Fundamentals of Play Directing

This textbook is the standard work for student directors. It is a dense, dry read (as are most textbooks) but it contains invaluable information about how to stage plays. Get a used copy at a reasonable price, but definitely read this book if you want to be a director.

Arguably the most significant text on directing for the stage, originally published after Alexander Dean's death (1893-1939) in 1941 from his posthumous class notes and revised several times. Alexander Dean was a professor at Yale in the 1930s. Lawrence Carra, now in his 90s, was his student and then went on to head the Drama Department at Carnegie Mellon University, the oldest degree-conferring school of theatre in the United States. This book has influenced generations of stage directors and is considered by many the most influential book of its kind. It is both theoretical and practical. Although the prose style is somewhat dry, the content and information is invaluable. The book presents five basic "fundamentals" of directing: composition, picturization, movement, rhythm and pantomimic dramatization. Carra's follow-up book, Controls in Stage Directing, although out of print, is a worthy companion which explains how the five fundamentals may applied to plays of various genres and styles.The book presents a true method of how to approach the staging of plays. It is not just an outline of basic principles but also gives insight into the art of directing. The basic principles provide working techniques for the realization of the values of a play onstage. The book begins with an excellent essay on "Drama as Art," continues with a chapter on basic technique for the actor and then the heart and soul of the book are the five major chapters covering the basic fundamentals of directing. It ends with a chapter on Production Procedures.An excellent and important book. I am biased, however, as I was a student of Professor Carra.

Dean and Carra's FUNDAMENTALS OF PLAY DIRECTING is a step-by-step manual which deciphers the major technical and visual issues of stage directing. It includes specific "tricks of the trade" which remind all directors, beginning or advanced, of the mechanics of stage work. While the authors discuss dramatic theory, the book corrects examines technique, addressing the key concepts of stage focus, framing, stage pictures, and the creation of dynamism on the stage. It allows current students of directing to understand the "fundamentals" first in order to create new and exciting works later. Though expensive, it is the definitive text for directing students. FUNDAMENTALS OF PLAY DIRECTING is an important investment in a young director's theatrical future.