DAY 043 – DESIGNING DANGEROUSLY

Agree

I did something a couple days ago that I don’t know if I’ve done to this extent before. I cashed a bit of what I think of as trust deposits in the director/designer relationship. 

You may have heard advice that relationships have this same sort of bank: you make deposits so that when you need to make a withdrawal (you’re only human after all) your partner has the reserves. I think it’s the same way with artistic relationships. One of the reasons many directors like to work with the same designers again and again is that there is already an economy of trust. Those deposits have already been made, and so at the beginning of the process, when things are so fraught and uncertain, there are withdrawals that can be made immediately.

I try to deposit and deposit, but sometimes I fail. I’m either caught up on another project and seem distant, I’m interpreted as not totally understanding the directorial concept, there’s just a difference in personality or communication styles. There are many reasons why those deposits don’t happen.

In this particular instance, I told the director that while I didn’t want to “sell” a particular piece of music, here are the reasons why I value it and why my best guess is that it will serve us well. And the director listened and accepted that withdrawal in a high stakes moment: end of the show, lots of moving pieces, requiring dancing, singing, lions, tigers and bears (oh my). After some rehearsal, it did gel and come together. The stretching thing about working a new place with new people is that each of those new relationships is a new opportunity for joy, discovery, trust, and friendship.  A new chance to spread some of those deposits around, rather than keeping them all under your mattress.