Soon her name is called by a young man quick to identify himself as “the producer.” She is led down windy stairs to a mirror-lined dance studio with three others actors, all making small talk. Her thoughts remain a mystery behind her too-eager smile.

Meet the Director

The director, Graham A. Sack ’03, introduces himself and wastes no time getting down to business.

“This a powerful performance about extreme suffering,” he says.

The play, The Dybbuk, is Sack’s version of the script by Julia Pascal. It is about five prisoners in a ghetto who perform a folk play to distract themselves from certain death. Sack says his rendition of the play will utilize “cutting edge ensemble staging techniques.”

And—like most Harvard directors at Common Casting—Sack wants more from those who audition than recitation of a monologue.

He tells the group to read over a passage and to chose four phrases from it to act out in vignettes.

Words are not necessary, he says, stripping his actors of the protection of dialogue.

“There are no rules,” he says. “Do anything you want to.”

Neither the license nor the vulnerability seems to shake Gann. As the director and producers leave the actors alone to brainstorm, she plops herself on the floor and begins to conspire.

“The first line is really powerful,” she says to her partner, who nods. And the two read on.

Within five minutes, they have identified the subjects of their soon-to-be vignettes and proceed to “choreograph” them. They spot a ladder and an inflated exercise ball. Soon the scene is complete, and the director returns to scrutinize the choices they have made.

Two actors perform their interpretations first, opting to lick the floor while reciting passages of the prose.

Gann and her partner gaze at the performers while no doubt more occupied with running their own actions through their minds.

“Interesting choices,” Graham says to the actors. Gann and her partner are up.