Constructivism Meets Disney: A Scholar-Artist's Directorial Approach to Newsies: The Musical
Lucas Skjaret
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LUCAS SKJARET is a stage director, arts producer, and performance scholar. He received a double B.A. in Theatre Arts and Scandinavian Studies from The University of North Dakota and recently graduated with his M.F.A. in Theatre Directing from Baylor University. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Cinematic Arts and Theatre at The University of North Alabama. Before UNA, he was an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Program Director at Concord University. Before receiving his graduate degree, Lucas freelanced across the Minneapolis and St. Paul theatre community in Minnesota and was the artistic director of Market Garden Theatre. Lucas has also studied abroad twice in Norway, researching Ibsen Studies at the Ibsen Centre at the University of Oslo. His academic writing has been published Texas Theatre Journal and The Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal. Additionally, Lucas has presented at The Comparative Drama Conference, ATHE, the Texas Educational Theatre Association Higher Education Conference, and the MidAmerica Theatre Conference where he serves as the Junior Co-Chair for the Playwriting Symposium, having previously served as its graduate liaison. Lucas is an alum of Director’s Lab North, Ghost River Theatre’s devising residency, and The Kennedy Center’s Directing Intensive. www.lucasskjaret.com
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Abstract
In the business of commercial directing, there is a portfolio of shows in which one singular production has become so ingrained in the zeitgeist that it functions as the industry standard that all future productions must acknowledge. As directors, we must contend with these past productions, either by actively including them or excluding them from our artistic choices. Within my work as a director, I facilitate this interplay by a director’s concept. This article is an exploration of the director’s concept and how to contend with such haunted texts. I present my Performance as Research through an unrealized, hypothetical production; I partnered with professional scenic designer Leazah Behrens on Disney’s Newsies: The Musical. For my concept, I choose Constructivism and walk through my process of selecting it and how it influenced our creative choices, resulting in first-step scenic design renderings. In doing so, I offer one approach to the concept as a means to further the professional practice of directing.
In the business of commercial directing, there is a portfolio of shows in which one singular production has become so ingrained in the zeitgeist that it functions as the industry standard that all future productions must acknowledge. As directors, we must contend with these past productions, either by actively including them or excluding them from our artistic choices. Within my work as a director, I facilitate this interplay by a director’s concept. This article is an exploration of the director’s concept and how to contend with such haunted texts. I present my Performance as Research through an unrealized, hypothetical production; I partnered with professional scenic designer Leazah Behrens on Disney’s Newsies: The Musical. For my concept, I choose Constructivism and walk through my process of selecting it and how it influenced our creative choices, resulting in first-step scenic design renderings. In doing so, I offer one approach to the concept as a means to further the professional practice of directing.
| etudesdec2025skjaret.pdf |
