illustration: Allie Gattor
Don’t Be Afraid of Not Knowing What to Do
I was just out of school and had travelled to Vienna, Austria, to the Burgtheater to learn from a director named Manfred Karge.
I would sit next to him during rehearsals and watch him work.
One day, things weren’t going well. The stage was full of people — actors, stagehands, props and costume people — all standing around, waiting for Mr. Karge to give them direction.
He just sat there, saying nothing.
It felt like an eternity had passed. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife.
Then he leaned over to me and said:
“Don’t be afraid of not knowing what to do.”
I remember thinking: Wow. Finally, someone is telling me how to do this. How to direct a show.
This is what you do when you’re confronted with a scene, everyone is looking at you for answers, and you don’t know what to do.
You don’t have to pretend that you know.
I’ve thought about those words ever since.
They’ve taught me many things, including how to ask better questions and the importance of research. But more significantly, they taught me something about trust.
Not knowing is a big part of the creative process. It isn’t necessarily a problem that needs to be solved immediately. Sometimes you have to stay with the uncertainty long enough for something to reveal itself.
Not knowing is part of the work. Get used to it.
Nadia Ross