more thoughts on directing

In my ongoing project to learn from my directing/producing mistakes of the past, so as not to repeat them, I reviewed some emails from a recent production. I just blogged about an actor/dialect coach trying to direct other actors, and I came upon an email another actor sent me at the time, actually defending the dialect coach/actor:

...I remember her making a suggestion only when you said in front of everyone that you hadn't quite thought through the scene and out it might actually play on stage...

So in other words, because I admitted I hadn't thought through a scene, he felt that it meant that this other actor had a green light to go ahead and offer her unsolicited opinions. And mind you, she didn't offer her opinions to ME - she offered them directly to the other actors.

Ironically, the actor who emailed me had complained to me that I wasn't giving the actors enough input into the scenes. But here was an example of the inherent problem - if you DON'T appear to know exactly what you want, some actors will completely overstep their bounds, if they are arrogant and bossy enough.