DirectorsLabChicago, founded in 2005 by Chicago-based directors Elizabeth Margolius and Karin Shook, has grown into an international yearly event at the Chicago Cultural Center. Directors from around the world gather to exchange ideas and discuss what it means to be a director. The first event of the lab on June 14th at 7pm, at the Chicago Cultural Center in the Cassidy Theater, open to the public, brings a frank and in-depth conversation with some of the city's most prominent stage directors as they discuss the varied approaches to their work. This year's topic is The Female Voice: Directing from a Female Perspective But the excitement doesn't end there! Also starting at 7pm that day, there will be a week-long auction on eBay (eBay ID: directorslabchicago), to assist their mission of bringing the highest level of quality to the Lab.
In the spirit of the event, the items up for auction will be pages of notes written during rehearsals of some of the most important productions by some the rising stars as well as some of the biggest names in American theater. This year we are so fortunate to feature notes from the 2010 Drama Desk Award nominated (Outstanding Director of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play) hit revival of The Boys in the Band, directed by Jack Cummings III. These notes are of particular interest since they are two separate pages, with one page being on the back of a page of the director's copy of the script, and the other page of notes being on a sheet of the late Vanity Fair Special Correspondent Dominick Dunne's personal work stationery.The second page of notes comes from another 2010 Drama Desk Award nominated (Unique Theatrical Experience) show Stuffed and Unstrung, co-created and directed by Patrick Bristow and starring Brian Henson, son of the late legendary puppet pioneer Jim Henson. Billed as a multimedia mash-up of puppetry and improvisation, the notes for this show are unusual in the fact that since this is an improvised production, the entire cast has also autographed and contributed responses to the notes the director took during rehearsals.
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