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

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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. 10
NA: And is that mode more about heightened language, or broader storytelling? NI: I think it’s about the magic. There’s something great about fairy tales and myths that contain magic—some element of the inexplicable, the unparaphraseable and the uncanny. Magic manifests to some degree in the language of the play, but it’s also a key part of the action. One thing that’s both a challenge and a motivation is how to take the magic in a script like Ghostwritten and find an onstage vocabulary, a playing style and a way of fully embracing the magic. LP: A play like this is a wonderful challenge for a director. When Naomi pairs the story of a runaway with the story of Orpheus and Eurydice [as in Polaroid Stories], she recognizes the epic in a buried story. A common thread in Naomi’s work is that she gives voice to people you don’t normally hear from: a runaway, or in the case of Ghostwritten, a mysterious Vietnamese woman by the side of the road. And then by marrying that voice to a larger story, she shines a high beam into a corner where we don’t normally look. OPPOSITE: Photo of Naomi Iizuka by Fred Hayes courtesy of Sundance Institute Theatre Lab. THIS PAGE: Photo of Lisa Portes by Fred Hayes courtesy of Sundance Institute Theatre Lab. NA: In that sense, then, Ghostwritten is similar to many of your other plays. In what ways is it a divergence from your other work? NI: I had my first child around the time I started writing this play. This piece is different for me because the circumstances of my life crept into the writing more than usual. Certain epiphanies and anxieties informed the story in conscious and unconscious ways. I also did a lot of research about Vietnam, the Vietnam War and fairy tales. When beginning to write this play, I couldn’t have anticipated that all of these elements would come together in one story. This is a personal story, but it’s also a sociopolitical story and a fairy tale. It’s all of these things at once—and that’s disorienting and surprising and exciting for me. Individual Support for New Works and Ghostwritten Goodman Theatre expresses our sincere gratitude to the following sponsors for their support of Ghostwritten, Naomi Iizuka’s new play about love, sacrifice and facing the consequences of the past. Ghostwritten is the second play in our Strong Women, Strong Voices series, showcasing the new work of women theater artists in the Owen Theatre. Contributing Sponsor for Ghostwritten LISA PORTES Sondra and Denis Healy/Turtle Wax, Inc. Nancy Lauter McDougal and Alfred L. McDougal World Premiere Season Sponsors Roger and Julie Baskes Patricia Cox Eva and Michael Losacco Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation Alice Rapoport and Michael Sachs, Sg2 Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Shaw Beth and Alan Singer Orli and Bill Staley Helen and Sam Zell New Works Season Sponsors Commitments as of February 16, 2009 11
Page 1 and 2: March - May 2009 Magnolia, atlanta
Page 3 and 4: IN THE ALBERT From the Artistic Dir
Page 5 and 6: OPPOSITE: Photo of Dr. Martin Luthe
Page 7 and 8: The Civil Rights Movement, 1954-196
Page 9 and 10: An Interview with Playwright Regina
Page 11: Suzanne Douglas and Jason Delane in
Page 15 and 16: Once Upon a Time… The Story of
Page 17 and 18: Taking the Stage: A Celebration of
Page 19 and 20: Ruined Opens at Manhattan Theatre C
Page 21 and 22: The Goodman Receives Second Joyce A
Page 23 and 24: Goodman Preferred Hotel: Hotel Sax

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

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