Literacy, Storytelling, and the Director’s Eye: How I Approach Theatre Through the Heart of a Writer
- Megan Case
- Nov 25
- 4 min read
Someone asked me recently how I approach directing, or redirecting, performers when they're choices don't align with my vision.
That answer is a blog for another day…but the truth behind it lives here, it all begins with the way I approach every script, every scene, every character. My background in theatre brought me to the director’s table. But it is my soul as a writer that guides how I lift stories off the page.
The Addams Family Musical: Defining normal, and what it means to be family.
When I step into a rehearsal, I’m not simply blocking movement. I’m looking at the arc beneath the arc, the human heartbeat sitting inside each written moment.
Because theatre, to me, is not just performing. It is literacy in motion. It is reading between the lines, uncovering the unsaid, tracking intention and subtext, and discovering the life each character has lived before they ever walk into the story we’re telling.
Characters Are More Than Lines, They Are Living Literature
We are an ensemble of humans bringing an ensemble of characters to life. Within the script lies the main plot…beneath that, subplots and intertwined arcs…and beneath that, the invisible history each character carries their beats, objectives, fears, flaws, the life that shaped them before the curtain rose, and the future unfolding after we leave them behind.
Even when the show centers around one protagonist, we, the actors, the directors, the audience, are granted a window into a tapestry of human stories. Whether a character is onstage for a moment or journeying through the entire show, they have dreams, choices, and vulnerabilities that matter.
And those stories are not just theatrical constructs. They are reflections of the human experience itself.
Why Story Matters: Theatre as Empathy Training
Story drives the performing arts because story drives humanity.
Theatre gives us permission to step inside someone else’s life. Someone vastly different from ourselves. Someone eerily similar. Or, my absolute favorite. someone who seems completely different on the page, but who reveals our own heart when we look closer.
The human experiences are incredibly varied, but the human heart, the desire to love and be loved, to be seen, to ache, to rejoice, remains universal. When actors study a role with true depth, literacy becomes the tool that unlocks empathy.
Using Literacy Tools to Build True Characters
To deeply know a character and give an authentic, organic performance, actors must use every literacy skill they’ve ever learned:
Theme exploration
We uncover what the story is truly about, what message lies beneath the action, and what truth the playwright or author is revealing.
Emotional inference
We discover the unsaid, the subtext, the tactics, the layered intentions behind each line.
Context research
We determine relationships, backstory, societal norms, history, and how other characters shape our choices.
Literary analysis
We analyze structure, pacing, conflict, motifs, and the architecture of the story.
Close reading
We break down the script line by line, beat by beat, discovering clues hidden in the language.
These aren’t just theatre tools.
They are reading comprehension tools.
They are writing tools.
They are communication tools.
Theatre & Film: Literacy in Action
The performing arts are the most hands-on literacy classroom imaginable.
Performers:
dissect scripts using critical-reading skills
annotate like authors and editors
debate interpretations
track metaphor
search for symbolism
examine motifs and imagery
communicate, collaborate, and articulate choices
When we bring a story to life, we are using the same tools that make strong readers and strong writers, only now we’re applying them to a living, breathing canvas.
And in return, performers become better writers themselves.
They understand pacing because they’ve lived it.
They understand dialogue because they’ve spoken it.
They understand character because they’ve embodied it.
Next Semester: Literature Comes to Life on Our Stage
Our upcoming season at Sound & Stage offers an extraordinary experience, three productions rooted in rich literary worlds.
Mondays: The Lightning Thief
A modern myth built on ancient mythology. Students will explore Riordan’s novel and the thousands-year legacy that inspired it. They’ll study character relationships, Greek lore, heroic archetypes, and the deep emotional undercurrents beneath this action-filled story.
Wednesdays: The Legends of Sherwood
Robin Hood has been told for centuries, reinvented in poems, novels, legends, and ballads. Our Sherwood players will examine the through-lines: What traits remain constant across time? What values define a folk hero? How do we shape our own interpretation while honoring the legacy?
Fridays: Magic Tree House the Musical: The Knight at Dawn
Our Performance Lab dives into source material stretching across dozens of books. We’ll connect the musical to historical texts, “living books,” and stories of knights, castles, and courage. It’s early literacy meets early theatre, a perfect blend.
Theatre Is Literacy, Come to Life
On stage or on set, literacy is in motion.
We don’t just read stories. We embody them. We deconstruct them. We interpret them. We become them.
And that is the magic of theatre. It is literature lifted off the page, living in real time, shaped by human heartbeat.
Storytelling is how we learn. How we connect. How we grow braver. How we understand ourselves and each other.
And as a director, that is the core of my method, the lens I bring into every room, every rehearsal, every moment of discovery. It’s why our rehearsals dig deep. We don’t just run lines or block scenes. We excavate. We peel back layers. We explore the humanity beneath the dialogue and the heartbeat beneath the humor.
Because when actors understand the story at its most human level, when they approach their characters through literacy, empathy, and curiosity, the performance becomes something honest… something alive… something that reaches people far beyond the stage.
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