Director's Note

My name is Jill Shoemaker, and I play Tessa and am the director of Dear Juliet. I fell in

love with the art of theatre after participating in numerous productions as an actor onstage. As I

explored the craft through high school, I began to work on the production side as well

during my junior year and found a whole new side of what I love to do. Amazed by everything I had learned in only a year of directing, I was interested in continuing to see what learning the other side of things would teach me as an actor.

The first aspect of my senior project was directing a student written and performed one act produced by the summer students at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts that discussed the AIDS crisis in 1980s New

York. This experience was particularly unique because the involved students were given only 24

hours to produce the show. Although deadlines rarely aid creative minds, the comradery, time

crunch, and artistry pushed us to make something quite remarkable.

The second aspect was assistant directing the Hampton Roads Academy middle school performance of the musical, Elf Jr. This production was unlike my first because it was a full-length musical, entailed a six week rehearsal process, and was performed by young children rather than veteran performers at a summer intensive. This unique process taught me time management and how to interpret song and dance with the actors in order to convey the same emotions that mere spoken lines would.

Now, the pinnacle of my project is directing Dear Juliet. This project combines aspects from my two previous performances as it involves experienced actors, has a full length rehearsal process, and is a musical. However, unlike all of my previous directing experiences, Dear Juliet; is completely original which has provided me the space to build our show without outside influence; rather, this influence is purely based on the creativity in the room. Also, it poses a new challenge as I am directing a show that I am also performing in. I have been working with Cassie, Alex, and Sarah to stage the show and explore their characters since October. Using aspects from Meisner and Chekhov's acting techniques, along with many, many rehearsals, the four of us are almost ready to bring Dear

Juliet to life.

Please click the link below to watch a video that summarizes the process of making Dear Juliet!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mGDuJxws6iA&feature=youtu.be

Jill Shoemaker/Tessa