Through feminist analysis of rehearsal practices this dissertation interrogates the traditional power of the director and the relationship between rehearsal and performance. It argues that traditional directorial power is a lingering and pervasive patriarchal force in the theatre while examining contemporary women directors who actively disrupt their power through the use of non-traditional rehearsal practices. Using first and second hand accounts of rehearsal, as well as interviews and key directing texts, I explore how rehearsal processes--including Lois Weaver's multiple-choice approach to acting, codirection at The Women's Project, and The Wooster Group's unending rehearsal--can impact the aesthetics, structure, and politics of performance. Connecting this exploration to the production of feminist theatre, I detail strategies for enacting feminist ideologies in and through rehearsal and suggest how rehearsal can be deployed for theatre-based social activism.