#revolvingcycles

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#talkbacktuesday: The Artistic Director

In today's #talkbacktuesday, we interview Founding Artistic Director, Katherine Kovner, about the process of developing and producing Jonathan Payne's The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd! Before founding The Playwrights Realm in 2007, Katherine was a freelance director and the Artistic Associate at Classic Stage Company.  She was the 2014 recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award from the League of Professional Theater Women and is a graduate of Brown University.

What was the decision process when choosing Jonathan's play for production? What attracted you to it?

We are an open application organization—our process starts with asking people to submit to us. In our last submission period, we got close to 700 applications! Writers find us and we start relationships with them, and those relationships develop over time; it becomes clear which playwrights are the right fit for us and which plays and playwrights we can help the most—those who need our championing. Jonathan is all of those things. We started a relationship with him when he became a Writing Fellow in the 2015-16 cohort, and his writing really stood out – I am hopeful that we are doing it justice. I think that his voice is incredibly important to add to the American canon and I'm very proud to be supporting him.

Choosing a play for production never happens at one specific moment – it's a process. With Jonathan’s play, for instance, it involved figuring out when it was going to happen; Jonathan has a full-time job and was at Juilliard for two years. We could have done this play earlier, but we had to account for his time and meet his needs. Also, I often fall in love with more plays that we can produce [laughs], so again, I have to consider what makes the most sense when. What attracted me to Revolving Cycles is that Jonathan is such a keen observer of systems and he has a way of showing that non-didactically. The play has this very acute awareness of the nature of systemic oppression that I think is very smart - he makes fantastic use of theatrical convention, dark comedy, Brechtian ideas, alienation and a piercing of emotion. And it makes sense now - it's timely and definitely one of the more political plays that we have done.

The play tackles situations that mirror problems in our society: the difficult living conditions of many American inner cities, problems in the foster care system, the ways that institutionalized racism ensures that some people stay trapped in "revolving cycles." What was your approach in tackling those experiences from a producer's perspective?

This play is very much about the black experience and we worked hard to put together a talented team that really included that perspective.  Our design team, for instance, is a great group, with more than 50% of them being people of color. In the rehearsal room, I'm one of the few white people! I think that is an amazing thing. As one of those people, I'm aware that this is an experience that people of color often have, but white people seldom do. I wanted to be self-aware and let that experience exist; I tried to not change the tenor of the room, being aware of how much I speak or trying not to take up too much space. It is interesting being a dramaturg on this play because I think being a dramaturg can be regarded as a position of privilege—dramaturgs bring information and knowledge to the process—but here I was a dramaturg who has not lived through the experiences tackled in the play and I was working with many people who did have more firsthand knowledge of these issues. I have done a lot of reading over the past few years while working on this play in order to feel that I have the knowledge base to even attempt to enter that space as a dramaturg.

We have also really tried to frame the experience for our audience in certain ways. Some of that is for audiences of color – we have thought a lot about the trigger warnings we create, either explicitly stated or by providing ways for people to get more information. But we also put information in the program to frame the play in a larger context; we include facts and figures to help audience members understand the lives of people whose experiences might be very different from theirs. One of the great things about Jonathan’s play is the focus on the characters and the story, which I think is the best way that the theater can influence people—through experiencing another person's story.

The Revolving Cycles is the latest play by a former Realm Writing Fellow to be chosen for production. How would you compare the two experiences, Writing Fellowship and Page One Production, in terms of the impact they have on the playwrights?

Our Writing Fellowship is one of my favorite programs. We spend nine months with our fellows, helping them to get a script ready for the stage. We have had an amazing track record of helping these plays go on to be productions – I am really proud of the number fellows who have gone onto have successful careers. We have a professional development track to the Fellowship which is very dependent on what the fellows interests are (for example, if people want to work in television, we bring in television writers to talk to the group, or people to talk about self-producing for groups interested in that, etcetera). We try to help them in any and all of their career goals.

The Page One Program is also comprehensive - not just a production, but a residency. Besides producing a play, we offer our playwrights help in finding industry connections, developing new work and we give them health insurance. Even during the production, we are not just focused on putting a play up, but also on launching the writer's careers—we invite key artistic figures at regional theaters to come see the show and pay for their travel expenses, because we feel that the production of a show is the best way to become interested in someone's work.

Jonathan is the second black playwright and the fifth writer of color to be produced by The Realm (out of 13 produced playwrights). This year alone, Donja R. Love and Ione Lloyd, former Realm Writing Fellows, are getting produced in New York, and next season, Mfoniso Udofia will get a new production in the city as well. Could you talk more about The Realm's commitment to all voices?

The Playwrights Realm is committed not just to creating the next generation of playwrights, but also to being reflective of the community in which we live– America in general, and New York City in particular. This is something we consider not just with playwrights, but in all of the areas in which we hire. One of the many reasons I feel this is important is that theater should hold a mirror up to the world; if you are not presenting it accurately, you are warping the image. As a white woman, I can't fully understand the effect of not seeing yourself on the stage or of not having your voice represented, but as a woman, I do understand it somewhat. Women are not fully represented in important roles – in terms of the amount that they get to speak, and the roles that they are put in. When you talk about people of color, disabled people or queer people, it's exponentially worse, and the effects are even bigger. There's the saying, “if you can see it, you can dream it” – if you cannot see yourself, then it's as if society is shunning you, that your choices are not acceptable choices, your values are not valued, your life is not important.

I want The Realm to be a place that honors different ideas and that addresses some problematic trends by working affirmatively to put other voices forward. We want to challenge ideas of who gets to tell what story, what deserves to be on stage, and who gets to work in theater.

Thank you, Katherine!

Get your tickets to The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd today – it closes October 6!

[playwrightsrealm]

#talkbacktuesday: The Director

Today we sit down with Awoye Timpo, the amazing director of Jonathan Payne's The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd, which starts previews Friday, 9/7! Awoye's work includes The Homecoming Queen (Atlantic Theater), Skeleton Crew (Chester Theater), Sister Son/ji (Billie Holiday Theater), Carnaval (National Black Theatre), Ndebele Funeral (59E59, South African tour, Edinburgh Festival), The Libation Bearers (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ), Araby (La MaMa), In the Continuum (Juilliard).

What attracted you to Revolving Cycles? Did it seem like a natural fit to your style, or more of a new challenge?

I've lived in many places and experienced a large variety of communities and places. Something that has always attracted me in a story is the question of who are we, how are we shaped by the world around us and what are the patterns that persist across state and country borders – especially when we consider the structures that have been instituted to organize the world and to intentionally allow some people to thrive and some to have to navigate ridiculous systems. There are physical and social borders that have been set up and they largely dictate the way we move through the world. 

Jonathan tackles that head on. His exploration of these forces, these "cycles," doesn't ignore the individual, but puts numerous stories inside one community front and center. Who is Karma? What part of her identity is uniquely hers and what was shaped by her circumstances? And the same goes for all the other characters. Are they really greedy, selfish, helpful, kind - or are they just surviving? Who are we? The question is fascinating, and more than that, essential for a modern-day audience.

Revolving Cycles can be small and deeply personal, but also sprawling, big enough to encompass the spirit of a whole city. Without spoiling anything, how would you describe the directing choices you're making? What are the elements you're leaning on?

Jonathan beautifully created this play against the backdrop of "revolving cycles," the forces and history that have created our fictional city of the Oblong. But then the way he actually executes it is in a series of scenes with only two or three people in it, which to me is so interesting. So coming into the rehearsal room, or talking to the designers, my approach was: What happens when you put two people, who might not ordinarily be in a room together? The play is about the nature of ensemble and community, but we’re guided by the idea of isolation inside a community.

People are going to walk out of this play with thoughts - it's inevitable! What do you want to communicate to them? What would you wish their conversations tackled?

I think we're in a time when people are feeling forced to have a strong opinion, to choose between two sides, and I think the beauty of this play (and any great piece of theater) is that it makes you have to negotiate the messiness in between. There's no one way to understand this play, really. There's a part of the audience that's gonna walk out thinking about the detective story - how do they put the pieces together? How do they understand the journey? And then there's another part that's gonna walk out thinking about the revolving cycles - what are the structures that shape America? What makes us into the society we are? And both (and any other) are right!

More than anything though, amidst the messiness, these are tremendous characters and people. Their lives are deeply shaped by the cruel and absurd history of America as well as the perseverance of the human spirit - and if we’ve created characters on stage that people can empathize with and even love deeply, but also with whom they might fiercely disagree, I think we’ll have done justice to Jonathan’s incredible play.

Thank you, Awoye! Break a leg!

Get your tickets for The Revolving Cycles!

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#talkbacktuesday: The Playwright

#talkbacktuesday is back! And we kick off with Jonathan Payne, writer of The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d, which starts performances on September 7. Jonathan’s work has been produced and developed at Long Wharf Theatre, Ars Nova, Fringe Festival NYC, The Bushwick Star, and the Fire This Time Festival, and his awards include the Princess Grace Award, Holland New Voices Award, Rosa Parks Award, John Cauble Short Play Award.

Tell us a little bit of where this play came from!

There was an item in the news, about this community in Ohio, I think, where there was an overwhelming number of women missing and the police just weren't helping out, so the people took the law into their own hands and went looking for them. That seemed wildly interesting to me. Also, I have a day job as a social worker (or should I say, pseudo-social worker - I don't have a degree), where I spend my time helping people navigate structures that corner them, situations in which they don't have things (food, shelter, etc). I'm compelled to examine these structures, the ones that decide who's poor and who's rich, who's homeless and who's sheltered, who is found and who remains missing.

How does your journalistic background influence your writing?

I first started writing - creative writing - as a kid, but my mother eventually pushed me to find a sort of writing that would make me money [laughs], so I became a journalist. When I came back to fiction, I brought over that journalistic mindset of looking for every angle, hearing every story. When I do research for my plays, all these different points of view come up, and I try to be true to them on the page. Even in rehearsal, it's been so interesting to see how each member of the team comes in with their own background, how the text brings up different experiences for them.

Let's talk about the protagonist, Karma. What attracted you to her as a protagonist?

I've dabbled in acting as well as writing, and I found out that I would usually get cast a secondary character, someone wacky who'd come in and do one big scene and then never show up in the play again. I wanted to write a play for one of those characters. And I think I also I wanted to challenge people's notions of what the play should be. I think it would be very easy to come in and just experience the story, experience Karma's journey, and then forget it by the time you get home. But, taking a page from Brecht, I had Karma (and a few other characters) literally reach out to the audience, include them in the play. Karma's journey, which in another play would be sidelined, it's front and center here - and the audience is very much a part of it.

There's arguably a second protagonist, Terrell - a human-sized hole at the center of the play. Why build a story around the absence of someone?

One of the things that really upset me when doing research is seeing how little attention missing people of color get in the news. It's hard for me to recall any specific names, whereas if you think of white people - specifically, white girls - we have JonBenet Ramsey, Elizabeth Smart, all the famous examples. In a way, the driver of the play was to shine a light on missing people of color, who are statistically less likely to be found, and the structures that keep them missing.

Once people leave the theater, they are bound to talk about the play - no spoilers, but it's almost impossible not to have a reaction to it. What do you hope those conversations look like?

I think, for white audiences, there'll be a discomfort in being included in a play about poverty, our relationship to it and, to a point, our responsibility towards it, or the roles we play in sustaining the structures that keep people in poverty. For black audiences, there might be a mirroring experience, or opening the door to nuanced discussions about their experiences - they can amen, find themselves, find family members. What I'd hope for is that the conversation happens not just inside both camps, but between them!

Thanks, Jonathan, break a leg in rehearsal!

Get your tickets to The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d!