An Apprentice’s Perspective

One of the gifts of this season for me has been the opportunity to co-direct The God Committee alongside Lauren as part of afO’s directorial apprenticeship.

Last year as a first-year apprentice, I had the opportunity to direct Out of the Box, which was a really exciting first step and gave me a chance to try my hand at leading a production. But The God Committee has been a much bigger undertaking, with more moving parts and more complexity than anything I’ve directed before.

Because of that, it has meant so much to have Lauren walking through this process with me. There have been so many practical things I’ve gotten to learn by being in the room with her. How to build a rehearsal schedule, how to break a script into manageable pieces, how to communicate clearly with actors, and even how to navigate the hard or awkward moments that can come up in rehearsal. Those aren’t things you really learn just by talking about them. You learn them by doing, and by having someone beside you who can help guide the process.

And honestly, it’s also just been really fun. There’s something so exciting about having a vision for a story and then getting to work with a group of actors to shape it together. Watching the pieces come together little by little to bring this show to life is one of the most rewarding parts of this whole experience.

I’m really grateful for the chance to keep learning in such a hands-on way, and for the opportunity to grow in something I love so much.

Stacey Kuster
2nd year apprentice