Jacqueline E. Lawton
  • Home
  • Info
    • Artistic Statement
    • Bio
    • Awards and Fellowships
    • Affiliations
  • Writing
    • Plays
    • Upcoming Events
    • Productions
    • Commissions
    • Award Ceremonies
    • Publications
  • Advocacy
    • Facilitation, Workshops, and Trainings
    • Access, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the American Theatre
    • Gender Equity
    • Theatre and Technology
    • Theatre Action >
      • After Orlando
      • Climate Change
      • Every 28 Hour Plays
    • Testimonials
    • Additional Resources
  • Dramaturgy
    • Artist Interviews
    • New Play Development
    • Production Dramaturgy
    • Dramaturgy and Script Consultation
    • Additional Resources
  • Producing
    • ARDEO
    • On Stage with the Migration Series
    • Out of Silence: Abortion Stories from the 1 in 3 Campaign
  • Appearances
  • Teaching
    • Experience
    • Philosophy
    • Qualifications
    • Curriculum Development, Theatre Arts Integration and Teaching Artist Training
  • Media
    • Gallery
    • Good Ink
    • Interviews
    • Media Coverage
    • Press Releases
    • Podcast & Video
  • Blog
  • Contact

Women Directors of DC: Eleanor Holdridge

11/20/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Jacqueline Lawton: What was the first play that you ever directed? What did you learn from that experience that remains with you today?
Eleanor Holdridge:
The Constant Couple by Restoration Irish dramatist George Farquhar.  What a fantastic show! I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I was running a company to do little known classical plays, and there was no one else to direct.  So I trusted the actors, created a rehearsal environment where we all had a sense of fun in the investigative, went with my gut and let it rip.  I guess that’s how it all started. Also, I remember thinking even then about the absolute importance of getting the audience/actor relationship right. I think part of it was taking a tiny and grungy off-off Broadway black box and striving to come up with the equivalent of the Restoration theatrical box in the configuration.  The result was a huge leap of an imagination and the beginning of my lifelong complicated love affair with classical theatre.  

JL: Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
EH: I guess I always knew I had to get into the theatre one way or other, but boy did I resist it as much as I possibly could.  My mother ran a company called Caedmon that was a pioneer in spoken word recording—it was the first record company to record all of Shakespeare’s plays onto vinyl.  And so I grew up in studios watching recordings of really great English guys—Guilgud, Olivier, Evans—doing Shakespeare.  I listened to the words in the dark and quiet of my room, imagining the worlds around those voices.  And it stuck with me. Even while I studied contemporary choreography, English Literature and Lighting Design, even while I worked entry-level jobs in book publishing and arts management, I was drawn to seeing plays and to imagining better ways of producing them.  Finally I couldn’t take it any more.  Back then in the late 1980s, everyone was doing trite things with the same old Shakespeare plays, and I thought I’d just start a company to do the little known classical plays no one was doing at the time.  I started to direct them, just because someone had to.  And then that was that.  I’ve never since wanted to do anything else.

JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your work as a director?
EH: It’s a kind of catch 22. My freelance directing income used to pay the bills.  But, to do so, I was on the road, working in other cities, eight to nine months out of the year, and constantly stressed out to meet the requirement of healthcare weeks with our union.  My sense of community was only within company with whom I worked.  Now, here in DC, I teach at Catholic University, running the Directing Department and feel that I’m beginning to be part of an incredibly dynamic community.  But now things are reversed: I have to be very careful about accepting work that enables me to teach the majority of my classes, which means it has grown more challenging to maintain a national profile.

JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Intersections Festival, the Source Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience?
EH: I have not. 

JL: How many plays have you directed in the DC area? How many of them were written by women? By playwrights of color? How conscious are you selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? 
EH: By the end of this season, I will have directed eight plays in the DC area, three by women, none by a person of a color.  I jump at the plays by women, but frankly, as a freelance director, if offered a play, find it compelling and if the timing works out, then I’ve got to do it, even if it’s the 60th production I’ve directed by a dead white guy. Market forces at work.  And, I’ll say that with over 80 productions that I’ve directed, only two of them have been by people of color. 

JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work?

EH: DC goes down as does the nation: under twenty percent woman playwrights and directors are represented in the city’s theatrical programming.  I don’t think the overall community has addressed it as a group.  I do see Artistic Directors who are actively striving to make things better (take for instance Ryan Rilette’s recent re-programming at Roundhouse) and those that could be made more aware of the disparity.  For us freelancers?  Well, we pitch ideas, we do our work, we strive to create our art to the best of our ability, and challenge ourselves anew with each play we tackle.  It doesn’t really impact our actual work other than squeezing ourselves into that slender 20 percent margin. It is for my students that I have the most concern—the undergraduate and graduate women who I observe to be equally talented and often more hard working then their male compatriots—and I worry for their future.

JL: If you could direct at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? 
EH:
Arena Stage.  I am a huge fan of Molly Smith and the incredibly smart and diverse programming there. Of all the major DC area theatres, it leads in number of woman directors and playwrights and is a leader that way in the nation.   Or Signature Theatre.  Because I’m dying to direct a musical again and they could sure use a woman director in the mix.

JL: DC audiences are ...
EH:
Insightful, hungry, eager, temperamental, partying, out for a good time, love to recognize there favorite actors, smart, political, savvy, filled with joy.

JL: DC actors and designers are ...
EH:
Diverse, collaborative, fun-loving, argumentative, inventive, resilient excellent dramaturges, intense, passionate, proud, filled with vitality and life.

JL: DC playwrights are …
EH:
Witty, politically active, eager, prolific, amusing, intelligent, acerbic, celebrative, cerebral, comical, and down-to-earth.

JL: DC critics are ...
EH:
smart, decisive, broad-minded, quirky, discursive, elegant, charming, tireless, rigorous, and, at their best striving to keep the art true and real.

JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based director or a director who has just moved to D.C.? 
EH: See lots of plays.  Write lots of letters.  Direct readings and workshops.  Know that you are welcome and ask for help.  Assist big shows at big houses.  Look for work in colleges and universities and invite people to that work. Don’t worry if they don’t come, just keep asking. Self-produce.  Repeat.

JL: What's next for you as a director? Where can we keep up with your work? 
EH:
Zorro, which I co-wrote, at Constellation Theatre Company, running January 17th to February 17th, and then God of Carnage at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, running March 13 through April 7.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    My Blog

    Picture
    I'm a playwright, dramaturg, and teaching artist. It is here where you'll find my queries and musings on life, theater and the world. My posts advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity in the American Theatre and updates on my own work. Please enjoy!
    Tweets by @dulcia25

    Categories

    All
    Advocates For Youth
    ARDEO
    Blackbirds
    Dance Exchange
    Dc Theatre
    Diversity And Inclusion
    Dramatist Guild
    Gender Parity
    In Conversation
    Intelligence
    Lions Of Industry
    LoTT
    Love Brothers Serenade
    Mothers Of Invention
    Musings
    Nnpn
    Noms De Guerre
    Nso
    Our Man Beverly Snow
    Plays For Two
    TCG
    Theatre Education
    Theatre For Social Change
    The Hampton Years
    The Inferior Sex
    Triangle Theatre
    Wizard Of Oz
    Women Artistic Directors
    Women Directors
    Women Dramaturgs
    Women Playwrights
    Women Stage Managers
    Women Theatre Critics
    Xx Playlab Festival

    Archives

    June 2020
    April 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012

    Reading List
    2am Theatre
    American Theatre Wing

    Americans for the Arts
    The Atlantic
    Black Girl Dangerous
    Colorlines
    Feminist Crunk Collective
    Feminist Spectator

    The Good Men Project
    Guardian: Theatre
    Guernica
    HowlRound
    Media Diversified
    The Nation
    NEA Art Works
    NPR Arts and Life
    NYTimes: Arts

    Opine Season
    The New Yorker
    The Paris Review

    Salon
    Theater Talks
    Think Progress
    WaPo: Theatre
    Works by Women

    Vox

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Info
    • Artistic Statement
    • Bio
    • Awards and Fellowships
    • Affiliations
  • Writing
    • Plays
    • Upcoming Events
    • Productions
    • Commissions
    • Award Ceremonies
    • Publications
  • Advocacy
    • Facilitation, Workshops, and Trainings
    • Access, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the American Theatre
    • Gender Equity
    • Theatre and Technology
    • Theatre Action >
      • After Orlando
      • Climate Change
      • Every 28 Hour Plays
    • Testimonials
    • Additional Resources
  • Dramaturgy
    • Artist Interviews
    • New Play Development
    • Production Dramaturgy
    • Dramaturgy and Script Consultation
    • Additional Resources
  • Producing
    • ARDEO
    • On Stage with the Migration Series
    • Out of Silence: Abortion Stories from the 1 in 3 Campaign
  • Appearances
  • Teaching
    • Experience
    • Philosophy
    • Qualifications
    • Curriculum Development, Theatre Arts Integration and Teaching Artist Training
  • Media
    • Gallery
    • Good Ink
    • Interviews
    • Media Coverage
    • Press Releases
    • Podcast & Video
  • Blog
  • Contact