Staging Story

In this new guide, two veteran theater directors steer away from providing a how-to recipe for staging a production and instead share the advice and tools that emerging directors need in order to nourish their skills and develop their own staging process. As Bob Moss, founder of notable New York theater Play wrights Horizons, notes in the introduction: "One doesn't learn directing from a book. One acquires experience." But by focusing on five crucial elements for staging a play-Story, Intention, Character, Space, and Theme-Moss, in collaboration with Wendy Dann, helps novice directors learn how to build their own practice and begin to master the daunting task of telling a story on stage.

Bob Moss is an American director and the founder of Playwrights Horizons. He helped develop Theater Row on West 42nd Street and has been the Artistic Director at both the Hangar Theatre and Syracuse Stage. He has been a Board Member of the SDC Foundation, TCG, and the Drama League Directors Project. Moss has extensive directing credits around the country, and his teaching credits include initiating the undergraduate directing program at Playwrights Horizons Theatre School and The Lab Company at the Hangar.

Wendy Dann is a writer and director based in Ithaca, NY. Regional directing work includes Dallas Theater Center, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Alliance Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Capital Repertory Theatre, Kitchen Theatre, Cherry Arts, and seven seasons as associate artistic director at the Hangar Theatre. She is the co-author and director of the musical Sammy & Me (MusicalFare Theatre, Hangar Theatre, Alliance Theatre, National Black Theatre Festival, and New Vintage Theatricals). Wendy's plays have been finalists for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference as well as the Arts & Letters Prize in Drama. She received a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting/Screenwriting. Her original play, Birds of East Africa, premiered at the Kitchen Theatre, and her short live-action film, La Casa Verde, was invited to the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and the San Antonio Film Festival. She was invited to participate in The Writers Lab with New York Women in Film & Television. Wendy is a professor of directing at Ithaca College. MFA: Syracuse University. BFA: Ithaca College. Member: SDC.