Director Deborah Randall talks on We Are Samurai to Theatre Bloom:
Can you tell us a little bit about this production We Are Samurai?
Deb: There are two ways to really talk about it. One is the convention of the play which is that it takes place in five different locations at one time, sometimes simultaneously. So that’s really fascinating, that drew my interests. The other thing to look at is that it’s written by one of my youngest playwrights, she just turned 26. She studied under Erik Ehn and she sort of gives permission in this new way to experience theatre.
I feel like when we’re raised with libraries and Dewy Decimal systems for reading novels it’s very different from people of the younger generation who grew up with the internet, who were constantly exposed to information. I think that sort of wires the brain in a different way and it makes you look at things differently if you’re from the newer generation where everything is always happening all at once. That’s the rhythm and tempo of this play; somebody who is thinking of a lot of different things all at once.
It gives you a lot of permission to reinterpret the experience of theatre. For eight years I’ve been in this location, shutting the doors, just wanting to do the work. Sort of like Virginia Woolf, in a room of one’s own. So Daria (playwright Daria Marinelli) has sort of challenged me to fling the doors open and invite everybody in and tell them to leave their cell phones on and have them talk to my actors and break every rule that I’ve fought to maintain. I’m challenged by that.
How do you think this show in particular speaks to the mission statement of your company?
Deb: Like I said, the writer is so young and so brave. I feel like we’re giving her an opportunity that she might not otherwise have. Then we’re pulling in two extra women where before there were three and now there are five. The sexuality between the women is really empowering in a way. After the last production here, Light of Night, it was so dark and sexual in a scary way. For me it was these people in isolation desperately needing to make contact and that’s where the sensuality and sexuality was grounded in that show. But I think for these young women it’s empowering to them to stand in who they are in their sensuality and sexuality without being objectified. That this is just an extension of their expression; to me it’s almost like a moving painting. It’s something that’s really beautiful that flows through them.
Read the full article here.
Or go see the show! Tickets here.