Kevin McKendrick is nominated for three Bettty Mitchell Awards, including two for best direction.

Prolific Calgary director Kevin McKendrick likens the theatrical rehearsal process to a sports practice.

“Sports teams practice for a reason, because the way you practice is the way you play. Likewise, if you don’t keep that rigorous discipline in rehearsal, you won’t do that onstage,” McKendrick says, explaining his rehearsal process. It’s a process that one assistant director describes as “like a class.”

McKendrick’s rigour and discipline have earned him not one, not two, but three Betty Mitchell Award nominations this year: two for his work on Ground Zero/Hit & Myth’s production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore (for director and fight choreographer) and one for his direction of Sage Theatre’s Frozen.

McKendrick also directed Evil Dead: The Musical and Alberta Theatre Projects’ The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood this past season.

McKendrick began his career as an actor, then got into directing in 1990, when he was asked to direct for Shakespeare in the Park. He went on to head up the Shakespeare in the Park program for six seasons, from 1995 to 2000.

McKendrick’s training included a stint at the Canadian Mime School in Ontario, after which he co-founded a physical theatre company, ARETE, which toured the world.

He says his early experiences with mime have influenced his directorial style. “Because we were often playing in countries where we didn’t have the same language, we had to communicate physically, with gestures. Too often, in English theatre, the tradition has been about talking heads.”

“In creating stage pictures, I don’t feel I have to have heavy-duty sets. Allow the audience to use their imagination. That’s a card theatre can play that movies can’t,” says McKendrick.

His work on Frozen exemplifies that philosophy of a simple setting with an emphasis on audience engagement. The play, which deals with a mother whose child has been kidnapped and murdered by a serial killer and a psychiatrist who is studying that same killer, took place on a near-bare stage.

“I was adamant we wouldn’t get in the way of the story. I wanted to create an environment that the story was being told for the first time, if we could diminish artifice and focus on the storytelling,” says McKendrick.

When asked what makes a good director, his answer is simple. “Life experience plays a tremendous role. It’s taken me the better part of 10 to 15 years to realize that,” he says.

McKendrick also stresses building relationships with cast members. “There’s always a concept present, but you don’t have to force the concept. The concept will be more resonant if actors have as much ownership as possible. I try to serve as an effective sounding board, rather than being some sort of guru,” he explains.

“Too often, in Canadian theatre, actors don’t force directors to argue points that they don’t agree on. There’s this fear of challenging the director, that it will make you seem ‘difficult.’ Well, I want to be challenged in rehearsal.”

While McKendrick says it’s useful for young directors to get onstage and experience the world of the actor, he has no desire to return to that part of the theatrical process.

Instead, he’s focusing on adding to his extensive resume as director, a resume that reflects “14 years of directing as much as I can” all over Western Canada.

In addition to directing many plays for Ground Zero Theatre and Hit & Myth Productions, including the musicals Urinetown and The Full Monty, as well as The Pillowman, he has also directed shows for Theatre Junction, Theatre Calgary and Alberta Theatre Projects.

Next he’ll be directing David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow in the fall, again for Ground Zero. He’ll also travel to Vancouver to re-mount Evil Dead there, as well as direct a play for Lunchbox Theatre next season.

McKendrick will also be introducing a pilot program at Central Memorial High School that will give Grade 12 drama students the opportunity to learn about the relationship between actors and directors.

McKendrick says he’s interested and willing to direct anything, from new works to Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, which he interprets as a “very funny play.”

“The only play I’m not interested in doing, is one that doesn’t have enough rehearsal time,” he concludes.