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Tristan Burke

Professor Luddy

Directing I

23 March 2017

Austin Pendleton and the Director’s Craf

Austin Pendleton’s relationship to directing is perhaps different than others in that he started out

as an actor and continues to work as an actor even as he carries on his directing career. As might seem

only natural, he speaks a lot to what he has therefore learned from the directors he has worked with as

an actor. Ultimately Pendleton’s objective as a director is to facilitate the telling of the playwright’s story

and to act as a guide to actors in their understanding of the story.

In an interview on City University of New York’s television show, Pendleton spoke of some of the

first directors that he worked with professionally and his admiration of their talents. Specifically referring

to Jerome Robins, Allen Arkin and Mike Nichols among other greats he said, “They’re brilliant, but

they’re into telling the story.” By this Pendleton is reflecting on how important the clarity of the through

line of a play is even beyond individual creative liberties of the director. He seems to have adopted his

mentor’s ideology about story telling as a director. Pendleton went on immediately to recall that with his

first experiences directing he “had it all blocked out in [his] mind” allowing for limited spontaneity and

flexibility when he got to rehearsals. A year afer his first encounter directing he found himself

completely unprepared and without blocking going into his first rehearsal on a show he was directing. He

explained that while he was completely and utterly terrified and felt that he would appear to be a moron

going into that rehearsal, he “discovered that [he] was blocking more expressively than [he] ever had”

and “that’s what ‘Jerry’ did”.

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Pendleton also talked about how incredibly important it is to collaborate well with the actors and

designers, namely the set designer. Crediting Elia Kazan as the presumed source Pendleton said that

directing is eighty percent casting and eighteen percent ground plan. He went on to explain how it is so

important to talk and talk with the set designer so that you can reach a mutual understanding about

where the play is coming from and that if the designer is good they will then say “okay, how about this”

and provide a clear concept for the playing space with which you will then be able to create stage

pictures within.

Just as Pendleton approaches working with the set designer, he works closely with the actors he

directs, especially at table, to help them enjoy a deep and well-thought out perspective on the play at

hand. Finishing up with his comments about good set designers, Pendleton said, “And that’s how you

work with actors, you don’t tell them how to do it— as an actor I know that”. Because of his experience

working as an actor Pendleton’s attitude towards working with actors is very empathetic, as he knows

how he prefers to work and what has been effective for him when working with directors. Pendleton

asks himself and the actors about the play and on a more finite level, the scenes themselves. What is this

scene about? What defining moment or event during this scene is responsible for moving the over-

arching story along? Afer the actors converse with Pendleton and reach a sort of consensus about these

important pieces, he helps delve in and explore the questions his actors still have about the play, a

scene, a moment or whatever else. In Pendleton’s own words he said, “You get a communal idea of what

needs to take place in the scene and then once you get that established, then you give them free reign”

pausing to add “or… they take it, you don’t give it to them”. This directoral approach is very likely popular

with actors that work with Pendleton, he is very much the actor’s director.
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All things considered Pendleton’s perspective on the director’s craf and his relationship with the

actors he works with are aimed at the telling of stories, and doing so in a clear, meaningful expressive

way. It seems as though Pendleton’s ego plays little to no role in his approach to directing.

Referenced Interview

Cunytv75. YouTube. YouTube, 01 Feb. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jrD94jm4cM