Acorn

Buist Bickley, CLA '07

Director of 'Sisters'

Acorn: Why did you choose this play?

Bickley: I wanted a show with a small cast, [and I wanted] a comedy�which I don�t think we have enough here at Drew. I wanted something humorous but with lots of heart. I also wanted a show with strong female characters, because we have strong females here at Drew.

During auditions, what was it about sophomore Becca Schlossberg, senior Aubrey Andersen and freshman Thomas Frelinghuysen that caught your director's eye?

Tom is just really funny. He really commits to what he's doing -- he understands comic timing very well. I think he's a genius.

You're just drawn to Becca and Aubrey, you want to hear their story. They're two people that couldn't be any more different, and they worked very differently as actresses.

How did you work with Schlossberg and Anderson to develop the natural banter between the sisters?

I talked to my sister, and I asked her what she thought the difference between a good friend and a sibling was, and she said, "I don't consider you a friend."My sister and I are incredibly close, but if we weren't siblings, we wouldn't be friends. I focused on how siblings are friends you don't choose.

In comedy, timing is everything. How did you work the actors to get the humor�s timing just right?

[Schlossberg and Andersen] are incredibly talented actresses, but they think slowly [while on stage]. Whenever things slowed down, I snapped. Even until previews, I snapped to keep things moving along. The timing of comedy has to be as fast as you're thinking, not the fast as you�re doing. Ever time I snapped, they got better, because they would simply react to what's happening, and truthful reaction is where the comedy lies.

Frelinghuysen's role is largely physical comedy. How did you work with Tom to get it right when playing a teenybopper, an old woman and a Hasidic Jew?

We worked with how different we'd make these people. The audience knows [the character Man] is being played by one man, and the more believable he is, the funnier he is. We brought up some pictures for 'Old Man,' he referenced some relatives he knows.

The play is comprised of two sisters talking. How did you go about the blocking?

It was subtle movements. It wasn't, 'walk 20 feet this way,' it was, 'turn your head this way, ' or 'gesture with your arm at this point. For Man, we didn't want his exits and entrances to be distracting. I cut a lot of stuff during tech, because it was too distracting.

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