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A Director Describes

Posted by DCA Theater on February 9, 2012 in January - July 2012 Season, The Ghost is Here

An Interview with Jaclynn Jutting, Director of Vitalist Theatre’s The Ghost is Here at DCA Storefront Theater

Q: Why is this story important to tell?

JJ: This play opens with Oba living under a bridge in the years following WWII in a war-torn Japan. It is a land of lost dreams, and it is a place and a time distant from our own, yet I think there are many parallels between then and now. I think we are currently living in a world today where dreams are hard to realize given the world around us and it’s an investigation of why that is our current reality.

Q: What themes are you exploring in this production?

JJ: Well, there are ghosts, which is certainly a lot of fun. It’s also a play that deals with the perils of capitalism and a loss of personal and national identity.

Q: What do you hope people will take away from your play?

JJ: I hope they have a good time and laugh at some of these crazy characters that Kōbō Abe, the cast and I have created. I think this play is asking some hard questions about how we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and survive without selling out. It is a question that I personally struggle with and when I look at other people my age I think I’m not alone in this.

Q: What was your greatest challenge in directing this piece?

JJ: The tone of the play. It is absurd. So I think the challenge of the play was balancing the humor and ridiculousness of the moments onstage between actors with the gravitas and serious pain that lies under the smiles and jokes. Luckily, I have an incredibly talented cast.

Q: Finally, why should we come see this play?

JJ: How often do you get to see an absurd Japanese ghost story about capitalism—with music? How could you miss that?