Some final thoughts on "Cock"

I took this picture at a pancake restaurant in north Jersey, but I think it sums up my feelings about this play.
The show overall was a great experience. I really liked directing, I enjoyed working with my girlfriend, and I'm really excited that I now have a credit in New York City. It was also an interesting process to work on a show with the writer/composer. I was able to ask him questions and get his perspective and input as to why he wrote things the way he did. If we then had a difference of opinions about what the moment in the play meant, we could try our best to adjust the final answer so that it was the best possible stage play it could have been.

But the cock in that picture is menacing me, trying ever so slightly to eat me. I had the discussion with the composer early on that I wasn't trying to be the "writer" of the piece, that I was just going to come along and be the "director." But I did want to add a little bit more of my own ideas into the shape of the script. But since I entered the process late, I had to relinquish some control on the script in the pieces I wasn't there for. Also, we took pains to keep as much of Melville's language as we could, considering the show was being produced as a part of a Melville festival. If we bring the show back again, which there has been talk of, then I certainly want to have a more direct role in creating the shape and style of the play, instead of it being a straight-forward "telling" of the story.

Overall, a rewarding and fun experience.