Emerald Coast Theatre Consultant

Gordon Goede was the Founding and Artistic Director of Theatre Three Repertory Company in Fresno, California. He earned his B. A. degree in Speech and Drama at Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Florida and did graduate work at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena California.

In 1963 he became Managing Director of the Fresno Community Theatre in Fresno, California. During his nine-year tenure he designed and directed 54 productions on the main stage, including widely known comedies, dramas, and Broadway musicals.  In 1967 he initiated the Fresno Community Theater Children’s Theater, directing additional children’s productions each year until 1972.

In 1973 Gordon formed Theatre Three Repertory Company. During this same period, he returned to his first vocation, the practice of anesthesia. He had previously received his Nurses Training at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and his anesthesia training at Luther Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He spent the next 38 years giving anesthesia service at Sierra Hospital and Valley Medical Center in Fresno and then retired from his medical profession. During this same period, he also continued to produce and direct at Theatre Three as its Artistic Director.

From his arrival in Fresno in 1963 until his retirement in 2004, he produced and directed in excess of 325 productions ranging from Broadway musicals to Pulitzer Prize-winning comedies and dramas including several notable opera productions for local opera as well as directing “La Boheme” for the renowned Music from Bear Valley Festival in Bear Valley, California. In October of 2000, The Fresno Arts Council honored him with the “horizon award” recognizing his years of excellence in service to the community.

Late in 2004, Gordon decided the time had come to retire. He now lives in Florida and is available for directing and consulting in oral interpretation, acting, directing, stage and theatre design, and Theatre management.

Time is always a factor in theatre production, rehearsal, and performance.  It is generally accepted in professional theatre that the time spent will be one hour of rehearsal per page.  That does not include the technical rehearsals.  So, if a script is thirty pages long, figure thirty hours of rehearsal plus twelve hours for four dress rehearsals for a total of forty two hours. So if that is split by two and a half hours per night we get seventeen days of rehearsal total. So if we are mounting an O’Neill or a Shakespeare, we should be able to figure seventy eight hours of work on a per page basis (average length for those two writers) plus the twelve for technical rehearsals or ninety hours divided by two and a half hours per night, or 36 nights total. Now figure five rehearsal days per week with two days off, that is already seven weeks on the calendar.

The next question is always why so much time?  When you are pulling together a group of people who are not in a company, one must recognize that they have different experiences and skills relative to the task ahead so melding the group is a daunting task. Trust between a group of pickup actors (those coming to an audition and then working together to do a play) takes time to develop an audience-worthy production.

So then, how does a director accomplish the task of getting the play on the stage? Since he chose the play to work on, he must be the one that must be ready to work even more than the actor does. The key is to divide and conquer. Divide the play into “French Scenes” (the entrance of one character to the exit of that character) and schedule duo scenes at another time like Saturdays or Sundays or before rehearsal.

One should always remember that the amateur actor thinks that he only grows during rehearsal. I feel that the actor grows and develops himself when he learns how to work away from rehearsal and then comes to the next RE-HEAR-sal to “re-hear” what he has worked on between the close of one session and the beginning of the next.

The excuse is always: I don’t have time to do that. My response is always: Then don’t audition if you don’t have time to produce good theatre. That is the martyr syndrome! Since the director/producer sets the rehearsal schedule, he should be able to give the play and the performers the time that is needed.

I also like to hold auditions with the rehearsal schedule ready to hand to all auditionees. That way they can look at the rehearsal schedule and see when I will be there to rehearse. Of course, the next thing you get is a barrage of times that they can’t attend rehearsals. My response to that is: Then don’t audition. If you can’t attend all the rehearsals you are putting yourself, the other cast members, and the director in an awkward position. So, audition when you can make the play the primary focus of your life through the close of the show.  Having the rehearsal schedule available is a good way to find the people who will adjust their schedule to the rehearsal schedule.  Those are the actors who are serious about the work.  

So, if you can’t do the research necessary into the author, the play, the time and location fleshing out the play for your performance, then do yourself a favor and audition when you can do what is expected of you. That is what I outline in the acting workshop.

Does that seem hard nosed to you?  If we are not serious about our work in theatre, then we are hurting the audience, the theatre, the playwright, the other cast member and even ourselves by presenting a half done, poorly prepared piece of theatre.  

Working this way gives the director a very reliable way to gauge the actor and his intent, interest, and involvement in the project.  Sans that total committment, the work will always be second rate and amateurish.  And there is no excuse for that.

When I started working in the theatre, we would have one cast read- through sitting in a circle reading the words to each other. The next night we would see the ground plan for the play and start blocking immediately after we drew the plan somewhere in our script. Then the director would start giving us our moves! And so it went until the entire play was blocked first to last page.

What is blocking? I use this definition: Blocking is the director’s initial physicalization of the script. In other words, the director told us where to go, when to go there, and why. And that never made sense to me. If I was going to carry the play to the audience and the director was not going to be on the stage with me, why don’t I have some voice in what my stage tasks are going to be?

And I had one heck of a time remembering lines! I had to not only read the lines, but remember when to move and why and do what when I got there. Sometimes I wasn’t even told that; just go there on this line.  I always wondered why but was too new and too in awe of “the director” to question anything. I was just there to show up, spout and lines, do what he told me to do, and keep the mouth shut.

Hard to believe, but I did.

So when I “commenced” with an undergraduate degree in my hand and started “directing”, that is exactly how I did it. One read sitting, the next, up on the stage taking down blocking.

And after a few plays under my belt, I had the opportunity to cast a really seasoned actor as a grandfather in “On Borrowed Time.” When he showed up the second night with his script all retyped in “sides”, I asked him why he did that, didn’t he want to know what was being said to him. His answer: “Sides (Defined as the actor’s line with three or four words of the previous line as a cue.) make me remember that I must listen to the other actor for my cue and what he meant.” And he was always, like we say now, “in the moment!” when he was doing the play. A superb lesson for a newbie director.

So what then is the purpose of taking  time to do table work. I have believed for some time now that it is to keep our minds and talents open to the array of choices that the script, read playwright,  gives to the actor. Without that openness and objectivity, only a body parroting lines that are boring and uninteresting not only to the audience but to the actor as well. Fresh is good, and table work helps to keep that in place.

Time is not on the side of the theatre artist since we always have an opening night waiting for us from the moment we decide to do a play or are cast in one. That is a given.

One of the other major problems in amateur theatre is that the actor feels that the only time he is working on the play is during the scheduled working hours. Wrong! The actor should always remember that his best time to work is when he is NOT at rehearsal and is free from  pressure. Rehearsal is actually re hear! We gather for a rehearsal only to re hear the play the next night because we have spent time working alone on the script with an open mind searching for clues, business, situations that will keep the work alive and fresh.

A quote usually credited to Charlotte Lee, a professor at NorthWestern in Evanstaon, Illinois years ago was: Let the play work on you before you work on the play. That is the difference between the amateur and the professional performer, being able to have and keep an open mind and receive the script as a source for a superb performance. Sans that, all is boring, dull, and uninteresting.

So that is what table work does: it gives us objectivity, it gives us opportunities, it keeps our mind open to the only solid source for the play, and it keeps us on top of our game.

Many years ago I had the opportunity to start two theatres for children and helped start the third. Much later I had the opportunity of trying to direct some of those early participants and this is what I found.
I believe that early participation by young people in theatrical presentations subjects them to the pressures of performance and the pressure of performing long before they are ready. I found, trying to direct these individuals, that their creativity was severly hampered by the experience.
First, they were not able to explore the text and keep an array of options open to themselves. Therefore, their performances were wooden and lacked the luster of a living and involved character. They were more like learn the lines and then spout them on cue. That is not acting, that is vomiting text without brining life to the core of the character.
Second, they were all about me, me, me. Now, we all have egos, but the one place that we must never the artist ego is on stage. We might see and feel the character ego played through the actor, but never from the actor.
Third, they were so involved in entertaining the audience that with every word or gesture, they were pushing the audience back in their chairs rather than inviting them into the play by keeping their character and their story where it belongs, on the stage.
This is not something that is easily corrected, methinks, but it can be done and because I have had to work with the supremely egotistic actor and have had to confront it in rehearsal, I do know how to change that. It is a daunting task that some do not take to without reservation, but if they want to optimize their acting and their future in the theatre as an artist, those who have worked to rid themselves of that unwanted baggage will be greatly rewarded.
Now this is not only my opinion. So, to support my position, I am gathering a few sources, many of them high up in the educational milieu. When I get them together, I will post for your review.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION      MORE LATER

Reading Shakespeare is great fun for all involved.   But it does require focus and, to get the most out of it, a collaborative sense of working together for mutual enjoyment.   There is only one absolute requirement:   The purchase of  “No Fear Shakespeare” tome which correctly translates the score for clarity and precision.    Each reader must have one of their own so they can move when reading if necessary.  This group is also open is limited in the space available for participants.  If  you hae questions or suggestions about this category, please enter them under, you guessed it!   QUESTIONS

Please use this category to post any questions you might have that concerns theatre, the classes and workshops, Shakespeare Readers and any other concern you might have.  Your name or e mail will not be posted, but it is required for a response.

When you ask a question, I will answer. If I do not know, I will start a search and come up with one for you. Please be patient! Getting the correct answer to you will sometimes require diligence, time, and thought.

I now have a place to give acting workshops.   They are free but the space is linited.   If you wish more information, please post your questions under QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.  If you wish to be added to the E mail list to receive an application forum, please add it under ACTING WORKSHOPS.    I will post the answers under FREQUENTLY ANSWERED QUESTIONS for any visitor to see.  (Your name or e mail address will not be posted with the question.)      I am also starting a group for actors and community members interested in reading Shakespeare, hence a category for SHAKESPEARE READERS.    Let me know on the questions and answers category if you have any other questions.   Gordon