A Conversation with Tony Taccone, Director of A Shot Rang Out
Tony Taccone’s directorial skills on one-person plays alone put him in the front rank of America’s great theatre directors. He’s directed John Leguizamo in Latin History for Morons, Sarah Jones in Bridge & Tunnel and the late Carrie Fisher in Wishful Drinking. And now, he directs South Coast Repertory Artistic Director David Ivers in A Shot Rang Out.
Discover
the back-story of A Shot Rang Out with Artistic/Audience Engagement Director H. Adam Harris: Watch the video
But Taccone, who spent 33 years as the artistic director at Berkeley
Repertory Theatre, is no one-trick pony. He staged more than 40 plays at
Berkeley Rep, introducing works from Leguizamo, Culture Clash, David Edgar and
Julia Cho to the American theatre world. Before that, he served as the artistic
director at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco, where he commissioned and
co-directed Tony Kushner’s Tony Award-winning Angels in America.
Before he makes his SCR directorial debut, Taccone sat down and talked about this play—written specifically for Ivers by Richard Greenberg—and why it is the perfect vehicle to emerge from these uncertain times.
What makes A Shot Rang Out such a poignant and timely play?
Taccone: “Well, it doesn’t get any more topical. It’s about a guy who’s emerging from a pandemic. A guy who’s emerging from a place of great isolation for a very long time. A person who’s emerging from a place where his habits have been broken and new ones have had to take their place. … There are beautiful, long passages in this play where the character articulates his experience in a way that feels existentially, very, very immediate and relatable to everybody. Everybody. We’ve all gone through this thing for better and for worse. This struggle, which has brought up different things for different folks. But the struggle is there for everybody.”
What are the directorial challenges and nuances in directing a one-man play?
Taccone: “Directing a solo show is different than directing a multi-cast play. The relationship with the actor is different. It’s more intimate. You’re more privy to a single individual’s personal habits, nuances, behaviors, defense mechanisms and strengths. You get a front-row seat to this person and you are the audience. You’re sort of sitting in for another character in the play. … One person shows in general tend to be more intense. You have to understand who the individual is and what they need. ... What David (Ivers) needs isn’t what John Leguizamo needs and what John Leguizamo needs isn’t what Sarah Jones needs and certainly not what Carrie Fisher needed. There’s a very wide range of adaptive mechanisms that come into play when you engage with a particular person and the story they’re trying to tell.”
Talk about your relationship with David Ivers and what he brings to this challenging role:
Taccone: “It feels special because (he) is a longtime colleague and pal and associate. That feels like a really solid foundation to re-emerge into something approaching normalcy, if you can use that word anymore. … David has a long and illustrious and rich career as an actor. He came at this from the opposite way (I did). He was an actor for many years and then started to direct. … For him, this is about actually using muscles crying to be used.
The safe and comfortable learning of our students is our priority as we continue to monitor and respond to the health crisis. Most classes will be held in-person while following all state and local COVID guidelines. A few adult classes will be held online. Vaccinations are required for in-person adult classes. Masks are required for all in-person classes.
Unsubscribe or Change Your Preferences | Forward | View in browser
You have received this email because you have subscribed to our email list.
Code: 21478
South Coast Repertory | Emmes/Benson Theatre Center | 655 Town Center Drive | Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | Segerstrom Center for the Arts | Administration 714-708-5500 | Ticket Services 714-708-5555