Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Tristan Burke
Professor Luddy
Directing I
23 March 2017
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
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”
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jrD94jm4cM