Do you want to direct this?

The young actor looked at me, somewhat stunned. "Seriously?"

"Sure," I said. "Go for it."

I had no idea why I had just made the offer. We were about two weeks out from opening "Harvey", and we had finally been able to get the entire cast together (thanks to the end of tennis, soccer, and volleyball season). We were way behind schedule, and every time I stopped a scene to give instructions, he seemed to chime in as well.

He wasn't giving bad advice. He wasn't trying to be subversive. He, like the other cast members, wanted to help. So I gave him the opportunity.

"Okay then!" He snatched up his script, turned to the proper page, and began giving instructions to Veta and Myrtle Mae. He spent twenty minutes instructing his fellow cast members, and in the end, the scene was better for it.

Satisfied with our progress, I moved on to the next scene, and asked if any other cast members cared to direct. One of the girls raised her hand and took a turn. Before the night was out, half a dozen students had taken a turn at being director, and everyone did a stellar job.

I've never been a believer in directing by committee; a play or a film needs but one director. Even two can cause a show to break down. But in this instance, giving these high schoolers a chance to direct each other was a huge benefit.

We were on a tight time crunch to begin with. By the time Harvey had been approved by the administration, we had just six weeks to get the show on stage, a daunting task for professionals, much less teenagers. But I've always found that if you can get the cast to "own" the show, to make it theirs, you can accomplish anything.

Two weeks before the show we were still struggling to find out way. But the night the cast members took turns directing the show, they also took ownership. Those who took turns directing had a stake in the show now. It wasn't just me creating the vision for the show. They had a hand in its outcome as well.

The directing experiment also gave the students a chance to sharpen one another as actors. Each of them had, I discovered, been quietly sittting back, watching their peers, thinking in their minds how this scene, that line, that action could be better. I gave them a voice, the students receiving direction gave their attention, and the show was finally making progress.

What's more, the students who took turns directing also had a learning experience. In stepping out of the scene and taking a director's role, they gained a different perspecting on acting that improved their own performances as well.

We still had a long way to go before opening night. Everyone had a lot of work to do, but the solidarity formed during that one rehearsal gave everyone the desire to see that work done. It made our show better; it made every one in the show a better actor.