But while attending Columbia College in Chicago, one of her professors – the late Sheldon Patinkin – pulled her aside after class one day.
“He said, ‘Has it ever occurred to you that you’re a director?’” Schultz started crying. She was sure he was saying she wasn’t good enough to pursue a career as an actor. “He said that sometimes the way I talked about plays in class, I sounded more like a director than an actor.”
She’d directed a couple of plays in high school. But she’d never really considered directing as an option.
“And now, I love it so much,” she said. “I love looking at all the pieces and helping put them together. I love helping people come together as a team and getting the best out of them. I love seeing the big picture and creating worlds. It’s such an honor to have people come together and to create rehearsal rooms where people can be vulnerable and try things. It’s never about my big old vision.”
On Schultz’s website, she describes her upbringing and philosophy this way:
“I was raised by psychic hippies in Colorado and was taught that magic is real and that utopia is possible. These values have found their way into all of my work; my productions are full of mythic possibilities and hope, and my rooms are inclusive, collaborative, and invite a diversity of viewpoints to create a collective genius. I have a generous spirit and quiet confidence that encourages those I work with to bring out their best, and a discerning eye to distill that into a unified production.”
When I read that description to Amira Danan, who played the leading role in “Origin Story,” there was an audible sigh on the phone line.
“I can say without hesitation that Joanie is my favorite director,” Danan said. “Sometimes, directors can make the rehearsal space difficult for an actor. But Joanie really makes a rehearsal room a truly collaborative space. As an actor, you always have a say in what you’re doing.”
Then, almost as an afterthought, she added: “You have no idea how rare that is.”
Watching “Origin Story” you could almost sense that. Too often, you see plays where the acting may be good, but a sense of ensemble is lacking. In the best of plays, you have a sense that the characters you are watching have a history together. It’s not about the actors knowing one another. It’s about the characters knowing one another before you – the audience – wander into the room.
It’s very hard to achieve on the stage. It has to begin in the rehearsal room.
“Joanie focuses on building an ensemble,” Danan said. “It’s such an important part of the process of rehearsing. It is often overlooked because you have such limited time. But not with Joanie. She creates such a light in the room, such a sense of freedom. She really is the best.”
