When approaching a new project, the first, rather obvious thing that I do is read the text (and listen to the music if possible) for the flow of the story and take a few mental notes; I try to objectively experience the story as a whole before putting on my “Fight Director’s hat. Then I have a talk, or talks, with the Director to get their understanding of the story as well as how they want it to be told and experienced by the audience. There are not very many questions that can or should even be addressed without these first two steps (sometimes taken in reverse order).

 

Armed with this information, I revisit the text multiple times and begin doing background research and formulating questions that we are likely to have to answer in the creative process.

 

The questions may be as simple as “how will this actor execute a faint” or as complex as “exactly how will more than a dozen actors in the roles of villagers-crying-out-for-blood and anthropomorphized feather dusters and teacups engage in a compelling battle for 140 measures that is entertaining, truthful, dramatic, climactic and comic-yet-high-stakes?”

 

The “answers” will often be straightforward ones that I can readily provide but, very often, the finest ones will be discovered through collaboration, experimentation and exploration. Yes, every piece of choreography will have the stamp of the choreographer but perhaps more importantly, each action that we put on stage will ultimately show itself to be an individualized creation formed from the best ideas from all of the artists involved.  Collaboration is key.

 

In addition, we examine each character in terms of their own abilities, desires and history. Put another way, given all that we know about this being, what do they want and how do they go about getting it? We should develop character-driven individualized movements that satisfy both the truth of the reality/world we create as well as the truth of each specific character. No two people punch, or react to getting punched, in the same way OR at the same provocation!

 

Finally, I strive to tap into the gifts that each actor brings to the rehearsal room to inform what we can accomplish on stage. The best ideas cannot be fully realized without being cognizant of the actors who will be bringing these fictional lives-to-life and how their physicality, and sometimes psyche, is best suited to tell their story…eight times a week.

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--Robb Hunter, Fight Choreographer