The Wilton Playshop | Wilton’s Community Theatre since 1937

Putting On a Show in Community Theatre

We asked a bunch of people who have directed here and other theatres the simple question... “What is a director?” Below are their responses in the order they were received.

George Vollano

“The director is the INTERPRETER of the author's words or intentions which he conveys to the actors to make clear the STORY to the audience.”

Previously George directed Follies (1984), Dames at Sea (1986), Fifty and Fabulous and Company (1987), Mack and Mabel (1990) and Side by Side by Sondheim (1999).

Scott Brill

“A director is the person in charge of all facets of a play's production. The director must read and interpret the script so that he or she can help actors understand their roles, create effective blocking and staging so the actors can be seen and heard by the audience and work closely with the stage manager, costumer, set designer, lighting designer, prop person and the many other talented people who create theatre, to make a cohesive and unified production. The director must also be able to communicate his or her overall vision of the play to everyone working on the production.”

Scott previously directed The Real Thing (2003) and The Sisters Rosensweig (2001) for The Wilton Playshop as well as Rumors and seven other plays for Westport Community Theatre; Blithe Spirit for both the New Canaan Town Players and Eastbound Theatre; GYPSY and South Pacific for Musicals at Richter; A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Sacred Heart University Theatre and Steel Magnolias, A Thurber Carnival, Our Town and Rumors for the Darien Players.

Tom Rushen

“A director is one part lunatic, since he (or she) can look at a blank stage and envision what can be there a couple months into the future. He is one part obsessive, since he needs to pour over script after script looking for just the right vehicle. He is one part gamesman as he pits groups of people against each other, knowing that only a few will make the final cut. He is one part psychologist as he tries to make the actors' psychology match the psychology of a fictional character. He is one part taskmaster as he gets each of the actors to learn their lines, but one part coach as he balances when to crack the whip and when to realize he can't be any harder on them than they are on themselves. Finally, he is one part father when the show goes up, since he realizes that the mistakes must get resolved without his help.”

Tom recently directed Leading Ladies for The Playshop (2009) and Over The River And Through The Woods before that. Previously he created and led the highly successful Lab/Workshops production of An Evening of David Ives. He directed The Butler Did It in 2003 for The Playshop as well as The Art of Dating, He's Having A Baby and The Haunting Of Hill House for The Eastbound Theatre in Milford.

Skip Ploss

“A director is a painter who paints scenes, based on his/her understanding of the script, using actors and then connects them together with action. The director is also part guide, helping actors discover their character based on emotions and experiences within themselves.”

Skip has directed Arsenic and Old Lace (1995), Guys and Dolls (WSSP 1995), How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (WSSP 1997) and 1776 in 2001 for The Playshop, The Foreigner (2005) for Westport Community Theatre and Wenceslas Square (2005) for The Wilton High School Underclassman Theatre Project.

Keith Harjes

“A director is like someone who can draw or paint. The stage is a big blank canvas or piece of paper. The colors the director uses for his vision are the lights, sounds, props, set and actors. A good director uses all those things to make his vision come alive on the stage. It's just like how an artist uses diffeent colors to make a picture come alive on a canvas.”

Keith directed And Then There Were None, Moon Over Buffalo and Sure Thing for The Playshop. He has also directed plays and staged readings at The Eastbound Theatre in Milford as well as acted onstage in Camelot, Fifth of July, And Then There Were None and others.