Meet the Director: Kevin Carr

Meet the Director: Kevin Carr

Kevin Carr. (photo by Caroline V. Sturtz)

Director Kevin Carr is no stranger to Shakespeare. Last year he stepped in, literally last minute, to help direct TLT's Much Ado About Nothing. His background with Shakespeare and classical shows is extensive, and we're happy to have him on board for Twelfth Night.

First, tell us a little about yourself and what you do when you're not involved in theater?

I moved to Tallahassee several years ago to pursue my PhD in Renaissance Drama at Florida State. These days, when I am not in the theater, I am either in the classroom teaching or desperately trying to finish my dissertation. I am also working hard to bring back the outdoor Southern Shakespeare Festival here in Tallahassee.

How did you first get started in theater? What drew you to it?

I grew up in Boston (which has a lot of great theater companies) but my parents never brought me to the theater. I was very lucky to go to high school that had an outstanding arts education program. That was how I got hooked! My English teachers brought us to see productions at a professional theater company several times a year. I started acting and directing shows at the same time. I love the collaborative aspect of it. There are so many people involved in a production. The sets, the lights, the costumes, the sound, and the acting all come together to create something really magical.

What specifically drew you to direct Shakespeare and Twelfth Night?

Well, I've seen the play, I've acted in the play, and I've taught the play, but I've never directed it. I've always wanted to create a carnival celebration full of color, warmth, and silliness. I've always loved the setting of Illyria, and felt like it would be a pretty cool place to hang out! Our production really captured the beauty of this place where everyone is constantly falling in and out of love!

I always remind my students that Shakespeare was meant to be enjoyed in the theater, not in the classroom!! Shakespeare's extraordinary language was written to be heard, not to be read. We just don't have any dramatic writer today who can match the intensity and beauty of Renaissance verse and prose. Shakespeare’s language is such a challenge for actors and directors. That’s why I love it!

What was the last show you directed and where?

Over the past year, I co-directed the TLT production of Much Ado About Nothing, and a production of Doctor Faustus at the Warehouse. Last year was very busy, and this year will be even busier!

What would you say is your biggest challenge on this show?

It is really challenging to work with actors who have never performed Shakespeare before. Shakespeare's language is so demanding for actors. But this is a fantastic and enthusiastic cast, and they were up for the challenge.

What is your vision for this production? What do you hope audiences take away from the experience?

I want the production to be an escape for the audience. Among other things, this is a silly comedy about love and the pursuit of love. In tragedies like Romeo and Juliet, we feel the pain of love; in comedies like Twelfth Night, we laugh at it.

Why should people come to see Twelfth Night?

Beautiful set. Beautiful costumes. Beautiful music. Beautiful words… (and beautiful actors!!). What more could you ask for?!!

Twelfth Night opens January 17th and runs through January 27. Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening performances are at 8 pm and Sunday matinees are at 2 pm. Purchase your tickets by calling the Box Office at 850-224-8474 or clicking here!

Meet the Director: Joel Daavid

Meet the Director (and Designer!) of TLT's latest production, Frankenstein, Joel Daavid

In 1816, a then-18-year-old Mary Shelley sat down to write a horror story based on a dream she'd had. What resulted is one of the best known novels of horror and suspense ever written, and possibly the world's first science fiction novel. Shelley's tale of young genius Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his quest to create life out of death caught the imagination of the world, and its lessons still echo today.

It's been a few years since TLT tackled a well known horror story (Dracula back in 2007). We wanted something to match the spirit of the season, and we knew we also wanted something different, something that Tallahassee theatregoers had never seen before.

Enter Joel Daavid. Joel comes to us from Los Angeles, where he's an award winning director and designer. When we decided we wanted to do Frankenstein Joel stepped forward and volunteered to bring this monster to life. His unique vision and talents have created a show unlike anything Tallahassee has ever seen before. Over the next few days we'll be giving you some sneak peeks at the production design for Frankenstein, but first we'd like to present the man behind the monster:

Joel Daavid
Website: JDaavid.com

First, tell us a little about yourself and what you do when you're not involved in theater?
When am I NOT involved in theater, that's the question.  Theater has become integrated into every area of my life so much that it has become my life-- and I'm good with that.  My mother first took me to theater when I was very little and in doing so introduced me to what has become my greatest passion.  In the theater, I have done everything; acting, singing, designing and directing, even reaching into opera and ballet.  Fortunately, love may be found in the theater as well, as I met and began dating a terrifically talented scenic painter and actress who became my girlfriend, Marine.  

How did you first get started in theater? What drew you to it?
I first got involved in theater when I was drawn to stage crew in middle school.  There, a little ragtag band of technicians gave me the desire to work backstage and develop my first love for the theatre.  I did everything I could imagine except costuming.  Unfortunately, my foray into acting was fairly short lived.  I remember enthusiastically taking the stage in a Shakespeare play, but as curtain opened, I stood there alone, not being able to remember my first (or any) line.  When the curtain closed, after what felt like an hour, not a single word had been uttered by either me or my scene partner.  The embarrassment faded along with the lines, but began molding my preference to express myself creatively backstage.

My passion for everything arts-related such as photography, fine art and filmmaking also found an outlet in the theater.  Theater allows me a larger pallet on which to work;  telling the story visually through set and lighting design, it is a natural draw for my artistic interests.  I was also drawn to the magic of transporting the audience to a different place and time and the satisfaction of challenging the audience to think about how their lives might be affected or changed, as mine has with every great piece of theater literature I have been involved with.

What specifically drew you to direct a production of Frankenstein a continent-length away from home?
In 2009, I worked with Barbie Nettles in my critically acclaimed L.A. production of The Miracle Worker.  Barbie's daughter, Carlie played Helen Keller.  As we chatted online one night, she told me that she had been inspired to direct the same play here in Tallahassee.   Working in a variety of venues, learning and sharing talents is a great way to grow and keep a fresh approach, so I asked Barbie if there might be an opportunity for me to direct a show at Tallahassee Little Theatre.  She spoke with the TLT Board of Trustees and the then new executive director, Theresa Davis, who all agreed to bring me in as an outside director.  It was a great opportunity just coming off the successful production of Baby Doll by Tennessee Williams.   Frankenstein is  an epic tale of a man who dares to play God and the consequences of creating a human being.  Arriving in Tallahassee to start my planning, I was pleased to see in person the large stage as I tend to think on a big scale when it comes to all the shows I direct.  TLT is a nicely equipped theater with people who are eager to create. 

What was the last show you directed and where?
I directed and designed Baby Doll by Tennessee Williams at the Lillian Theatre in Los Angeles to sold out houses and critical acclaim.

What would you say is your biggest challenge on this show?
The biggest challenge for me as a story teller is to make sure that people walk away with a different perspective of the story.  Most people associate Frankenstein with the 1931 classic horror film but there is so much more in the novel than what was portrayed in that film.  Our production will attempt to better flesh out the story, the characters have so much more depth and inner conflict.  I see an opportunity to inspire the deserved appreciation and sympathy for Mary Shelley's intricate and compelling characters.  It is not just a horror story but a challenge of morals.

What is your vision for this production? What do you hope audiences take away from the experience?
Walking into a production I always try to approach it uniquely, avoiding the preconceptions audiences bring.  My background in design and visual storytelling is quite evident in the choices I make on stage and I try to tell the story seamlessly in a cinematic way.  Many of my scene transitions happen right in front of the audience incorporating theater movement, music and projections.  I'm not a big fan of the blackout.  I try to stage the sequence of scenes so that they almost "cross dissolve" as in film.  Many audiences members have told me that watching my plays is like watching a movie.  I guess all those years in film school payed off.

Why should people come to see Frankenstein?
I assume that most people would come to see Frankenstein based on the name alone, hoping for some good natured thrills right before Halloween.  My hope is that they will be in for a major surprise when they see how beautiful the story is and how the characters themselves are enveloped in the fabric of a world created by one man daring to play God.  My goal is for them to walk away with new questions about creation and an awareness of the moral dilemmas we face today with advancing science in areas such as stem cell research and cloning. 

Tickets for Frankenstein are on sale now! Order yours by clicking here or call 850-224-8474.

Meet the Director of "Next Fall" : Naomi Rose-Mock

Meet the Director: Naomi Rose-Mock

Next Fall is our first Coffeehouse production of this season. Like many of our Coffeehouse shows the story and themes explored in this play are much bigger than the intimate performance space. Next Fall examines love, family, and religion through the eyes of Adam and Luke. Veteran Tallahassee director Naomi Rose-Mock stepped in to direct this delicately funny and bittersweet story.

First, tell us a little about yourself and what you do when you're not involved at TLT?
I'm originally from England, and have been acting, playing instruments and singing for as long as I can remember. I typically direct five to seven shows a year around the Big Bend. In addition to directing, I teach music and theatre to developmentally disabled adults at Pyramid Studios and work as a private acting coach.  

When did you first get involved at TLT?
I became involved at TLT in 2005, and have been involved in over 40 shows since that time, both as an employee and freelance director. 

How has TLT changed your life?
TLT has had a huge influence over my family's lives. My husband, Mike, has been involved behind the scenes in set building, stage management and crew for loads of shows and my stepdaughter, Laura, has honed her skills as a lighting designer, stage manager and crew at TLT as well.  

What was the last show you directed and where?
Most recently, I directed Les Miserables for the Leon Chorale Department, a show that consisted of 67 students that represented the best of the best of the entire county.  

What drew you to directing Next Fall?
Next Fall is an honest, real and brilliantly written script that is, by turns, hilarious, heartwarming and heartbreaking. I was excited to work with a small group of actors to tell this story.  

What would you say is your biggest challenge on this show?
The biggest challenges are to let the material speak for itself, and maintain complete honesty throughout. Also, playing the non-verbal communication with equal or greater importance than the dialogue. This is a show that has a non linear plot construct, moving the audience seamlessly through time and locales- this is a challenge in a space as intimate space as TLT's Coffeehouse.   

What message do you hope to send with this production?
The message here is simply a story of humanity and it's flaws. The relationship dynamics presented here are both universal and relate-able.   

Why should people come to see Next Fall?
Come see the show for the brilliant script and honest acting. When I say that you'll laugh and cry, it's not just a turn of phrase, this show is an adventure for the emotions. See you there!

Tickets for Next Fall are on sale now! This show opens on September 14th and runs for two weekends. Showtimes are 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays; 2pm and 7pm on Sundays (two shows). We will be having discussion panels hosted by several local guest speakers 45 min prior to each show. For a full list of speakers and topics, please visit: tallahasseelittletheatre.org/nextfall

Naomi Rose-Mock

Meet the Director of "The 39 Steps": Ben Taylor

Our first show of the season, The 39 Steps, is a hilarious mixture of film noir, suspense, mystery, romance, adventure, and farcical comedy. Patrick Barlow's script draws heavily from the Alfred Hitchcock film of the same title, which itself is heavily adapted from the novel by John Buchan.

In The 39 Steps a bored man meets a mysterious woman with a thick accent. When he takes her home, she tells him a fantastic story of spies and espionage secrets before she is suddenly murdered. Soon he's on the run from the police and villains alike, meeting a whole host of oddball characters, all while trying to stop an important military secret from getting out of the country and, of course, falling in love.

An epic story like this is made even more epic on stage, with all of the characters portrayed by only four actors: a leading man, one actress who plays three women, and two other men who play everyone--and everything!--else. 

Director Ben Taylor is a veteran TLT performer and volunteer. You may have seen him before in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Rumors, and Black Coffee. He brings with him a lifelong love of performing and a wealth of theater experience.



First, tell us a little about yourself and what you do when you're not involved at TLT?
I am a native Floridian who was born and raised in Gotha, Florida, just west of Orlando. I had a wonderful introduction to theater at the Civic Theatre of Central Florida, which I will always consider my theatrical "home," even though that company no longer exists. I graduated from FSU's School of Theatre in 1983 and worked in theaters in Connecticut, Georgia and Orlando, mostly as a stage manager. I love musical theater and have enjoyed singing and acting in some really wonderful productions. But as the realities of a steady paycheck became necessary, I started working in the "corporate entertainment industry," better known as theme parks. For 17 years I worked at all of the major theme parks in Orlando as both a performer and technician/stage manager, but I found myself doing less and less stage work, my real love, because of the schedule required at the parks. My brother, who lives here in Tallahassee, offered me an opportunity to start working "bankers hours" if I came to Tallahassee, so I took a chance on a new career and location. I am now the accounts receivables manager for Auto DataDirect, Inc., a company which I co-founded with my brother in 1999, shortly after moving back to Tallahassee.

When did you first get involved at TLT?

I don't remember which came first... stepping in two weeks before opening as a Muleteer in Man of LaMancha, or working with Millie Seckel on a fund-raising show called CineMagic... both were in 1999, I believe.

What was the last show you directed and where? 

I directed a play by William Mastrosimone (author of Extremities and The Woolgatherer) called Cat's Paw back in 1986, in a black-box theater of the Civic Theatre of Central Florida, which was very similar to our Coffeehouse space. It was a play that was a bit ahead of its time, as it dealt with an eco-terrorism group who kidnap a television news reporter so that they can tell their side of the story. About the only similarity that it has with The 39 Steps is that both shows only have four performers... 

What drew you to directing The 39 Steps? 

 I love unique theatrical "experiences" and I had read the reviews for this show in the winter of 2008, when it opened in New York, with many raves about its creative staging and energetic comedy style. It sounded like my kind of show! My partner and I took my niece to New York City as a high-school graduation gift that June and the first night we were in town, we dropped her and her best friend off at Spring Awakening and we walked two blocks down to see The 39 Steps.

It was such a great evening of comedy, creativity and truly theatrical fun. The story is all there, but the elements of a Carol Burnett or Monty Python comedic sketches made it an even more delightful evening. I immediately felt that it would be a great show for Tallahassee audiences and I hoped that TLT would be able to be the first to present it here, which we are!

Patrick Campbell, our lighting designer for The 39 Steps, was the first to point out to me how this play is structured more like a musical than a typical comedy. My background and experience is much more heavily inclined toward musical theatre, so it made sense to me that it would be another reason why I was drawn to the show.

What would you say is your biggest challenge on this show?   

Having been onstage more than behind the scenes in the past 15 years, I had forgotten things about directing that aren't as obvious when you are a performer... for an example, my actors haven't lived with this script for six months like I have! During pre-production, before casting, a director reads and re-reads and dissects and hears line readings in his or her head. Once I cast the show and started rehearsals, I had to repeatedly remind myself that the actors are reading this for maybe the second or third time. I need to give them the latitude to find the characters and discover how their character would say something. It is my job to steer them in the direction I am wanting it to go, especially in a show like The 39 Steps, that is quite stylized and somewhat dependent on precise characterizations. But I have 6 weeks to get them there... it doesn't have to be there the first week.

And there are a LOT of questions to answer and issues to resolve besides just staging and characterizations! It is tough to have a full-time job and keep up with everything that needs to happen to make the show work. (I know, that's two challenges, but I couldn't decide which is bigger.)

How has TLT changed your life?  

It has provided me the creative opportunities that I may not have been privy to in Orlando or larger cities. The work we do here is terrific and the people are dedicated, which I did not expect when I moved to Tallahassee almost 14 years ago. It has been my theatrical home-away-from-home. As I prepare to leave Tallahassee at the end of 2012 (my partner has been reassigned to St. Petersburg, so we will be moving there later this year), I will certainly miss this group of people and the fun we have had in crafting good, fun theatre! I hope I don't wait 26 years before I put my foot into the directing pool again!

Why should people come to see The 39 Steps?  

It is fantabulously funny, ferociously frenetic and full of fearless fun! Audiences who enjoy fast-paced comedy, espionage mysteries, Alfred Hitchcock movies, and the "theatrics" of live theatre will all love this show. For ages 9 to 99, it is the type of show that doesn't work on a movie screen... it is what makes live theatre such a true delight!

The 39 Steps opens August 16th and runs through Sept. 2nd. Tickets go on sale to the general public on August 6th. Season ticket holders get their seats sooner.  The cost for season tickets is $80 for adults, $60 for seniors and government employees, and $40 for students.

You can purchase your season tickets today by calling 850-224-8474.