When Todd Hunter directed his first play 17 years ago — “Merry-Go-Round” at The Players’ Ring — he might have thrown a prop, or maybe a chair, across the room out of frustration, not unlike J.K. Simmons’ perfection-crazed character in the film “Whiplash.” Hunter wanted to challenge his actors, to push them in their performances. That’s still his aim as a director, though he’s got a different approach.
“I think that as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more focused on how to get that atmosphere in shows. I think when you’re younger and directing shows, you can have the tendency to just go straight to being demanding,” he said.
It’s fitting that Hunter’s latest show is “Seminar,” Theresa Rebeck’s play about four ambitious young writers who pay $5,000 to attend a writing seminar led by Leonard, a demanding instructor who accepts nothing but the best. The play opens at the Ring on April 17 with a cast that includes Kyle Milner, Jessica Miller, Nate Speckman, Dominique Salvacion, and Matthew Schofield.
“I’d like to push the actors to be as natural as possible, to identify with the characters.”
— Todd Hunter
“Seminar” is Hunter’s first time in the director’s chair since his 2013 production of “The Odd Couple.” During his hiatus, Hunter ordered a series of scripts and had his actors read them aloud before he read them himself. He said that by the end of the first read-through of “Seminar,” the whole room was laughing. That’s when he knew they had found something.
“It’s funny, but it’s also very character driven, and it’s also quite biting in terms of statements of contemporary relationships, as well as the pursuit of your art,” Hunter said. “The show is about writers, but you could take out writers and put in actors, or anything where there is competition. I think anyone that has ever felt that competition can identify with this show.”
Casting began a year and a half ago. He looks for actors who want to test their limits — in other words, performers who understand pain as a path to success.
“I have a very focused style, in that I want the shows that I do to have very realistic and identifiable characters,” Hunter said. “That means a difference between performing a role and acting a role. I’d like to push the actors to be as natural as possible, to identify with the characters, that it’s not just a straight line from A to B.”
This means repetition and dedication. On top of the four rehearsals each week, Hunter said the actors often get together on their own time to go over details. Originally the cast had six weeks to prepare for opening night, but due to complications in scheduling, it was cut down to four. In those four weeks, the cast members spent most of their time simply running the script — “line grinds,” Hunter called the sessions.
“(We) just keep running the show,” Hunter said. “The biggest thing was the lines. It seems redundant to say this play has a lot of lines, because all shows have a lot of lines. But this show is so dialogue-heavy that it was a make or break.”
Kyle Milner, Dominique Salvacion, and Nate Speckman in “Seminar” at The Players’ Ring
“Our philosophies match up in a lot of ways,” said Jessica Miller. “Being a newer actor, and being fairly new out of school, I know that I have actor tendencies that I’m sure look horrible on stage, and so Todd will tell me, ‘No, don’t do that, it looks terrible,’ and I’ll (say), ‘Thank you for pointing that out.’ We work very well together.”
In “Seminar,” the competition is fierce and Leonard’s methods are unorthodox at best. Though it’s meant to portray the difficulties that come with establishing your identity — in a career, relationships, or art — it’s also sharply funny, Hunter said.
“‘Seminar’ just has a way of being universal with its themes. It really isn’t a show about writers or about writing; it’s about these people. All of what they’re going through is universal, and that’s what makes it just so funny. It’s a lot of brutal honesty, and a lot of times that brutal honesty can be hilarious, when it’s not directed right at you,” he said.
Miller put it more simply: “Pain is funny,” she said.
Hunter compares the realizations the characters in “Seminar” have to the time his indoor cat wanted to go outside but then, after seeing the outside world, immediately wanted back in — an overwhelming feeling of being caught, helpless, in a world that’s too big. It’s not unlike a young director learning that better shows come not from throwing chairs, but sitting down and communicating with the cast.
“You kind of sit there and go, ‘This is overwhelming, am I even a cog in a wheel, or am I just completely useless?’” said Hunter. “(‘Seminar’) doesn’t sand down the edges of that. It shows that existential crisis that you can have in your 20s when you realize that you’re not a special and unique snowflake.”
“Seminar” runs April 17-May 3, at The Players’ Ring, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth. Tickets are $15, available at playersring.org or by calling 603-436-8123.
At top of page, left to right: Kyle Milner, Jessica Miller, Matthew Schofield, Dominique Salvacion, Nate Speckman