Someone once told me that the loneliest person in the room is the director. I have often thought about that statement.  I have never really felt that way.  If anything, I have always felt crowded – especially this time, working with such a big cast

My head always seems to be full of voices. Whether they are the voices of the characters, the actors, or the production team, someone is always speaking to me.  The voices, if I listen, tell me so much.  They inform me when an actor is lost and confused.  Or if I’m lucky, that the actor’s lightbulb went on and they discovered something wonderful and unexpected.  The voices might be conversations that I overheard earlier but was not a part of.  They might just be crazy voices and well…let’s just leave that be.

The point is, every second I have the good fortune to be in a rehearsal, at a production meeting, or taking a ride in the elevator to the theatre, I may hear a new voice with insightful creative information that will open the door to a magical directorial moment.  Am I really the loneliest person in the room?  No!  Maybe at times the craziest, but never lonely.  If I have learned anything over my blessed years of being a director it is to listen to all of the voices and take all of what they tell me and make it my own.  So…voices keep visiting me!  When the silence and loneliness does come….well let’s leave that be as well!

– Linda Shirey