Mac Young wears several hats for the current production of Much Ado About Nothing, including a literal straw one to ward off the sun during long rehearsal days outdoors.
Mr. Young is directing the play, is in charge of set design, answers any and all questions about the text and history of the show, and has stepped in to play the role of the Friar after an actor had to leave the production.
Mr. Young has worked in professional theatre for two decades. Most of that work has been designing and building sets, but he has also acted and directed.
“They’re all part of the same picture to me. I’m leaning on the same skill set, just different areas, when I do all of these things,” Mr. Young said.
Mr. Young’s production of Much Ado About Nothing opened last week at the Tisbury Amphitheater as part of Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse’s summer season. The show runs Thursdays through Saturdays through August 10.
When Mr. Young picks up the script for a show he plans to direct, he reads it several times. At first, he reads it to enjoy it. Then he imagines himself as an audience member. Later, he reads it with an eye to how he will deliver the story.
As he continues to read, his view gets technical.
“I get a lot as a director out of what actually seems really boring and removed from the emotional themes....You can look at it on the level of a logic problem,” Mr. Young said.
He compares the stage, and the rehearsal process, to a game board.
“You play checkers and chess on the same board, but there are different moves permitted,” he said. “Inside of the rules, you make this sort of infinite variety. When you are designing and directing a show, and then ultimately doing that work with your ensemble, the thing that I’m trying to do is come up with what the rules of chess are inside the world of the play that we’re making together, specific to this production.”
The rules he and the cast create together give the actors ample material with which to experiment.
The set for this outdoor production of Much Ado About Nothing is minimal. The stage is marked by a navy blue backdrop and a lone bench built around the tree located upstage.
Actors carry stools and other props on and off the stage, either from behind the fabric or down the stony steps leading into the amphitheater. During a rehearsal a few days before the show opened, Mr. Young took time to determine which character would be most likely to bring out a seat for the court musician to help the overall cohesion of the show. Every movement has to make sense inside the rules of the show’s world.
Mr. Young is familiar with the outdoor venue, having participated in several shows in the amphitheater over the years, including acting in a 2003 production of Cymbeline.
His connection to the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse goes back even further.
Mr. Young grew up in West Tisbury and participated in an improv program for teenagers that was facilitated by MJ Bruder Munafo, the artistic and executive director of the playhouse. He maintained a relationship with the playhouse throughout the years.
After graduating from Bennington College, he moved to Boston to help some friends with a theatrical production and decided to stay because of the city’s fringe theatre scene. He returned to the Island during the pandemic.
“I stopped doing theatre for a couple of years after the pandemic and did carpentry,” Mr. Young says. “Over the last couple years, I’ve been stepping back towards doing that.”
Mr. Young’s technical and physical approach to a script helps him keep Shakespeare fresh. In Much Ado About Nothing, the plot revolves around the concept of “nothing,” which is similar to gossip. Much of script involves actors coming onstage to tell the other characters what they have seen.
In Mr. Young’s staging, the characters spy and gossip in full view of the audience. He uses the transitions between written scenes to check in with what characters are doing outside of the dialogue, circulating through small interactions that help drive forward the main story.
“These transition sequences are really devised by the actors. It’s given the actors the ability to make short sequences on their own that are pertinent to their characters and their relationships at different parts of the play,” Mr. Young said.
Although this process is not Mr. Young’s usual choice for directing a show, he feels that this exercise is in line with his approach to theatre.
“When I’m directing, rather than knowing how to use the stage and telling them what I want, I am trying to help them understand it more as a set of possibilities.”
Much Ado About Nothing is at the Tisbury Amphitheater Thursdays through Saturdays until August 10. For tickets and information, visit mvplayhouse.org.
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