funda

mentals
of directing
Dessa Q. Palm and Lotlot D. Bustamante
 CRIS SUNNY MARIBEL TONY NONON AMELIA

GARDY JOSÉ TANYA FILEMON DESSA HOBART

A theatre director or
stage director is a
practitioner in the theatre
field who oversees and orchestrates
the mounting of a theatre production
(a play, an opera, a musical, or a devised
piece of work) by unifying various endeavors
and aspects of production. The director’s
function is to ensure the quality and
completeness of theatre production
and to lead the members of the
creative team into realizing their
artistic vision for it.
According to Francis Hodge,
play directing consists of

A – Analysis

C – Communication

S – Style or Aesthetics
 DIRECTOR’S FUNCTIONS
In general, however, the following comprise the director’s usual functions
(with the corresponding general category):

Analysis
1. Selecting and approving the play.
2. Interpreting the play

Style
3. Approving and coordinating the designs.
4. Staging (blocking, coaching, etc.).

Communication
5. Casting and coaching actors.
6. Planning and coordinating the production.
7. Scheduling and conducting the rehearsals.
8. Serving as liaison among all members of the production team.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A DIRECTOR

1. Originality—original in the interpretation and style of the

play.
2. Artistry—a creative and imaginative thinker and doer.
3. Sensitivity—a highly sensitive artist and doer.
4. Must be able to communicate well—express thoughts
and ideas effectively to the body
5. Must be able to delegate—should collaborate with others.
6. Must be able to decide—make sound decisions for the play
and the team.
7. Must be able to command—give orders and show authority
over the members both under normal and crisis conditions.
8. Must bolster, teach, protect, charm and inspire his
co-workers
5. Must not have an overbearing attitude which could destroy
effective collaboration.
The fourth to the ninth characteristics are the personal
attributes of the director, without those, he should
expect to direct himself in a one man show
 STYLES OF DIRECTING

Directing is an art form that has grown with the development

of theatre theory and theatre practice. With the emergence of
new trends in theatre, so too have directors adopted new
methodologies and engaged in new practices. Generally
speaking, directors adopt a style of directing that falls into one
or more of the following categories:
 STYLES OF DIRECTING

Directing is an art form that has grown with the development

of theatre theory and theatre practice. With the emergence of
new trends in theatre, so too have directors adopted new
methodologies and engaged in new practices. Generally
speaking, directors adopt a style of directing that falls into one
or more of the following categories:
The dictator
The negotiator
The creative artist
The confrontationalist
Many contemporary directors use a creative amalgam
of styles, depending on the genre of the theatrical
work, the nature of the project and the type of cast.

Once a show has opened (premiered before a regular

audience), theatre directors are generally considered to
have fulfilled their function. From that point forward
the stage manager is left in charge of all essential
concerns.
Many contemporary directors use a creative amalgam
of styles, depending on the genre of the theatrical
work, the nature of the project and the type of cast.

Once a show has opened (premiered before a regular

audience), theatre directors are generally considered to
have fulfilled their function. From that point forward
the stage manager is left in charge of all essential
concerns.
 The dictator
In this style of directing, the
director has a strongly assertive
role and is very dominant in the
process of creating a theatrical
work. Rehearsals are moreor less
fullycontrolled and predictable,with
the actors having little or no say.
The negotiator
The negotiator is a style of direction in
which the director focuses on a more
improvised and mediated form of rehearsal
and creation, using the ideas of the
production team and actors to shape a
theatrical work in quite a democratic style.
The creative artist
The director sees himself or herself as a
creative artist working with the materials'
of dramatic creativity, be they the actors,
designers and production team.
The "creative artist" wants input from the
actors but, as artist, has final say over what is
included and how ideas are incorporate
The confrontationalist
In this style of directing, the director is in
constant dialogue and debate with the cast and
the production team about creative decisions
and interpretations. The director seeks out and
actively engages in such exchanges. Out of these
exchanges, which can sometimes be heated or
risky, comes a final contested product.
 CONSIDERATIONS IN PLAY SELECTION

Selecting a script is the first and one of the most important

tasks of the director. Reading the script well is very important
in order to be able to assess it well and determine the needs
of the play and figure out whether the company can meet the
needs.

The considerations in choosing a play can be

categorized into three: practical, commercial and
personal considerations
 In selecting a play consider the following:

1. Number of actors in the play or number of available

actors in the company.
2. Level of talent and experience of actors.
3. Number of settings, costumes, lighting, music and
special effects.
4. Level of difficulty of each element.
5. Budget.
6. Audience.
7. Director.
 Auditions and Casting
---------------------------------
Analyzing the Script
AUDITIONS AND CASTING
➢ The recognition of an actor’s proficiencies and capabilities in body,
voice, speech, acting and rightness for a role begins at the time of
auditions and casting.

➢ The usual procedure in auditions is to have copies of the script

available to the actors, with the description and demands of
character listed based on the director’s production concept of the
play.

➢ Also listed depending on circumstances, are dates of rehearsal,

performance and request for a photo and resume.
AUDITION PROCEDURES

Personal Interview Method

The interview may consist of talk about the play in general, the
plot, the characters, and the theme. The actor should be urged to
discuss all points freely. Then he should be asked to read for a
certain role. After a first reading, the director should make
suggestions to help his interpretation. This method of tryout is
useful in casting a small number of parts, or it can be used after a
general tryout when eliminations have been made and the number
of prospective actors greatly reduced.
 AUDITION PROCEDURES

General Audition Method

Here, make sure that all have read the play. In the first reading of
a play it is essential that all prospective members of the cast
have the opportunity to give spontaneous and uninhibited
reactions to the play as a whole. In this informal and relaxed
atmosphere actors are then asked to read for certain parts. It is
not necessary to begin with the first line of dialogue in the play
and read to the end. It is best instead to pick out certain scenes.
The reading of crucial scenes that will outline the character
patterns is the most advisable procedure. When the director has
allowed everybody to read, the number can then be reduced to
those who are definite cast possibilities.
 AUDITION PROCEDURES

Improvisational Approach
In contrast to the above methods, some directors
prefer that the actor appear without any knowledge of
the play. Actors come prepared to present a selection
of their own choosing; or are given a short scene or
dialogue to look over, or are told a set of circumstances
upon which to improvise. This approach allows the
director to gauge the actor’s responsiveness,
spontaneity and flexibility, though for some actors the
method can prove inhibiting.
 CASTING THE INDIVIDUAL ACTOR

➢ Before final decisions are made on whom to eliminate from the general auditions, call
backs may be necessary for added reassurance of suitability to the role in comparing
one actor to the other, particularly in circumstances where large numbers are involved.

➢ As a basis of elimination, keeping each character’s requirement clearly in mind, the

director should consider the actor’s 1) physical appearance in general, 2) age, 3) voice
quality and diction; and 4) sense of movement and rhythm.
 CASTING THE INDIVIDUAL ACTOR
In further determining the suitability of an actor for a part, the
director must carefully consider:
1. Sense of theatre and background – knowledge of prior training and
experience to estimate an actor’s mental facility and general sense
of theatre
2. Sensitivity and imagination – setting up pantomimic improvisations,
or inducing him to concentrate on a given circumstance can put an
actor in a position to demonstrate his imaginative ability
3. Audience appeal and power of projections – director should
consider general appearance, voice quality and diction, grace and
precision of movement and pantomime, and general personal
magnetism
 CASTING THE INDIVIDUAL ACTOR
4. Acting experience – experience and actual technique often
weight heavier than personal, physical and emotional qualities
5. Personal tonality – director must consider an actor in terms of
personal, physical and emotional tonality (inherent degree of
softness, hardness, genuineness, etc.) in relationship to other
characters in the play and the actor’s rightness for the
particular kind of play and its style
6. Playing ability for kind and style of play- an actor’s ability to
use the skills necessary for tragedy, drama, comedy, farce, etc
CATEGORIES AND SOURCES OF INTERPRETATIVE DECISIONS

It is understood that the most difficult and crucial task of the

director is the interpretation of the script, because all other
directorial decisions depend on the pre-formulated
interpretation. Hence, the director’s interpretation is a set of
ideas, images and feelings that express what the director
wants his play to communicate to the audience.
Two categories of director’s interpretational function:

1. Overall interpretation - director’s concept of the

meaning of the entire play.

2. Moment to moment interpretation—analysis of

beat-by-beat inner action of the play.
 Director’s Initial Response to the Play
(Stephanie Arnold, “The Creative Spirit”)

• Directors go through their own process of

discovering the essence of inner life of the play. They
build their own understanding of the world of the play
before they attempt to communicate their responses
to other members of the production team. Directors
use many approaches for exploring a play’s images,
textures, rhythms, characters and possible meanings.

• Directors analyze character motivation, but they also listen

to music and look at paintings. They study thematic
developments and read history. They travel to cities and
even foreign countries in search of landscapes or ways of life
or performance traditions that may serve the needs of the
production. The directorial process is analytical but it is also
intuitive and imaginative.
 Metaphors and Images
The image or metaphor is a way of expressing the most compelling
ideas of the play in a concentrated form that will become a guide for
the work of all the theatre artists in the production. Metaphor may
be defined as an analogy or comparison, a symbolic way of
expressing the action of the play.
 William Ball of the American
Conservatory Theater in San
Francisco,

“ I have learned from my

own experiences that the
more clear and striking
the metaphor, the more
unified and powerful the
production.”
 George C. Wolfe
in directing Angels in America
I envisioned a
government building
where the sins of
America are stored. I
imagine a perfectly
constructed American
machine that functions
without recognizing that
people’s lives are falling
apart. The “crashing of
the angel” into the set is
a “crashing of reality in
people’s lives, a crashing
of political awareness.”
The Overview of Play Analysis (Hodge)
7 major areas of play-analysis:
1. Given circumstances
2. Dialogue
3. Dramatic action
4. Characters
5. Idea
6. Tempos
7. Moods
 Concerns all material in a
playscript that delineates
the environment– the
special “world” of the play–
in which the action takes GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES
place.
(Playwright’s setting):
the foundation of the
This material includes:
playscript

1. Environmental facts – specific conditions, place and time

2. Previous action – all that has happened before the action begins

3. Polar attitudes – points of view toward their environment held by the principal characters
4. Dialogue is the only reliable source of given circumstances

5. When you study plays, you quickly become aware that all
authors write the settings directly into their dialogue, either
overtly or subconsciously.

6. Setting is a matter of feeling about objects and places, it

is about time and what has happened before the play
begins, is about the feelings of the characters for the world
of the play
 Geographical location – the exact place

Religious environment – formal and informal psychological controls

Environmental Facts
 Previous Action

All plays begin somewhere in the middle of things

Previous action is what an audience is told happened before the
present action begins (i.e. what an audience actually sees
happening immediately in front of it)
Exercise: underline texts that recall the past
Polar Attitudes
• Every character in a play, as in real life, is
conditioned by the special world he is caught in,
and he will hold specific attitudes, or points of
view, toward the world. These attitudes will
consist of his prejudices, his tolerances, and his
assumptions about his special world, where he
is forced to have relationships with others and is
forced to take actions affecting both himself and
others.
 Dialogue is heard Dialogue is structured lines and
Dialogue is the language (reproduces speeches, it is artificially
vehicle of dramatic word-feeling); must contrived, author usually
learn to match speech arranges his sentence structure to
action, the lifeblood throw the important phrase – the
decorum to character
of the play. decorum actual point of each line– to the
end of the line to make it
climactic

DIALOGUE
DRAMATIC ACTION

Because drama
Is the clash of forces means doing or
in a play – the acting, the hard core
continuous conflict of all plays is
between characters

1) action, and
2) characters
Characteristics of Dramatic Action

1. Present tense – state of I do, not I did

2. Action vs. Activity (latter is the
illustration of the action; activity is the
how, action is the what)
3. All action is reciprocal (all action forces
counter-action, with adjustments in
between)
4. The divisions of action (total action of a
play is divided into major sections)
5. Finding and labeling the action(p.37)
6. Recording the action
 Character is Revelation

Simple and Complex Characters Character is Action

CHARACTERS: made up of
all dramatic actions taken
by an individual in the
course of a play
Techniques of Character Description
Desire (what a character wants most)
Will (relative strength for attaining her desire)
Moral Stance (values)
Decorum (physical appearance)
Character-Mood-Intensity
 I
D
E
A
➢Idea is the core meaning of what the play has to say

➢It is both derived from an assessment of the characters in

action and is a summary statement of such action.
➢Consequently the idea is the sum total of the playscript.
 O
P
.

M When a sequential
arrangement of
tempos are
combined, that is,

E when the varying

beats of several
consecutive units are
strongly felt, you

T
have identified the
pulsations of a play–
its rhythm.
Tempos are the changing rates of
beats of the dramatic action in a
play
1. Moods are the feelings or emotions generated from
the clash of forces in the dramatic action.
2. When taken together in their accumulative
effect, moods declare the tone of a play.
3. An appropriate tone for a play
is the goal of the director
4. Moods are thus
the tonal feelings
of a play

M
O
O
D
S
The Structure of a playscript is like a construction of a modern
building:

2 4 Idea is the Top of

1 Dialogue
as its façade 3Dramatic action and the building
Given Circumstances as its characters formed the
foundation
. inside core of the
building

7
5 MAINTENANCE
ARE THE
Tempos and moods in a 6 ACTUAL
playscript are its living Construction PERFORMANCE
vibrations and nerve /S
system
is the
rehearsals
The Director’s Play-Analysis:
The Basis of Communication
Reading Rehearsals
Blocking rehearsals
Character and line rehearsals
Finishing rehearsals
Technical rehearsals 6 Stages of Preparation
Dress rehearsals
Rehearsal Procedures
The more significant variations practiced and propounded
by directors are:
1. Sequential – the act-to-act rehearsals schedule is a
common practice among many directors, each adapting
it to an individual approach and way of working with a
cast.
Rehearsal Procedures
2. Non-sequential – after preliminary study and discussion of
the play, segments from the beginnings and endings of a
sequence of scenes are rehearsed first for the purpose of
gauging the differences of emotional levels and attitudes
between the two.
Rehearsal Procedures
3. Improvisational Based on Familiarity with the Script -- following
preliminary studies, the actors thoroughly explore the characters to gain as
complete an understanding as they can at this stage of development. Next,
they break down each basic situation involving their characters into
synopsis form, noting down intent, circumstances, character objectives and
attitudes, and overall title of scene. From here on, the actors rehearse by
improvising each scene, following in general the events set down in the
script, but using their own words.
Rehearsal Procedures
4. Improvisational without Knowledge of Script – requires the actors to improvise
the moods, atmospheres, circumstances and objectives that are analogous to
those in the scripts, but without any knowledge of the script itself. The director’s
purpose is to give free rein to the imagination of the actors before introducing
them to the actual script.

5. Approach Based on the Major Emphatic Element -- involves study with the
early stage of rehearsals focused primarily on the major element that moves the
play along. Directors who follow this approach feel it establishes a foundation on
which student actors can build and to which they can relate all that they do
when focusing their attention on the essentials of character, idea, situation,
or central interest.
 BLOCKING REHEARSALS
One purpose of movement and business is to
keep the play from appearing static and to give
it life and activity. Another purpose, however, is
to present an aesthetically pleasing picture in
both the placement and movement of the
actors. The director has to keep in mind that
the stage picture is constantly changing and is
perceived differently from each section of the
audience. She needs to consider sightlines and
which stage areas are the stronger for
emphasis. Body position, focus and levels all
are used to emphasize specific characters,
speeches, and scenes.
 BLOCKING REHEARSALS
Movement has to be motivated by the script, or at least appear to be.
The director cannot simply move actors to balance the stage without a
seemingly logical reason for them to move; the blocking has to fit the
situation and the type of play. In a funeral scene, for instance, the
movement would be slower and more stately than in a party scene.
Different types of characters move differently and their movements
provide variety and contrast.
 TWO CATEGORIES OF MOVEMENT AND BUSINESS:

Inherent Supplementary

This is added for effect, either to

This refers to any enhance the message of the
action that play or to establish character. It
advances the story includes how the actor stands,
or is an integral part sits, or walks and is important in
of the plot. It establishing personality traits
includes exits, and attitudes. It helps to
establish the mood of each
entrances, and scene and the emotions of the
phone calls. characters.
 Today’s director is the principal designer of a production. As
“the theatrical artist” he is responsible for both what is seen
and what is heard. Thus it is through his eyes and ears that an
audience actually experiences a produced play.

Design is the physicalization of poetic idea. Therefore

as the principal designer, a director must take the
responsibility for the individualized statement.

Closely associated with the director in the entire planning

process are the scene, costume, and lighting designers.
Immediately after each has read the play, some directors confer
with their designers before working out their own details of
interpretation, script analysis, ground plan, and scheme of
production, preferring to discuss the larger issues of concept,
images and metaphors with the designers before making their
final decisions.
Designing the Play
 Closely associated with the director in the entire planning process
are the scene, costume, and lighting designers. Immediately after
each has read the play, some directors confer with their designers
before working out their own details of interpretation, script
analysis, ground plan, and scheme of production, preferring to
discuss the larger issues of concept, images and metaphors with
the designers before making their final decisions.

Questions are resolved on color, textures, locales, architecture, flow

of scenic elements, significant uses of hand and set props, sightline
problems and others. Out of this conference the designers then go
to work on their plans and preliminary sketches for the next such
conference. In this approach, the scene designer will then draft the
ground plans and formulate the overall scheme of production based
on the conferences.

Designing the Play

From hereon, using the designer’s
ground plan, the director follows
through preparing the production script
and noting down blocking ideas. Some
directors prefer to block the action
during the rehearsal period, having the
stage manager or an assistant mark
down the blocking together with any
notes or other significant instruction.
Essential to good dramatization are an interesting and practicable ground plan
and setting. As in creating business, a director should first plan out the setting
with complete freedom of the imagination, disregarding the directions of the
author. Later the author’s ideas about the setting added to those of the director
should make possible a richerTheand more should
director interesting one thanabout
be particular if the director
the exacthad
slavishly followed what hadlayout
been suggested.
of the stageThe final and
setting selection, rearrangement,
the offstage
and control come from a consideration
surrounding,offorthe characters
the livingofthere,
development the kind
business is of
play, the locale, the atmosphere, and other
dependent both factors.
upon the set up on stage and upon
where the characters come from and where they go.
From the study of climactic movements and general
patters of important scenes, the director decides
INTERESTING where the windows, doors and furniture can be placed
GROUNDPLAN most advantageously. In this respect the arrangement
AND SETTING of these elements should be created for movement.
 Polishing and Preparing for Performance
The enrichment period of rehearsal is the time when we probe deeper into the script for further illumination inspired
by new discoveries of textual and character meanings. It is the time to check each phase of the work covered so far.
For example, we make sure:

1. Focus is properly brought to significant lines, actions and character relations.

2. Business is introduced to reveal important character traits.
3. There is variety in compositions to stimulate scenes void of conflict.
4. Any actions that set up conflicts are motivated and pointed.
5. Changes in character relationships are picturized.
6. Character objectives are fully explored and made expressive.
7. The basic situations are fully picturized.
8. The characters or elements in conflict are clearly identified.
9. The evaluation of movement is in line with strengthening the subtextual
implications.
10. Character patterns are established out of justification of character
intentions.
11. The critical actions are carefully delineated
REFINEMENT AND COORDINATION PERIOD
During the period of refinement, the director gives added
attention to timing pauses, to picking up cues, to building
speeches and scenes for stronger dynamics, to telescoping and
to blending scenes for rhythmic flow.
Economy of Means. Refinement is also a searching out process
of selecting the significant, eliminating the unnecessary, and
unifying all aspects of acting. The mark of clarity and distinction
basic to all arts is economy of means, which means that only
that which contributes to the wanted
impression – and nothing else – is done. It is a re-evaluation of
each moment in the staging to see that the most significant
means have been used in contributing to the final impression,
to see that any movement used or any position taken on stage
is there for a purpose.
Coordination. Refinement is also the process of changing line
readings, sharpening articulation, and coordinating
interpretation. Staging, and acting to see that there is
consistency, harmony, and unity to conform to the type and
style of play – a process through which the performance
become unified, articulated, rhythmic and synchronized.
 “Directing the Musical”
A wide variance exists in the assignment of responsibilities to
a director in staging a musical – from setting the concept,
having complete artistic control and organizing everything to
that of directing only the dialogue sequences. In the latter
instance the producer may set the concept of the production,
contract with composer, lyricist, book writer, music director,
chorus director, choreographer, book director, and designers,
jointly cast singers and dancers’ and supervise the work of
each along with the other responsibilities of promotion and
management.
In other instances, the director works along with the producer
in the initial stages and in production carries on the artistic
part of the work, while the producer runs the promotion and
business management of the operation.

The functions and responsibilities of a director of musicals,

then vary, according to personal experience, reputation, range
of talents, and circumstances of production.
PLANNING THE MUSICAL PRODUCTION
With the Producers:
1. Initial Conferences
2. At the initial conferences the director should set the
concepts and scheme of production, space requirements for
ensemble and dance numbers, number of set and prop
changes and the time allotted for each in the musical
transitions, and number of costume changes and the time
allotted for each in musical transitions or between musical
numbers. The director will have studied these factors in arriving
at a scheme of production.
With the music director, discuss:
1. Vocal requirements of singers
2. Concept and tempi for musical numbers
3. Breakdown of each musical number – cuts, repeats, cast
4. Musical transitions
5. Cueing requirements
6. Cuts and editing in general
7. Special Requirements
PLANNING THE MUSICAL PRODUCTION

With the choreographer, discuss:

1. Concept for each dance and routine number
2. Tempo
3. Breakdown of each dance and routine number
4. Division between director and choreographer of those routine numbers involving only
singing principals and singing chorus
5. Ensemble numbers involving dancers
6. Space requirements for each musical number involving dancers
7. Analysis of groundplans that involve dancers and routines, points of entrances and exits
8. Set, property, costume and lighting requirements for each dance and routine number
9. Cueing requirements
10. Special requirements
REHEARSAL CONSIDERATIONS

The Book
The Musical Numbers
The Dance Numbers
General schedule
 RUN THROUGHS
➢ During the refinement period, runthroughs are held as a continuing check on every aspect of the play.

➢ They are run without interruptions to check coherence, flow of action, and phrasing within the
dynamics of each act.

➢ Before and after a run through, technical matters pertinent to sets, properties, costumes, make up,
sound and anything else are checked and reported to the department concerned.

➢ Special attention should be given to business and movement that relates to set and character props to
allow time for any necessary final adjustments before technicals.

➢ In a well organized production, the director will have the designers and technical director at one of the
run throughs go over all cues with the stage manager and check any action like fast costume changes
before technicals are held with the cast
TECHNICAL WORKOUT
➢ SOUND AND LIGHT CUES
➢ AREA LIGHTING
➢ MULTI MEDIA NEEDS
➢ SET AND TECHICAL REQUIREMENTS
➢ SET AND PROP MARKINGS
➢ SCENE SHIFTS
 DIRECTOR’S PERSPECTIVE AT FINAL RUN THROUGHS
AUDITORY
Director hears the run through from the
speech point of view, giving attention
to elements such as pronunciation,
diction, line delivery for clarity, proper
emphasis, force, variety and so on.
Also listens for definition in pointing,
for balance of emphasis on lines that
point up idea, story or character
understanding
Listens to the musical flow and poetry
of the play, gauges the balance and
contrast in voices, is sensitive to the
rhythm with its tempo variations in the
rising and falling actions, the drop,
tonal values of voices, alert to cuew
pick up and pace
Visual
Director sees the run through as
apinter and choreographer,
studying the compositions for
their points of emphasis and
mood connotations, studying
picturizations for proper
expression of story and emotional
relationships; making sure that
movement expresses the
character, atmosphere, and mood
choreographically, studying
business to see that it is
appropriate, explicit and in
proportion
Director looks at the play from the point of view of
pantomime to be sure that story, character, and
atmosphere are visually readable.

Often it is advantageous to the actors to run through the

play without speaking the dialogue, but retaining the
visual elements.

The actors think the lines while carrying out the

movements and business, progressing without pause from
action to action and in so doing compress the visual flow
of each scene. This is equivalent to a run through of the
lines without movements
From the Audience
The director does his utmost to watch the play as
if seeing it for the first time. He must remember
that an audience’s understanding of story, them
and characters develop scene by scene, that an
audience cannot look beyond what is being acted
at the moment, and that therefore a relatively
unimportant scene in the play is nevertheless all
important to an audience as it is being performed

From the Emphatic:

The director focuses fully to the emotions
and moods at play, sensitive to the sincerity
of their projection. He is sensitive to the
truth of characterization and scene belief,
and to the consistency of the esthetic
distance established for the play.
We can understand why it becomes
necessary for the director to keep
every element in proper balance and
proportion, knowing what to
emphasize and what to subordinate,
and maintaining the audience’s
interest in each moment of every
scene.
THANK YOU !!