Every day this week we've given you a peek inside the minds of the actors in HIR, opening tonight (Mar. 9) at the Straz Center's Shimberg Playhouse. Today, we give you one more: A look inside the recesses of the show's director, David Jenkins (who is also the company's producing artistic director and co-founder). Break a leg, guys!
HIR’s opening night coincides with the 59th anniversary of Barbie’s arrival on the toy scene. We’ll assume that’s unintentional on the part of the company — or perhaps not — but how do you think society’s attitudes about heteronormative toys have changed in those almost-six decades?
I suppose I only have enough experience to talk about geek toys, because that's what I played with (and in a way still collect). In the 70s and 80s when I was growing up those were generally off the table for girls unless they got the token Leia or She-Ra figure, which us boys really weren't supposed to play with too much (if we got them at all, they were historically the worst sellers). Now with our Con culture it seems that it's ok for "girls" to be into "boy" toys. And, let's be honest, geek culture has guarded those gates from women just as vigorously as they have in boardrooms and locker rooms. So, I suppose I am saying that American attitudes toward toys have mirrored our attitudes toward other cultural products and have also shifted accordingly but not in some revolutionary sense. All that garbage with Target a few years ago was just a bunch of dinosaurs finding their proper tarpit to die in. But, I'm not interested in talking about Barbie — anyone wanna get me those sweet Shuri and Okoya Pop figures for my birthday this week (Mar. 8)? https://www.funko.com/blog/article/coming-soon-black-panther
What’s your greatest wish for this production of HIR?
This isn't sexy or altruistic, but the answer is always the same: sold out houses. We don't do this stuff for our own amusement or the amusement of the Cultural Faithful who go see everything in town. One of our major points of emphasis as an organization is to develop a broader audience, a more inclusive and representative audience. It's been a very rough 6 months for us financially, losing money isn't an option here. Above and beyond that I think the play just really speaks to our cultural moment and can act as what Kenneth Burke calls "equipment for living." I think anyone can watch this play, no matter their individual experience of worldview, and see themselves and people they know in each of these four characters. We like to say that theater holds a mirror up to nature, but in the case of this one it's one of those really weird freaky carnival funhouse mirrors that shows off both the hilarious and horrible from moment to moment. This play makes people think through all the laughter and absurdity, and we need to do more of that as a society because we need to find the ways talk to each other more (not at each other). Everyone who has come in to see the show so far has remarked how much it gives you to chew on after.
What was the deciding factor on selecting this show as an unplanned replacement for a show written by a playwright taken down by the #MeToo movement (and kudos on Jobsite’s swift response to that, by the way)?
I feel weird taking a compliment for doing the right thing, but I get it. Let me be clear: we made the right decision. We made it out of respect for the movement, the people involved, our community, and our artists. So, in short we had a lot of internal discussion on the replacement. Did we want to "respond" somehow? Maybe just do something as completely far away from a response as possible because people are exhausted and just need to laugh? One suggestion was for all the men in the group to STFU and let the women decide the next move (I was on board there, too). Another was for us to just look at what the next best play was that we considered for this season, and maybe ask ourselves what would we have done had we not had the relationship? That's ultimately the path we took: HIR came in as a late suggestion from Artistic Associate Spencer Meyers, which piqued our interest quite a bit and was already a front-runner for 18-19 consideration. The fact that it's also a play about dismantling white, cisgendered, heteronormative patriarchy and ohsomuch privilege doesn't hurt either. Bonus: HIR is SUPER fucking funny.
How do you think this play would have been received 25 years ago?
I'm not sure it would have been as much of a success as it was in NY or Chicago. Think about it: Hedwig ran for two years, basically 25 years ago, and couldn't get Off-Broadway (despite that it was turned into a movie a year later). 25 years later they have it running ON Broadway charging $250 a ticket with everyone from Doogie Howser to Dexter starring in it. I'm not sure if people would have known what to make of this one back then (which, to be fair, there are going to be people shocked by HIR now, though I don't consider the subject matter shocking). What I think is maybe most important (go back and see my answer to 2) is that the play is a response to NOW. Just like Buried Child (the play Mac says inspired judy to write HIR) did in 1978. Both plays mix genres in a way that was unique for the time and get at the disintegration of the traditional family structure and the notion of "traditional family values."
Opening night also coincides with the publication of Virginia Woolf’s first novel, The Voyage Out. If Virginia Woolf were alive and tweeting today, what would she tweet about the play?
"Distorted realities have always been my cup of tea."
Just for fun: You have to watch ONE show every night for the rest of your life. Which show is it?
Ugh. I am the absolute WORST at picking things. Lists. Top Whatevers. Like, I really suck at these. First impulse would be to through out something like Game of Thrones, but that's often longer than I watch TV at night and would get repetitive (only 8 seasons). Surely there's enough Doctor Who to go around, but I'm still not comfortable committing. I would say maybe a comedy, because that's what I often end up watching since they are short and simple. I watch a lot of South Park, Parks and Rec, The Office, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when I am trying to go to sleep. But I'd likely burn out on those, too. Maybe it would have to be like what Bourdain is doing right now with Parts Unknown? It fuses a lot of my favorite things: first and foremost travel, but also food, history, politics, culture … See how I answered this without picking a single thing? 🙂
What’s your next acting project?
I am technically retired (again) but that's a lie. I should quit saying that I am going to stop acting for howeverlong. I am lousy at sticking to it. After Cloud 9and Connemara last year I said I needed to walk away from it because of how much it takes out of me, and how much it takes away from what I need to be doing to run the company. The truth is, however, one of the reasons I helped to start Jobsite was so I could act and I will always be an actor at heart. The plan was to take at least two seasons off (this and next), but I have a sneaking suspicion a casting announcement will be made in the next few weeks that will likely have my name on it. I can't yet say what or where, but stay tuned.
Cathy Salustri is the arts + entertainment editor for Creative Loafing Tampa. Contact her here.
This article appears in Mar 8-15, 2018.
