Sheldon was my Acting teacher as well as the head of my department when I went to Columbia College. He continues to be an amazing man.  He would hate this blog cause of my bad spelling and grammar :)

The following is re posted from Kerry Reid’s Facebook:

There are a couple of wonderful groups going on here right now about Chicago theater in the 1980s and 1990s, and in a thread dedicated to the indispensable, inimitable, and indomitable Sheldon Patinkin, the lovely and talented Jennifer Markowitz recounted his rules for directing. I love them so much that I am reposting them here. I think even non-theater folks can take something away from them that would be highly useful! (The “I” referenced in the parentheticals below is Ms. Markowitz, but I can echo her sentiments as someone who was also lucky enough to study directing with Sheldon.)

1. Don’t treat your actors as if they were your students.
2. It is not your job to be your actor’s friend. It is your job to help them find their best performance. As soon as you accept that, the need to be liked will no longer get in the way of their need to be directed.
3. Talk to each actor differently, according to their individual needs (this is something I’ve found most helpful for me).
4. Never lose your temper in front of an actor (unless you are faking it as another directing tool).
5. Always do general blocking first.
6. Always do pacing last.
7. Directing, more than anything, is a craft.
8. Never think you are more clever than the script you are directing. In other words, don’t invent things that look cool just to show off if the script does not support this.
9. No one wants to hear about your personal problems. Your job as a director is to encourage actors to leave their troubles at the door and no one can do that if you don’t lead by example.
10. Never keep the audience sitting in the dark for a scene shift. Always choreograph and cover shifts, unless you are trying to reveal a self-consciousness of theatre craft (ie Wilder). However, even then, choreograph.
11. Without good acting, there is no production (no matter how pretty you have tried to make it).
12. You (I) am not as clever as you (I) think you (I) are (am) (which, said to my 21-year old self, was the best way to get me to shut up and listen).
13. Spelling and grammar always count.