Polly Lynn Heinkel
Documents
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document fileComplete Directing CV
Credits
Year | Job Title Project Type |
Project Name Director / Company |
Location |
---|---|---|---|
2015 |
Assistant Director
Theatre |
Gay Buddy Ambush Rikki Beadle-Blair / Team Angelica |
Bush Theatre |
2014 |
Assistant Director
Theatre |
Twelfth Night or What You Will Tom Davey / East 15 Acting School |
|
2014 |
Producer
Theatre |
Eat Your Heart Out Pollen Productions |
Studio 307 |
2014 |
Director
Theatre |
Wars of the Roses/Henry 4.2 and 5 EclecticPond Theatre Company |
|
2014 |
Producer/Director
Theatre |
As You Like It Pollen Productions |
Studio 307 |
2014 |
Producer/Director
Theatre |
Proof Pollen Productions |
Studio 307 |
2013 |
Director
Theatre |
Much Ado About Nothing EclecticPond Theatre Company |
|
2013 |
Producer/Director
Theatre |
The Normal Heart Pollen Productions |
Studio 307 |
Education
Year | Qualification | Where |
---|---|---|
2016 | MFA Theatre Directing | East 15 Acting School |
2012 | MA Theatre Studies/Creative Thesis | Miami University |
Equipment
My Equipment/Kit:
I can use:
About me
I direct plays that speak to me in a visceral way. The stories I tell have a voice of oppression and underrepresentation that create a platform where a conversation can begin. The texts I choose may be works that have been produced in the past such as my work with the classics i.e., Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. However, in these cases I breathe new life into the text through a conceptualization where, for example, a character’s gender and/or sexuality is changed. In the context of contemporary pieces, I track the journey of each of the characters within the piece, thus highlighting the human condition through the production.I believe that the written words of the play are my guide as the director to create a world collaboratively with the actors and designers. I value the input from the production team and the actor as strive to bring them into the production to create a holistic, family-like atmosphere.
I first analyze the piece and ask myself which character grows the most. The growth of a character from beginning to end and their journey in between gifts me with the story I am to tell. Once I complete the analysis and first production meetings, I begin to think about how a play can make a particular play have an impact on my audience. In considering this, I think about the work of directors who have inspired me throughout my career. Over my training I have been drawn to the works of Bertolt Brecht and Joan Littlewood. Brecht’s work has inspired me to use nonrealistic elements to affect the audiences’ perception of the work. Creating a world of the play that allows for the audience to be as viscerally affected as I was upon my initial reading of the script. I achieve this through the employment of stark sets, intense lights, projections, and an invasion into the audiences’ safe world with the breaking of the fourth. The audience the becoming a character within the play promoting them to think about the issues brought up in the piece.
Littlewood inspires me to work with my cast as an ensemble with each of us looking at the social issues within the play and in our current times to concretize the story we are tell through their bodies and my concept. Like Littlewood, I feel that the groundwork should be set with the actor early in rehearsal, later to be refined once they are off-book. The process is organic and allows for the majority of the work to come from the actor, as they are responsible for the creation of their character, allowing me to serve as their guide to point out moments and motivations that they may not have thought of along the way. Littlewood also inspires me to throw off the elitist notions that come along with theatre and to make it accessible for a variety of audiences.
My ultimate goal as a director, first and foremost, is for an audience member to come out of the experience thinking. While entertaining an audience is important, I believe the goal of a director is to make theatre both entertaining and thought-provoking.
License & Passport
Driver's License: | Yes |
Skills
Secondary Job Title | Stage Manager |
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Job Titles | Costume Designer, Lighting Designer, Teacher, General Staff, Talent Manager, Casting Assistant, Sales, Marketing / PR, Sound Designer, Production Support, Production Coordinator, Production Manager, Stage Manager, 1st AD (Assistant Director), Production Assistant (PA), Producer, Director |
Years in industry | 3 to 6 years |
Work Permits | USA |