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[0:00] Mo Brady: You're listening to The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. Welcome, I'm Mo Brady.

[0:13] Mo Brady: Over the last two months, I've been speaking to performers who have reopened theatre doors in productions across the world, but we have yet to speak to anyone who is on a team working to reopen shows here in the United States. Until now.

[0:28] Mo Brady: This week, I spoke to Associate Director Gina Rattan. She's helped lead a number of major Broadway shows and national tours over the last decade, most recently working with director Marianne Elliott on Company. She joined me to talk about what an associate director does, her work on Company, and how associate directors like her will be at the helm of bringing back many of Broadway's most treasured shows. Here's our conversation.

[1:14] Mo Brady: Hi would you introduce yourself and tell us where you're calling from today?

[1:18] Gina Rattan: Yeah, hi. My name is Gina Rattan, and I'm a director and associate director currently on hiatus from Company. And I'm calling from Washington, Connecticut, in Litchfield County.

[1:31] Gina Rattan: Currently on hiatus from that's the best way to explain this situation that I've heard so far. So in addition to Company, you have worked on many a Broadway production as an associate director, right? Can you tell us some of those shows as well?

[1:46] Gina Rattan: See other Broadway shows I've done as an associate Cinderella, Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella. I worked on Soul Doctor, the musical on Broadway as the associate director, Matilda, the musical, Billy Elliot. Oh, Angels in America. So I would say that that's it. And currently, like I said, Company.

[2:03] Mo Brady: Having been an experienced associate director, will you please tell us in your experience, what an associate director does?

[2:10] Gina Rattan: This is such a great question. And one that really lots of folks have this question from people who are interested in being a director and associate director to even certain producers that you'll work with. An associate director is someone who works with the director and the entire creative team in a creative capacity, and also in a logistical one. So that's anywhere from conversations about designs, conversations about scheduling, casting, rehearsing the cast, rehearsing the understudies, rehearsing for the Tony Awards, putting together press performances, attending those press performances, it really is the kind of support from a creative and logistical standpoint for the director, but also for the company.

If the directors generally leave after opening, right, they're done their work there is done. And a lot of times associates hang around to help maintain the show, cast the show after opening that frequently happens with recasts. But it is generally the responsibility of the associate director to keep the show operational after opening and before opening, make sure that the entire process is supported in order for everyone really kind of to be at their best.

[3:35] Mo Brady: Sounds like a heavy lift.

[3:36] Gina Rattan: It is a really big job. I think that's a heavy lift is a good way to describe it. And it varies right from person to person. Some directors really rely on an associate to make very specific notes. And one director that I worked for was really fastidious about how many hours have we rehearsed to the scene. So I have this whole chart of like, okay, on this day, we rehearsed at this many hours on this day, we rehearsed with that many hours to kind of just make sure things didn't fall through the cracks. And that's a super logistical mindset, right, but also very helpful in the creative process. If we felt like something needs a little bit more attention, we could really look to this specific document that had that on it. Other directors have been really more relying on me to be a creative collaborator of like, how do we work on this? What are your thoughts about the scene?

[4:23] Mo Brady: Let's talk about Company. I'd love to know about your kind of experience with the show pre shutdown. Like how early were you brought into the process? Was it more of a logistical experience or the more creative voice in the room or somewhere in the middle of that spectrum? Just tell us what the experience was like.

[4:43] Gina Rattan: Working on Company has just been such a joy and continues to be even though we're not really doing anything. So I did Angels in America with Marianne as her associate director. And we started talking about Company then she had been, of course, as all directors are had that project kind of working and germinating and kind of just on the periphery of that discussing what it's like to be in your 30s in New York now, what does it mean to be a woman who would be under such pressure to get married or have babies and all of the kind of adjustments that that would require to a story or interpretation should Bobby, who's traditionally played by a man be played by a woman. Working with Marianne is generally kind of a combination of both logistical and creative.

And it just kind of it depends on the day looking at the schedule, helping to figure out can we accomplish what we've said we've going to accomplish, want to accomplish? Who do we need on board, right? And because I am 35 and do live in New York City, being able to discuss interpretationally what's going on for me, as I respond to the piece, she's Marianne is so collaborative and very, very open to suggestions, ideas from the associates perspective opens up the position for you to function at your fullest, right? To be an advocate for things that you think you would want to change to talk to a cast member with Marianne's approval, of course, in terms of like, how do we refocus this moment, perhaps, because after the director leaves, and you're, you're working with the actors through the run, they need to trust you. And they need to value your perspective on something.

[6:25] Mo Brady: So what has your job? Have you had a job since last March? I mean, I guess we know sort of with actors, there isn't a role to do, because there's not a show to do. But for you, are you still working? Have you been working? Have you been on and off? Like, what is what's your job?

[6:48] Gina Rattan: I have not had a job since last March. And this varies from production to production in terms of, you know, some folks are working. I know, like, for example, like the folks on Moulin Rouge, right, like they went to Australia and started getting things started down there. But most, mostly associate directors and associate choreographers have not been working. Yeah, there's no CBA between the League and SDC for associate directors and choreographers. And we've been fighting for it for a long time, and trying to negotiate what those terms would be. And it's still yet to be something that has arrived upon. So most associate directors and associate choreographers have not had healthcare through their associate gig.

We're the only people in the building that don't have a contract. I mean, a union contract. Usher's, everybody else is in a union. I mean, we're in a union, right? But the League, the League it's time for the League to make it happen. And it must be in part because the job is so nebulous, right? The idea of an associate director does being the right hand person to the director does mean that you sort of fit into the holes as they need to be fit in on the day. And perhaps that sort of fluidity makes it hard to see from the outside how vital it is to the organism.

[8:08] Gina Rattan: Yeah, I think in a lot of ways, that has been the excuse. The League has been standing behind for a long time, and it's just respectfully not the case. A PSM has to be able to do that, depending on what show they're working on, right? If you're working on a show that's directed by Jerry Zaks, you need a different set of skills than one that's directed by Ivo van Hove, right? And you are fitting into all these different requirements, but it is still somebody who, at a bare minimum, has to be able to, like, call the cues, make sure the breaks are happening, and make sure that everybody's safe. But the similar thing with an associate, you have to be the person, be there whenever the director is there, be an advocate for making the creative agenda happen, and someone who is capable of rehearsing and maintaining a show. And that's it. And honestly, if you're paying me to do my job, you know what it is.

[9:02] Mo Brady: How do you see your job as an associate coming back into the production? Do you think you'll be coming back in in months before it starts running? Weeks? Days? Like, where do you feel like you'll be helping to drive that ship?

[9:14] Gina Rattan: You know, we're starting to have conversations about scheduling. And that's a big part of it, in terms of how much time do we need to re-rehearse the show? Because it's been long enough now that we know it's a re-rehearsal job, right? When we were only shut down for a month, it was like, okay, how do we figure out how to brush everyone up? No one, you know, has been in a rehearsal room for a year at this point, and likely a lot longer once we all start up again. So a lot of it is helping to figure out what the scheduling would need to be in terms of timeframe, rehearsal, tech, opening. You know, there's a whole other logistical arm of this, which is what shows are rehearsing when? Because, of course, we can't all rehearse at the same time, all of the Broadway shows. Because there's only a certain number of rehearsal studios.

[10:03] Gina Rattan: Yeah, exactly. And a smaller number than usual because of the ventilation requirements that are needed because of COVID. Phone calls and stuff start happening. And then, you know, my job starts in earnest. I would say two weeks before rehearsals begin, I really start to sit down and go, okay, I now have a full-time job of catching myself up on this show and knowing what's happening. You know, we have a reference video that certainly we'll be watching. In addition to the stage management support with what the blocking was, what do we want to change? You know, there are conversations to be had interpretationally regarding if it's in present day in 2021, right? Like, it's after the pandemic. So what, what?

[10:53] Gina Rattan: Oh, my gosh. Yeah, like in Hamilton, you're not going to have people wearing masks, but in Company, you could have people wearing masks.

[11:01] Mo Brady: Exactly. That's crazy.

[11:02] Gina Rattan: Mrs. Doubtfire, or, you know, like all these shows that are happening after, what do we do? And of course, all those decisions are not made without the actors, but you start to have those kinds of conversations and brainstorm beforehand. But certainly, I spend a lot of time even prior to the two weeks before we're in the room, reviewing the script, refreshing myself on, you know, even just things that took a while to learn last time to go, oh, right. Yeah, that was a little bit of a tricky transition. So let's make sure we are accommodating for the right amount of time for that. And, oh, did you remember that, you know, so-and-so has this thing that they, a costume change that they have to do. So we can't put them in this scene, you know, because we'll want to, and we'll see them sitting on the side of the room. And then we'll remember, oh, right. Because of this costume change, you can't do this.

[11:52] Gina Rattan: I did that I directed the Cinderella national tour. And we did it for four years, every fall. So I feel sort of uniquely equipped to do this sort of remount, but also with new people, but also, I mean, we don't have new people, Cinderella had new people, but this is like in a new way, you might have new people.

[12:12] Mo Brady: I mean, yeah, I guess that's true. Right? I don't know.

[12:16] Gina Rattan: That's so true. Yeah. Going back and saying, okay, here are the things that we know that work. These are the couple of things we might want to adjust. How do we, how do we make it happen in this timeframe?

[12:32] Mo Brady: Special thanks to Gina Rattan for sharing her stories with us today.

[12:36] Mo Brady: The Ensemblist was produced today by Jackson Klein and me, Mo Brady. Please rate and review The Ensemblist wherever you listen to podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at bpn.fm, the home of Broadway Podcast Network. Our Patreon members have on-demand access to our archive, full conversations with our guests, and early access to episodes. You can join Cullen Elijah, Joey Soji, Katie Braverman, Patrick Lynch, and many, many more for between $5 and $20 a month at patreon.com slash The Ensemblist. Thanks for listening. Until next time.