, but how he was doing it.

As I spy back on my experience as a whole, I could not be more proud of the work that everyone on the team put in. It also made me realize that I think I could tackle the challenge of directing a full production myself at some point in the near future.