As B Street Theatre’s Directing Intern, I assistant direct
(AD) under Artistic Director Buck Busfield. The first show I ADed at B Street
was Pail of Grace, the holiday comedy
written and directed by Buck himself. AD is the vaguest title in theatre. It’s
a role determined by the director’s requirements and the assistant’s
capabilities. Some ADs co-direct; some run lines with actors; some fetch
coffee. New to Buck’s directing style and to B Street’s rehearsal process, I printed
script rewrites and observed rehearsals. (Assistant to the Director is a more apt title.)
One of the first things I witnessed is B Street operates
under a dynamic little replicated across the country. The theatre opened in
1986 with many of its acting company members joining around this time. As one
actor stated, “[When B Street opened,] Buck went around Sacramento, picked the
best actors, and locked them in a room for 20 years.” Of the five cast members
in P of G, three have been with B
Street for 20 years and two for 10 years. It’s not uncommon to hear actors in
their early forties laughing over shows they did together when they were 19. Ergo, walking into rehearsal is walking into
decades of inside jokes, stories, insight, and an incredible ability to fuck
with one another, a perspicacity they enact with relish.
This history shapes the production’s development. Buck knows
where each actor will be at each point of rehearsal in his/her character
development, line memorization, spatial awareness, and story comprehension. He
knows how and when to direct the actors as a group and as individuals. They, in
turn, know him and each other just as well, forming a playfulness, trust, and
collaboration unique to B Street. They challenge each other, break each other,
ground each other, and push each other’s buttons. In the end, they deliver a
professional production.
When tech began, I transitioned from AD to stagehand, moving
sets and maintaining costumes. Being present from production meetings through
closing night, I absorbed the life cycle of my first B Street production— its
rhythms, politics, idiosyncrasies, and characters. When the play closed, three
other shows had been in rehearsal for two weeks and were skidding into tech. The wheel never slows at B
Street, but on the brink of screaming, it’ll keep you laughing. Here’s to
another round.
-Anna Rose
