iPad Helps Broadway Director Stay in Step
Whiting decided to develop an app called Stage Write to digitize the process of staging a production. Available exclusively on iPad, the app lets a director draw images and create icons representing the stage, scenery, and actors — and drag icons around to track movements. Because dimensions are kept in proportion, the director can get a visual sense of how things fit on stage. Arrows can be drawn to indicate movement, and a table can describe the dance steps of each actor on every count.
“Directors are visual people,” says Whiting. “I might have a vision of how I want to put people in a formation. With iPad, you can plot it out and see how it works ahead of time. It’s a huge freedom.” Instead of using valuable time with the actors for blocking and staging, Whiting can plan staging ahead of time on iPad. And he can focus more of his time with the actors on experimenting with choreography or finding motivation for a scene.
