Robert Cohen - Theatre, Brief Version-McGraw-Hill Education (2016)

Theatre 151
4. Stroman works individually with the actors
as they rehearse, fine-tuning choreographic
gestures, expressions, and focus points
(where actors are to look). © Robert Cohen
you develop it.” And to hear those
words from a producer is like
hearing a beautiful melody! It’s
unheard of. Usually, they just want
you to do a revival, or something
safe. And I said, “Well, as a matter
of fact I do have an idea.” A few
weeks before I had been to a
dance club in NYC’s meatpacking
district, a swing club where
everybody wore black. Out of this
sea of black stepped a girl in
a yellow dress. I got obsessed
watching her, and I thought to
myself, “She’s going to change
some man’s life tonight.” I thought
she was quite bold—a New Yorker
wearing yellow—so when André
asked if I had an idea, I said, “I
absolutely have an idea,” and so
I started to develop a story about
the girl in the yellow dress. I called
my friend John Weidman, who wrote
Assassins and Pacific Overtures.
We went into the rehearsal rooms
of Lincoln Center with eighteen
dancers, and we created a story
about someone who, if he doesn’t
make contact that night, will die.
It was remarkable to have the
opportunity to develop this work
from the visuals and concepts
in my mind. Before it opened, I
thought, “Well, there’ll be a handful
of people that will get this,” but it
took the city by storm. The girl in
the yellow dress was on every bus
in Manhattan! It clearly has a very
universal theme.
RC: Do you have any advice for a
young person aspiring to be a
director?
SS: You have to really have a passion
and a drive, and you can’t be
afraid to take chances. You can’t
just wait around for someone to
hire you; you’ve got to create your
own work. And that’s the way it
should be. There is a collaborative
passion in the theatre that I don’t
think exists in any other business.
All of us are in a swimming pool
together, and we either drown
together or we win an Olympic
medal together. It is passion and
drive that make a show work. And
the drive toward an opening night:
there is nothing like it, nothing like
people coming together with a
goal to move an audience. It’s an
amazing feeling. I am very fortunate
to be in the theatre. I love the
theatre so much!
5. All directors have individual ways of
communicating with actors. Stroman’s
signature style is to write down individual
cast notes on three-by-five cards and then
pass them out to the actors—Patrick and
Katrina in this case—after each rehearsal
unit concludes. © Robert Cohen