Wisdom from a Debut Director
- Rebecca Burnham
- Jun 12
- 3 min read

Last night, I headed to work with my newsletter undone. I work a sleep shift in the home of an individual with disabilities, which means that I get to sleep while my client is sleeping. Unless I haven’t finished my newsletter yet. But I failed to bring my computer charger with me, so when my laptop ran out of juice, I had to cut my losses and go to bed.
Today, I’m doing a pivot. The review I’ve been writing about EPIC The Musical is going to wait until next week. I want to tell you about the theatrical production I’ve been attending all week that was one of the big contributing reasons for my newsletter not being finished.
It was an adaptation of Pirates of Penzance, in a park of the tiny town where my kids grew up. It was the brainchild of my youngest son, Sam (just 22 this week), who produced and directed it, and credits God with the courage and capacity to carry it off. My eldest son, Erik, turned down a paying gig to support his brother and play the Pirate King. My mother heart is rejoicing over them both.
I am not going to claim that I’m unbiased but I do have a critical eye. And, as far as a theatrical performance goes, it was spectacular. I watched the first dress rehearsal on Friday, and it was pretty good. But every day, it got better and better and last night was stunning. The audience was a joy as well. The young woman sitting behind me giggled almost the entire time.
You would never guess that this was Sam’s directorial debut.
I asked him today about the most important things he learned putting on this production. Here are his answers:
First, he mentioned the importance of a humble and collaborative approach that brings about a shared vision and a fully-invested cast: “The most important job of the director is they need to have the humility to sacrifice their vision for the cast.” It was important to try out cast suggestions, even if his first impulse was to reject them. “Most of the things that the audience enjoyed most were things the cast added themselves. The director’s job is not to micromanage in order to bring their exact vision to the stage, but to guide the actors, giving adequate direction so that they can embrace their characters and create something great themselves.”
He also highlighted the importance of appreciating the cast: “The director needs to recognize that the cast is sacrificing their time to be there. A director needs to let go of the little things, have patience with their actors and appreciate the good that they are doing. The director ought not to be the author, but the editor, guiding and refining the ideas of their cast. Acting is a very vulnerable job, and if it is to be done well, the actor must feel safe to improvise and have fun. An actor that feels safe is one that is able to get in tune with their character, adding to it every time that they rehearse. A cast that feels safe is one that is able to create something incredible.”
Finally, he expressed appreciation for the opportunity to practice managing his emotions as a leader. “A director needs to keep their cool, even when they’ve been trying to gather the cast for 10 minutes and they’re still talking to each other. They need to maintain a positive attitude when opening night is fast approaching and there's still such a long way to go. The cast is already stressed enough and they need an anchor, sending them positive feedback instead of feeding their fears. Most important of all, they need to remember that, no matter what happens, everything is going to be okay.”
These are mighty words. They reflect an approach that created magic onstage.
The other reason for my being late today is that there’s a significant learning curve in launching a new podcast. But the one I promised is live at last. If you have an interest in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and especially in what we can learn from that history to inform today’s efforts to build “Zion” (LDS-speak for the Beloved Community) please check it out on YouTube or Spotify. I would greatly appreciate your candid feedback. And if you enjoy, please share with a friend.
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