First run Actor Catherine LeClair tries her hand as director of Ten Bucks Theatre production

Catherine LeClair sits near the back of the theater as a rehearsal of “See How They Run” takes place. On a legal pad, she scratches notes. She looks up and then calls out to three actors onstage. “OK, let’s hold there,” she beckons and walks toward the stage, stowing the legal pad under her arm. “Let’s do that little bit again. We’re trying to tell a story here. It needs to be more specific if it’s going to work. And if it doesn’t work, let’s drop it.”

The story, she reminds the cast, is about a hole in a pair of trousers that are being sent to a seamstress. If the audience misses the fact that the hole is in a suspicious place, then the joke is lost.

“We have only two lines to tell that story,” she says. “Let’s see if we can do it.”

The actors start over. But the bit still does not work. LeClair makes adjustments. They do it again. She observes, compliments, instructs, inquires, restructures and, in doing all this, shapes the show.

That is, after all, the job of a director, the role in which LeClair, a trained actor, finds herself at the moment. LeClair is a founding member of Ten Bucks Theatre Company, a local troupe established by actors interested in exploring a variety of theater possibilities with each other. This month, Ten Bucks celebrates its first anniversary.

“We were really interested in giving ourselves a certain kind of theater experience, one in which we were creating the vision ourselves as an ensemble,” LeClair said later, sitting cross-legged on the couch in her Bangor home. “We gave the members equal status and the opportunity to play a variety of roles. And we wanted to explore the niche in the community for low-cost quality theater.”

For “See How They Run,” a 1940s farce by Phillip King, LeClair decided to forgo her usual placement as an actor to take on the responsibility of director. In the spirit of the nonhierarchical philosophy behind Ten Bucks, LeClair is also involved with advertising, costuming and set design for the show. But except for a student play she directed at Wellesley College, where she studied theater, this is her first full-length directing experience.

Several “See How They Run” cast members say LeClair has a natural talent for putting a show together. She takes special care with new actors, gives advice to experienced actors and collaborates with sophisticated actors. The cast, by local standards, is all-star, another factor that a newcomer might find intimidating. Instead, LeClair has embraced the pileup of talent and also has shown commitment to inspiring them to find fresh levels of performance.

“In all honesty, Catherine directs like she’s a seasoned professional,” says Julie Lisnet, herself a seasoned actor and a cast member in this show. “She has an instinct for it. When you can adjust your directing to fit each person you’re working with, that’s the mark of a good director. Actors don’t automatically make good directors. But from day one, Catherine has taken the show and – no pun intended – really run with it.”

For LeClair, being a director is similar to taking on a stage role.

“Being a director is so much like being an actor playing a director,” said LeClair, who is 27 and a native of Freeport.

Most local theatergoers recall when LeClair, fresh out of college, showed up in Bangor in 1997 to perform in the Maine Shakespeare Festival. From there, she took a job teaching at Penobscot Theatre and at the same time acted in “Harvey,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and “Angels in America.” At Acadia Repertory Theatre in Somesville, she performed in “Misery,” “Blithe Spirit,” and “On Golden Pond.” She has also worked with Maine State Music Theatre and other regional summer stock houses. Most recently she played a space invader in “A Follies Odyssey: Paul Bunyan and the Aliens,” which was written by her boyfriend Robert Libbey.

Since it is nearly impossible for a professional actor to make a living in Bangor, LeClair has also worked administratively for Robinson Ballet Company and, last year, took the job of marketing director for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra.

Given her passion and calling as a performer, LeClair was uncertain about taking on the role of director. The challenge has stretched her skills and forced her to envision not only the overall effect of the play but her own ability to communicate with a group of peers. An intelligent enthusiasm, coupled with an energetic approach to hard work, natural curiosity and a willing sense of humor have served this personal mission.

“What I am seeing Catherine give that other directors don’t always give is a guided discovery rather than showing what she wants,” said Kent McKusick, an actor in the show and artistic director of Northern Lights Theatre. “She is really pulling performances out of people and really teaching in a way that’s clear, respectful and descriptive.”

That aside, does LeClair miss being the one who gets rather than gives direction?

“Yes, I do,” LeClair confides. “But I’m not an outsider with this group. I feel like an insider and I feel like I’m playing a certain role in this production.”

The role – both she and her colleagues say – suits her.

“My philosophy as a director, as much as I have one, is if you work in the right way, you can get a lot out of people,” she says. “I was willing to do that. The director is the person who needs to see the shape of a production and the journey that the play takes the audience on. With this play, my primary goal is that the audience forgets where they are, forgets who they are and are compelled to be drawn in. They have to have a good time.”

Ten Bucks Theatre Company will present “See How They Run” 8 p.m. Jan. 18, 19, 24-26, and 2 p.m. Jan. 20 at Brewer Middle School Theatre. For information, call 990-4940.