Ask Judith: Submission #101

Submission Number: 101
Submission ID: 185
Submission UUID: 41438dc9-a3c8-462c-84f6-96c759b35690
Submission URI: /web/ask-judith

Created: Sat, 10/12/2024 - 09:33 PM
Completed: Sat, 10/12/2024 - 09:33 PM
Changed: Sat, 10/12/2024 - 09:33 PM

Remote IP address: 35.149.139.126
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Webform: Ask Judith
Sarah Kearney
Dear Judith, Thank you for writing "Directing Actors" which I am currently listening to on Audible. I have the honor of directing a play by Kathryn Schultz Miller "A Thousand Cranes". Two of the actors have never been on stage before and the third is fairly new to theatre. I wanted to write to you to say Thank you for the suggestion of emotional connections and "What if" work.

I am also finding your suggestion of Script Analysis incredibly helpful. There are so many underlying themes to this script and I have been searching for ways to interpret some of the dialogue of counting the number of cranes Sadako Sasaki folded during her life. Schulz-Miller has the counting as a consistent theme and I am hoping to guide the actors to find the verbs for the counting.

Thank you for any advice, guidance and direction you provide.
{Empty}
Yes

  • “I am eternally grateful for your help.”

    TAIKA WAITITI, writer-director, JOJO RABBIT, THOR RAGNAROK, HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, BOY, EAGLE VS SHARK, FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS

  • “I took a seminar with an acting teacher named Judith Weston. I learned a key insight to character. She believed that all well-drawn characters have a spine, and the idea is that the character has an inner motor, a dominant, unconscious goal that they’re striving for, an itch that they can’t scratch. I took to this like a duck to water.”

    ANDREW STANTON [from his Feb 2012 TED Talk] writer-director, FINDING DORY, WALL-E, FINDING NEMO, A BUG’S LIFE; director, BETTER CALL SAUL, STRANGER THINGS; writer, TOY STORY, TOY STORY 2, TOY STORY 3

  • "Judith's method is wonderful because it is practical. She has given me numerous tools to solve problems on the set and to earn the trust of actors. Her classes and her book are invaluable resources to any director."

    LAWRENCE TRILLING, director, GOLIATH, RECTIFY, PARENTHOOD, MASTERS OF SEX, PUSHING DAISIES, DAMAGES, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, NIP/TUCK, MONK, SCRUBS, INVASION, ALIAS, FELICITY

  • "Thank you for teaching me how to direct actors. Taking your classes made me believe I could direct. Taking your classes gave me a base, a foundation, a framework to find my own style. To step out on faith. I'm forever grateful. Love and respect to you, magnificent Judith Weston." 

    AVA DuVERNAY, director, WHEN THEY SEE US, QUEEN SUGAR, A WRINKLE IN TIME, SELMA, SCANDAL, MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

  • "Everything you taught me was more than useful. I am deeply grateful."

    ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU, director, THE REVENANT, BIRDMAN, BIUTIFUL, BABEL, 21 GRAMS, AMORES PERROS