Director - Cassie Post
Director - Cassie Post
Cassie Post has been Directing for over 15 years. She began Assistant Directing as an alumni at North Kitsap Options Program with Bob DeWeese. She has a strong passion for Shakespeare and has directed over 20 Shakespearean productions. She has directed primarily classical plays, while still dabbling in new plays.
She has proudly co-owned three theatre companies over the years:
MOST RECENT WORK
Shakespeare Showcase
Cassie volunteered as an Assistant Director at the North Kitsap Options Program for 9 years. She moved on to direct on-and-off throughout her adult life. She describes her directing style as '39 Steps meets Shakespeare meets Noises Off'. Constantly moving; her style uses the text as a foundation to build blocking and movement that highlight the storyline. Cassie believes strongly in, 'suit the action to the word, the word to the action...' Co-artists and collaborators have remarked that her blocking is 'like a dance'.
One of her highest production values is to keep the audience engaged. Theater should facilitate the advancement, education and communication between members of the public. Our attention spans have shortened and it is a challenge to keep audiences engaged in live theater. Cassie's productions aim to re-engage the public by utilizing color, movement, lighting, music, dancing, singing, pacing, and physically engaging with the audience. Her blocking (which is drawn from the text) builds a framework around the production; if you were to watch it with no sound, you would understand the story - like a dance.
In regards to Shakespeare:
Cassie derives her passion for directing from Shakespeare, and has directed over 20 Shakespearean productions. Shakespeare arrived in her life at the age of 10, during an important developmental period, a time of physical change, and emotional processing of
personal trauma. To her, Shakespeare was like bonding with a foreign language - it gave her a life-ring in a time of great transformation. Since then, Cassie has had a desire to spread her joy and knowledge of Shakespeare - to make an arcane author understandable and enjoyable to present-day individuals and audiences.
Cassie believes Shakespeare is beneficial, in particular, for children. Shakespearean theatre can provide an outlet for emotional expression, analysis, and reconciliation with current experiences and themes in their lives. Shakespeare also expands vocabulary and reading comprehension. Bonding between a cast or class members provides a close social foundation for the group, allowing for more problem solving, emotional maturity, and openness.
One of Cassie's favorite concepts (instilled by Bob DeWeese) is that Shakespeare exists in his own world. It is currently very popular to place productions in certain times or style (the 80s, original Elizabethan). For Cassie, Shakespeare exists in his own time… Shakespeareland!
In a majority of her Shakespearean productions, 'time' is blended between Shakespeare's Elizabethan Era, early Jacobean, and present day. Dialogue is spoken with a modern accent, but heightened naturally by the text.