In the University of Alberta’s Studio Theatre’s production of the play, opening Thursday, the actors are expected to demonstrate those feelings physically.
Wednesday, February 06, 2019
‘Intimacy director’ helps stage actors navigate love scenes
In the University of Alberta’s Studio Theatre’s production of the play, opening Thursday, the actors are expected to demonstrate those feelings physically.
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6 comments:
I am really glad this exists. I have known people, before and after coming to Carnegie Mellon, who experienced uncomfortable or even downright traumatizing situations due to the lack of intimacy directors and guidance from teachers and professors. I also find that when these situations occur it is incredibly difficult to take any sort of action as miscommunication is considered to be "bound to happen" and "no one's fault" when executing an intimate scene. Sometimes it is just seen as part of the job which is incredibly disturbing. It is encouraging to see the number of careers being created to help actors deal with the elements of that job that are tough to manage including intimacy directors and therapists. I hope this becomes common not just for our rehearsal rooms, but also with projects directing and acting students have to work on for classes. I find it irresponsible and terrifying that students are expected to handle these kinds of situations completely unsupervised for the sake of class projects.
I genuinely had no idea that intimacy directors were a legit actual thing until a stage manager showed me his intimacy blocking for the show 'Seven Wooly Mammoths Wander New England,' and he said that practicing and rehearsing these moments were just as important as practicing any fight sequence. Putting it in this context makes a lot of sense. I take notes for fight rehearsals so that there is always notes of what is supposed to happen, because in these situations you should not be improving - to keep everyone in the process as safe as possible. As Kaylie mentioned earlier, it's encouraging to see positions that are there to help maintain the safety of a rehearsal process. Just because an actor accepts the role being okay with any level of intimacy, doesn't mean that they will feel comfortable the whole time. Having an intimacy director allows the rehearsal process to make sure that the actor is comfortable and feels like they can actually do their job. It's also good to see this article written in the case of an educational school setting, and I think that CMU would benefit from committing to employing an intimacy director, and also acting by responsible rehearsal standards.
After a year at CMU, I really realize that need for aggressive safety protocols in all types of working environments ranging from the scene shop to the rehearsal room. Over the summer, I was working as a stage management intern on a production of Venus in Fur and the show contains a lot of intimate moments and seeing that our actors had an extreme age gap and the material required both actors to be incredibly vulnerable with themselves and the audience night after night, I asked my superior if there was an intimacy director that was coming in. They were all confused, they've never heard of an intimacy director. It dawned on me after that summer that it probably should have had an intimacy director because the material only helped create a rift between the actors especially when they kept taking risks rather than stick to the blocking, which is why you need an intimacy choreographer.
It is so important, especially now, that the position of an intimacy choreographer exists, and it sounds like Janine Waddell has found a strong approach to her work. Making the actions calculated, specific, and neutral is a smart way to dilute the intensity of the scene’s emotions for the actors so that they can focus on the acting that needs to be done to make the scene believable. I also think it’s important to recognize that Waddell herself has been in situations in which the lack of an intimacy choreographer made a massive difference in her own acting experiences. To be asked at the age of 15 to pretend to have sex in a bed for a high school production is absurd to me, and is a clear sign that there are theatre organizations out there that do not handle romantic or intimate scenes with its due care, concern, and safety.
It is so important, especially now, that the position of an intimacy choreographer exists, and it sounds like Janine Waddell has found a strong approach to her work. Making the actions calculated, specific, and neutral is a smart way to dilute the intensity of the scene’s emotions for the actors so that they can focus on the acting that needs to be done to make the scene believable. I also think it’s important to recognize that Waddell herself has been in situations in which the lack of an intimacy choreographer made a massive difference in her own acting experiences. To be asked at the age of 15 to pretend to have sex in a bed for a high school production is absurd to me, and is a clear sign that there are theatre organizations out there that do not handle romantic or intimate scenes with its due care, concern, and safety.
At my high school, we had out choreographer help with exactly this. However, she did not really ask anything and kind of just went for it so honestly it may have been worse in the end. I think that this is an important job because there is a lot that could trigger or harm people when they are acting because theater deals with a lot of issues. I think that there is always time to step back and make sure that everything is safe and comfortable for everyone. Waddell seems to have a really great understanding of good ways to test people's limits and what she is really needed for. Our choreographer overstepped her boundaries a little and I think that it was uncalled for. I am excited to see where this job goes because I'm sure it will only grow as people begin to ask for a support system.
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