UNSCRIPTED: “The Color Purple “Musical” Comes to Fort Wayne! Dianne B. Shaw
Unscripted
By Keith Edmonds
FWIS Contributing Writer
“I love thinking about how to do something differently. We’ve seen how a role can become iconic, but my thoughts are: How can we do it differently and make that same impact. It’s still true to the character but just a little twist...” ~Dianne B. Shaw
What a treat it was for me to welcome home, and to UNSCRIPTED Dianne B. Shaw who is a multi-talented actor, narrator, singer, voice actor and stage director and has been credited for directing Dreamgirls, and 9 to 5 in some of her previous projects. Dianne recently brought Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel: The Color Purple to our city last month and just hearing about how her career came to be, and what drove her to pursue an acting/directing career was something that I found fascinating! Please allow me to introduce the director of The Color Purple, Fort Wayne’s own Ms. Dianne B. Shaw!
INK SPOT: Please share with us your background in Theater & Arts and what got you to this point in your career?
DBS: “I’ve always wanted to act so I spent a good number of years acting. Some of the most notable things that you may have seen are Home Alone, Ground Hog Day and Chicago Med so that’s my background in acting, but I’ve always wanted to direct and use my degree in acting and directing (MacMurray College, Illinois). One of the things that Fort Wayne is wonderful at is giving people opportunities. I have been in several shows over at First Presbyterian and then at the Civic, but what I really wanted to do was direct, so I’d spoken with Phillip Colglazier about it some years ago, and he called me up and said, “We're doing Dream Girls are you interested?” I said yes, and that's where that's where my directing here in Fort Wayne started. About two years after that Bill called again said “Would you like to direct 9:00 to 5:00?” I said absolutely! A lot of people know the movie because its star was Dolly Parton, which was fun as well! In between that time, I've just been in Chicago doing projects. I particularly enjoy working with young people to help use acting as a platform to instill confidence and poise in them. Then last year, I got the call for a show that would turn this the world upside down in order to direct, and that's The Color Purple, so it was off to Fort Wayne, I came!”
INK SPOT: Share with us the task of “Casting” for a show like The Color Purple. What does that entail for you as a director?
DBS: “Well, you come with a vision of how you want the show to look and feel. One of the main things in a musical is to cast great singers. To be more specific it's, telling a story through song. That was one of the things Holly (Musical director) and I were looking for when casting for this show. We had a chart of vocal ranges for each character so we would stop them and say okay now sing a scale up to here, and now here. The actors would sing a song (of their choosing), and when necessary, Holly would have them sing a scale to determine their range and Capri, our choreographer, taught them a dance. Auditioning can be a very tedious process, but it’s truly the only way to envision your show with the talent in front of you.”
INK SPOT: To expound on this thought... If someone is reading a particular part that they feel has their name on it, but you see them playing another part, how do you persuade them to accept your point of view when it comes to their part in the show?
DBS: “This type of thing happens ALL OF THE TIME. It’s like the conversation that we were having earlier about the casting for Celie’s role. The person that auditioned for that role I saw being better in the role of Nettie and the person that we chose to play Celie didn't see herself in that role, but I did! Both actresses really embraced their roles! Many times, you see yourself as you are, not for what you could be. What’s interesting is that if we only did parts that fit us, we're not growing and we're not stretching, we're playing what they call typecasting roles. What makes it exciting is when somebody sees something in you that you didn't see in yourself. When you embrace that role, it just stretches you more and expands the diversity of roles that you can play.”
INK SPOT: This is a very tough question for me because I want to be sensitive to what you do... How do you oversee when a show doesn’t go as planned, or actors didn’t hit their marks for that evening? How do you regroup as a cast?
DBS: “ So that’s what’s so exciting about theater. Every night you are tasked with bringing that character to life for those watching you. Sometimes it’s great (never horrible) but it’s never quite like you want it to be. The audience plays a HUGE role in how that show goes for that particular evening or day. You might perform a scene that gets huge laughs the first 2 nights but nothing the 3rd night. It doesn’t mean that you didn’t do your job, it just means that each night and each show is different and received differently so make your adjustments, if necessary, while staying true to your timing, purpose, and character.”
INK SPOT: To bring this to a close. What advice would you give to someone that wants to get involved in the Arts or Theater?
DBS: “Get involved at your school, the Urban League here in Fort Wayne or the Civic Theatre all have great opportunities for our youth to begin this process!”