Magnolia, atlanta and dr. Martin luther king jr. a ... - Goodman Theatre

IN THE OWEN
An Interview with Playwright Naomi
Iizuka and Director Lisa Portes
Best known for her plays 36 Views, Skin
and Polaroid Stories, Naomi Iizuka has
had her work staged at theaters around
the nation, including Guthrie Theater,
Public Theater and Actors Theatre of
Louisville. She is also an accomplished
educator and currently teaches at
University of California, San Diego. The
director of Ghostwritten, Lisa Portes,
heads the directing program at DePaul
University and frequently directs in
NAOMI IIZUKA
Chicago and throughout the country.
Shortly before rehearsals began, Ms.
Iizuka and Ms. Portes spoke with the
Goodman’s Neena Arndt.
Neena Arndt: You have worked together
on numerous projects. Tell me about
your creative relationship.
Lisa Portes: Naomi and I were in
graduate school during the same year
Ghostwritten Synopsis
In Naomi Iizuka’s world premiere Ghostwritten, 21-year-old Susan travels to Vietnam,
where her soldier father disappeared years earlier. There, Susan makes a deal with a
mysterious woman: the woman will teach Susan to cook magic food in exchange for
Susan’s firstborn child. Susan makes the deal believing she will never have children, but
eventually adopts a daughter, Bea, from Vietnam. Twenty years later, Susan is a thriving
Asian fusion chef and Bea is engaged to be married when the mysterious woman arrives
to collect on her debt. Susan must face her old promise and grapple with her family’s
thorny past as she strives to protect her daughter.
at UC-San Diego. We formed a theater
company in San Diego called Theatre
E precisely so I could direct her work.
There is no other writer whose body of
work has moved me so powerfully over
such a long time. We’ve seen each other
through our crazy experimental phases,
and we trust each other completely.
Naomi Iizuka: Lisa understands my work
in a way that amazes me every time I
work with her. It’s alchemical. I don’t
know how to do what she does. She
understands my plays in ways that even
I don’t. And then she takes what’s on
the page and communicates it to a
whole room full of collaborators who
create something beyond my wildest
imaginings. It’s a magical process, and
she’s incredibly gifted at it.
NA: Speaking of magic, Ghostwritten
involves a lot of fantastical elements:
some of the characters are realistic, but
the play is also heavily informed by the
story of “Rumpelstiltskin.” Naomi, in
what ways does your work fuse these
distinct storytelling styles?
NI: I’m fascinated by the collision of
the mythic and the quotidian. There
are universal human experiences that
are too large or too difficult to describe
completely in everyday language.
Throughout history, we have used a
more fabulistic or mythic language to
explain some of these life events, such
as death, the loss of a loved one, coming
of age and the recognition of a parent.
I think these pivotal moments in
our lives lend themselves to a mythic
or fairy-tale storytelling mode.
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