DirectorWorks

Arts Nest is pleased to announce a free training opportunity for emerging directors, which will take place in spring 2021. DirectorWorks aims to advance equity and diversity in the field of directing in Minnesota by providing professional development to ten emerging directors who embody the future of the theatre world. Selected directors will attend workshops one evening a week (virtually, with in-person meetings a possibility as future conditions allow). A team of Minnesota-based directors, along with guest artists from design, production, and other areas of the field, will lead hands-on activities to give participants tools for their directing craft, professional skills for building a career, and a chance to reflect on their own artistic goals.

Arts Nest seeks 10 directors to participate in the inaugural DirectorWorks, a professional development opportunity that seeks to build professional and artistic skills in a cohort of emerging directors from populations that are underrepresented in theatre leadership.

Instructors Include:

Harry Waters, Jr

Associate Dean for the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship, Macalester College

Professor Harry Waters, Jr. created the role of Belize in the first production of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. He is most famous for his portrayal of Marvin Berry in the movie Back to the Future, which earned him a Gold Record for his rendition of “Earth Angel.” Television acting credits include Adventures in Wonderland, among other guest-starring roles. He worked as an actor on and off Broadway, and reputable theaters such as Mark Taper Forum, Arizona Theater Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Theatre Works, American Conservatory Theater (ACT), and the San Jose Repertory Theatre. In the Twin Cities, he has appeared at The Guthrie, Penumbra Theater Company, Mixed Blood, Ten Thousand Things Theater, Pangea World Theatre, Park Square, Pillsbury House and Theatre, and Dark & Stormy Theatre. Mr. Waters has directed numerous productions in the Twin Cities and nationally, among them Waiting for Giovanni at New Conservatory Theatre Company in San Francisco and Bulrusher at Sonoma State University. At Macalester College, Harry Waters, Jr. directed Runaways, Proof, Angels in America Part I: Millennium Approaches, The Colored Museum, Tartuffe, In the Blood, The Laramie Project, Cabaret, The Cradle Will Rock, and URINETOWN. Mr. Waters received his MFA in Directing from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and holds a Meisner Acting Technique Teaching Certification with Larry Silverberg.

Marcela Lorca

Artistic Director, Ten Thousand Things

Lorca has built a national reputation as a theater director since moving to this country from Chile in the mid 1980s. She has directed numerous shows at the Guthrie Theater, where she was on staff for more than 20 years. She also served as the Guthrie’s Director of Company Development, overseeing the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program and A Guthrie Experience for Actors in Training. She also worked as movement director/choreographer for the Guthrie where she choreographed more than 20 plays and coached movement for more than 150 shows. Her directing credits include Disgraced at the Guthrie, McCarter Theater and Milwaukee Rep; The Count of Montecristo at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Scorched at Syracuse Stage, Caroline; Or Change at the Guthrie and Syracuse Stage; Crimes of the Heart, The Burial At Thebes, and The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde at the Guthrie; House of the Spirits and Found at Mixed Blood Theater; Blood Wedding at the Guthrie Lab and Missouri Repertory Theater; and The Clean House at Juilliard Drama School. Her choreography has been seen at the Guthrie, Washington Shakespeare Theater, Goodman Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. She has taught at New York University, Juilliard Drama School, and the London School for Performing Arts. Lorca was born and raised in Chile, where she earned her degree from the Universidad de Chile and joined the dance theater troupe Grupo del Centro. In addition to her work with regional theaters in the U.S., she has worked in the Dominican Republic, Chile, Guatemala, Brazil and Europe.

Margo Gray

Producing Artistic Director, Playable Artworks

Margo Gray is a Minnesota-based experience designer and theatre maker. Gray has worked across the US as well in the UK and in Russia in such theatrical forms as opera, new plays, repertory companies, musicals, children’s theatre, and immersive performance, and is passionate about building empathy for others’ experiences through her work. In Minnesota, recent work includes Ace for the Women/Trans/ Femme Playwrighting Festival, and two pieces for 20% Theatre’s Naked I: Recognize/d, an evening of new work by trans and gender-nonconforming writers. She’s created original productions for Playable Artworks that use technology to help audiences connect to places and build empathy for unfamiliar experiences, including Consumed (a site-specific choose-your-own-adventure, immersive performance), Second Skin (an app-based, site-specific adventure for a solo audience), and Instructions for a Habitat Inventory (an audio-based immersive piece asking participants to reflect on their home space in the wake of the Minneapolis uprising). She also designs roleplaying games, including the Golden Cobra Special Judge’s Award winner Are You There God? It’s the Quarterly Earnings Report. Gray has received an Early Career Research and Development Grant from Forecast Public Art and is a Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Fund recipient. Gray is the current Producing Artistic Director of Playable Artworks, former Artistic Director of Prologue Theatre Co., a former Fulbright Fellow at the Moscow Art Theatre School, an alumna of Grinnell College, and a graduate of the John Wells MFA Directing program at Carnegie Mellon University.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Click Here to Apply!

Free Training for Emerging Directors

10 workshops starting February 2021: one evening a week, starting with virtual meetings, may have some in-person meetings as conditions allow
1 weekend workshop culminating in a showcase of directors’ work for industry professionals (may be digital or live depending on conditions)
Headshots and personalized business cards
Opportunities to connect with other theatre professionals, such as designers, choreographers, etc.
Instruction and practical activities to develop artistic skills such as devising, new work development, and navigating power and privilege in rehearsal
Instruction and practical activities to develop professional skills such as independent producing, crafting pitches, and marketing
Photo and video documentation of their showcase piece
A $50 transportation/technology stipend to help provide access to workshops.

Workshops may be in-person or virtual, depending on conditions. Any in-person meetings will be held at the Phoenix Theater in Minneapolis, which is fully ADA accessible and convenient to public transit. We are happy to make additional access accommodations based on the needs of participants.

We are looking for emerging directors who:

Live and work in Minnesota
Plan to pursue a career in directing
Will benefit professionally and artistically from participating in this program
Embody the potential to advance diversity and equity in the field of directing

To participate, you do NOT need:
Professional directing experience
A college degree

To apply, we ask that you fill out this form, which includes answering the following questions in written or video format.

Why are you interested in directing? What drew you to theatre as a profession? What do you want to accomplish in your theatre career?
What are you hoping to get out of this experience? How would this experience benefit your career and artistic development? What artistic and professional skills would you like to improve?
Describe a dream project you’d love to work on. This can be a script, an adaptation, or the seed of an idea for an original or devised piece. If you’re not sure about a specific project, talk about what kind of elements a dream production might involve: who would you work with, where would it take place, what genre or style would you be working in, who would your audience be?
What skills or experience give you the potential to advance diversity and equity in the field of directing? What barriers do you see to a more diverse and equitable field of theatre directing in Minnesota?

The form allows for up to 200 words for each question, or 2 minutes of video per question. For more information about submitting videos, see these tips. You will also need to submit a resume or bio. If you do not have a resume, please submit a bio (up to 250 words) describing who you are and what experience in theatre or art you have (previous directing experience not required). Applications will be reviewed by the Director Works instructors.

We are especially interested in working with directors who come from populations that have traditionally been underrepresented in artistic leadership in the theater, including BIPOC artists, artists with disabilities, and female, trans, and GNC/non-binary artists. We recognize that members of these groups often experience unfair barriers to accessing opportunities. If there is anything we can do to make the application process more accessible to you, please email jenna@artsnest.org for assistance.

Applications are due by Friday, December 11, 2020.