Directing
I view a production much like a three-legged stool, where playwright, actor, and director support an audience. Each leg is essential and an equal collaborator in achieving the purpose. The mind and heart of the play is the playwright. The words become flesh through the actor. The sculptor, coach, choreographer, and conductor of the production is the director. (Pictured, The Diary of Anne Frank)
American Theatre Magazine
Vengeance, Plague, Death, Confusion: Stacy Keach, Ed Gero Join Zoom ‘Lear’ Reading Directed by Gary Sloan.
An online benefit on Shakespeare’s birthday will reunite some storied professional casts with local Pennsylvania actors.
One of the earliest live stream productions during the 2020 pandemic
Drama Professor Directs Prison Production
There were a few special touches in Catholic University Professor of Drama Gary Sloan’s recent production of “Macbeth.”
The cast was almost entirely male, including the three witches. The scenery and props for the three-performance run last spring were minimal. And the performing space was highly unusual: a mess hall at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in New York.
Love’s Labor’s Lost
at The Catholic University of America
“My agreement with Sloan, as he speaks on behalf of the actor, is airtight. . . All the work I have done in the theatre has been actor-centered. At the same time, it has often been very difficult to convince even eager students that their place is at the very center of the art.”
Zelda Fichandler, founding director of Arena Stage
Artistic Producer
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Executive Director of Tudor Hall
Shakespeare’s Birthplace in America, Tudor Hall, homestead of Junius Brutus Booth’s family, notably Edwin Booth, America’s greatest Hamlet in the 19th century. As President and Exec. Dir., I oversaw development efforts, structuring the Board of Directors, direct mail campaigns, marketing and producing/directing special benefits featuring nationally known actors and authors. Pictured above, Inauguration of Edwin Booth Award, presented to Hal Holbrook in LA with board member, Casey Biggs..
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MFA Acting Company
Head of MFA Acting Company at The Catholic University of America - recruiting students, supervising performance faculty, restructuring curriculum, producing tour company, inviting guest artists, liaison with professional community and producing/directing DC and NY showcases (pictured above).
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Prison Practioner
In conjunction with RTA (Rehabilitation with the Arts) in New York, Chester Correctional Facility in Philadelphia and the Northern Ireland Prison Arts Foundation in Londonderry, NI, I have produced a Shakespeare production, conducted “Try acting for a change” workshops, improvisations, a scene night for the inmate population and post-show discussions.
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Live streaming and virtual productions during pandemic 2020-21
King Lear with Stacy Keach and Stars In the House Macbeth with Patrick Page (see Directing) as well as an Interfaith Darkness Into Light production featuring artists, poets, painters, singers, parishioners and clergy from Muslim, Jewish and Christian congregations. Special appearance by Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul and Mary) alongside Rev. Elizabeth Stookey. (above painting by Marc Schimsky of Kol Emet Synagogue, Yardley, PA)