Cue Tips

KEVIN SESSUMS: This is the first Broadway production with an all-female cast and female playwright and female director. Is this the first time you yourself have worked on an all-female production?
DIANE DiVITA: Yes. I worked on August Wilson’s JITNEY and that was all-male with the exception of one woman. I prefer a balance, to be honest. I like to be around both men and women. The stage crew balances all the females because I think all that estrogen in one room is an interesting proposition although there is a tremendous respect with everyone involved. Liesl [Tommy, ECLIPSED's director] set up a wonderful parameter and a wonderful footprint for respectability in every aspect - from myself to the wardrobe supervisor to the hair supervisor to the dressers, all of whom are females. Because Liesl emanates this wonderful sort of non-gender quality regarding how good people are in their jobs that has permeated the whole production.

KS: What has it been like for you to be a white woman within the context of this show and its creative line-up of all African American women?
DD: I don’t think about it. I have done a lot of August Wilson productions. I have worked with a lot of black casts. I’m a very fair stage manager. I don’t even think about my being a white woman within this milieu.

KS: What has it been like to be a woman within your profession? It seems to be dominated by men historically.
DD: I teach at Yale and Columbia so I’m preaching about this all the time. I think the glass ceiling has slightly been broken. I always used to think that male stage managers got the preference. But I think if you look now on Broadway and off-Broadway and in regional theaters there are a lot of terrific female stage managers. So I’ve sort of abandoned all that because I think it is a crutch. I do think that there are some equalities just by the fact it started out as a male business. I do still think there is tremendous room for more female directors and writers. But there is a good portion of women stage managers now and I think women make really good ones. There’s a balance of an emotional quality we bring to the job. There is an opportunity to sort of see all sides and that something is not just black and white. This kind of job allows us to show our leadership and our strength through love and through example.

KS: What do you teach at Yale and Columbia?
DD: I teach in the Master of Fine Arts program at Yale. I teach the third-year stage managers course. It’s all about what the rigors of the real world are like. It’s called “The Next Step.” And I teach I similar course to the students in the Master of Fine Arts program at Columbia in their second year. It allows me to walk the talk as opposed to just preaching or lecturing. It also keeps me truthful and honest about the realities of the business. I share my experiences - even my failures along with my good experiences. They see I’m not infallible and that I make mistakes even as I know how to problem solve. I try to show them that we are human first and foremost when we do this job and there has to be a compassion for people and there has to be an understanding of all kinds of thinking. Your eyes have to be very wide open. You have to have a 360-degree perspective on how we do this job.

KS: Is mentoring important to you?
DD: Very important. I was mentored by my boss at Yale, Mary Hunter, who is the Chair of the Stage Management Department. I started at the Guthrie as a young intern before I was hired as an Assistant Stage Manager there. There were others. Anne Keefe from the Long Wharf Theatre, whom I really admire. I also hire my students. I like bringing them in as production assistants.

KS: To be a production stage manager one has to be stringently organized while at the same time serving the emotional needs of sometimes very emotional people which is sort of the opposite of being organized. It is a true balancing act that calls on one being balanced oneself. You at some point replace the director in the cast’s life as well since you give them notes from time to time, I think. Do you have to have a divided personality in order to do this job well?
DD: I think so. But again it stems from the top. When a director shows a stage manager respect or includes the stage manager in the artistic process or asks what you think about something or says that they leaving the show in the hands of a capable person then that is a great set-up for what’s to come in the next phase of performances. I also think I’m a very fair and honest person. I am very candid with my cast members. I will pull no punches with them. I will choose my words carefully because you don’t want to offend. I also use humor a lot because I think humor gets us through so much. I believe in keeping things very clear and simple. Liesl always sets up a production so beautifully. She always does this circle right before we do our first preview or right before we open saying that I am now entrusting this to my stage manager. That happens with other directors I’ve worked with as well - Joe Mantello, Jack O’Brien, Scott Ellis.

KS: What was your first Broadway show?
DD: It was with director Joey Tillinger. and was called Broken Glass. It was by Arthur Mille and the cast was Ron Rifkin and Amy Irving and David Dukes and Franny Conroy. It was at the Booth. 1994. I started out with Joey at the Long Wharf.

KS: Do you prefer doing shows on Broadway?
DD: I do prefer Broadway. I like the commercial aspect. I like coming into a shell of a theatre where you start from zero and you build it all together. But it is also about the work now for me to. The work has to be exhilarating.

KS: You are on your last performances for ECLIPSED here on Broadway. Do you get sad when a run is coming to an end? Or are you accustomed to this cycle at this point of a Broadway run?
DD: I remember sobbing at the end of Hamlet with Jude Law and sobbing at the end of Elephant Man with Bradley Cooper because we really didn’t do them long enough. But with Eclipsed it’s almost been a year since we started down at the Public Theatre before moving here to Broadway. So I feel I have had the full entree of ECLIPSED. And I feel as if I’ve done a lot of great work with it and I feel personally satisfied by it all. So I don’t feel particularly sad. I know I’ll work with Liesl again.

KS: Have you worked with her before?
DD: No. This is my first Liesl experience. But I remember her saying that she thought I would be very good for the girls in the cast. And I think I have been very good for the girls.

KS: Is it sexist of me to ask you if you look upon your job - and this particular experience with ECLIPSED - in a maternal sense?
DD: Yes, I think I probably do look on it maternally. But I also look at it as a business woman as well. And as a leader. I have varied facets in the way I look at this job. I have to balance them all because being too maternal sort of tilts the balance and makes it uneven. I have to keep in mind that it is still a business. We will come. We will go.

KS: Are you married? Do you have children?
DD: I’m married. I have a husband. I don’t have any children.

KS: Do you think you would have had a different career if you had had children?
DD: Yes. I probably wouldn’t have done this job. It takes up a tremendous amount of time.

KS: And takes up a tremendous amount of emotional space as well, I’d think
DD: Yes. And my husband feels that sometimes when I bring home some of the angst that I sometimes feel.

KS: Is he in the business?
DD: No. He’s a mathematician and he’s a therapist.

KS: Well, there you go. He too is both organized and emotional. You’re a good match.
DD: Yes. We are. He’s lovely. He’s very understanding.