Directors: The Un-sung Heroes of the Olympians Festival
For three years now I have joked, in that half-joking way where you kind of mean it, that directors are second-class citizens at the San Francisco Olympians Festival.
“This is a writer’s festival,” I tell them, again and again, “it’s about the writers getting a chance to put up this completely new work and see how it lands when kicked out of the nest. It’s not about your vision. Your job is not to tell the story for them, or to edit their script, or to show off how brilliant you are at blocking. Your job is to ensure the reading is watchable and to help the actors interpret the work as best they can so the playwright can see where their words are working- or not working.”
Then I tell them they won’t be getting paid for their time. Cute, huh?
The way I see it, the directors for the San Francisco Olympians Festival are like the board of a non-profit: there to advise, to support and offer their leadership and unique expertise- and also to take a back-seat when it comes to “the big night”, which should be all about the playwrights. So much of the American theater and film scene is dominated by directors (and I say that as a director myself) that I think it’s important for writers to be the center of attention when they can be- because those opportunities are few and far between. Think of it this way: how many screenwriters can you name vs. how many directors? Chances are, if you’ve seen any movies at all, you can name at least three of the latter, and if you can name even one of the former (who isn’t also a director), I suspect you are either a writer yourself or a film buff. Now think about how many SF Olympians writers you can name vs. how many directors. If the number of writers you can now put a name (and a face) to exceeds the numbers of directors, I consider that a success for the festival. One of the reasons the directors aren’t paid is that, like a non-profit board, we want their investment to be a purely spiritual one. They are there because they care about fostering new work, and the mission of the festival. The way I see it, the kind of person who happily donates their skill and time for free has the right attitude for the kind of event the festival is seeking to be.
The first year of the festival, almost all the plays were directed by the writers themselves, but as the festival has been growing, more and more directors have wanted to get involved- and a number of the writers have directed the work of other writers involved, looking to expand their own skill set and try something new. This year we had the largest number of directors in the history of the festival. On one hand, this is a blessing- I want the festival to be a place to try new things, meet new people, form new working relationships, and most importantly, create new art that reflects the diverse voices of this theater community- and that includes the voices of the directors! The difficult side has been trying to figure out what to do with our growing list of director collaborators, who are so very much valued and welcome, but for whom we haven’t yet laid much groundwork of support for- or done a fabulous job of crediting. I myself have completely forgotten to thank the directors most nights of the festival and I swear it isn’t intentional: it’s just that I’m not really used to having them around in such abundance. Or really, at all. Mentally factoring them in, even on the most superficial level of remembering to thank them at the end of the festival each night, is easier said then done, as we continue to grow faster than we can currently keep up with.
But we are trying. This past year we created a Director Coordinator position, thanks to Amy Clare Tasker’s proposal that someone who could deal with directors specifically could make their lives easier while also making mine and Jeremy’s lives easier. We had, for the first time ever, a directors-only orientation meeting, and going forward, our Art Director, Cody Rishell, is creating an online program template to allow each show to update and edit the programs before they go to print- ensuring we get everyone credited as they should be credited (so long as they remember to credit themselves). For the first time in the history of the festival, each show was given a materials budget- not a huge one, but something to make it easier to rent rehearsal space, make photocopies, or buy a cast some backstage treats. We actually brought in a designated stage/house manager (Linda Huang) so that directors would have a point of contact for tech (previous years it was me… and you can imagine how that went). Next year, we won’t be doing audience voting (as much as we love watching the glee in people’s eyes as they hop on the stage to cast their vote) and so we’ll have more time and less distractions on the back end to thank the directors. And as always, we will use the website to archive each year of the festival so that everyone receives their due credit in posterity, if nowhere else.
A good theater friend of mine once told me he didn’t believe in bows of any kind. In his opinion, shows should end when they end in the script, the lights should come up and the audience should leave, still thinking about what they saw, no curtain call to break them out of the headspace the show took them into. I see the validity of his idea, but I don’t agree with it. I think it’s important to give people a bow, and to say thank you. I’m not always great at remembering to do that myself, but it is important to try.
To Anthony Miller (Hestia/Dionysus), Neil Higgins (Mnemosyne and Themis), Rebecca Longworth (Athena/Rhea), Annie Paladino (Phoebe & Theia/Tethys), Sara Staley (Aphrodite), Amanda Ortmayer (Iapetus/Hermes), Jeremy Cole (Prometheus), Colin Johnson (Hephaestus), Karen Offereins (Coeus & Creos/Ares & Eris), Tracy Held Potter (Hades), Michaela Goldhaber (Demeter), Christy Crowley (Oceanus), Katja Rivera (Poseidon), Charles Lewis III (Atlas), Charlie Gurke (Rhea) and Amy Clare Tasker (Hera): our deepest thanks. This festival would not have been the same without you. We hope you enjoyed yourself, and are as proud of the work as we are. We hope you realize what a difference your presence and guidance made as these writers put these newborn children out into the world for the first time. We hope you had fun. We hope you will return to play with us again next year.
And no, we still won’t be paying you. 
Sincerely,
Stuart Bousel
Executive Producer of the San Francisco Olympians Festival