NEW VISIONS - SCHOOL OF DRAMA DIRECTING FESTIVAL

Part: XIV

Peter J. Kuo

Hometown: South Pasadena, CA

Current Town: New York, NY

PETER J. KUO is a theatre director, producer, and writer. He is a co-founder of Artists at Play, a theatre collective that produces Los Angeles premieres of works for Asian Americans. For Artists at Play, he directed their inaugural production of Lauren Yee's Ching Chong Chinaman (Backstage Critic's Pick), and Michael Golamco's Cowboy Versus Samurai; as well as readings of Boni Alvarez's Marabella, Beau Willimon's The Parisian Woman, and Donald Margulies' Dinner with Friends. He has served as a director and assistant director at South Coast Repertory, Geffen Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, East West Players, HB Studios, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and The Play Company.

Tell me about MUTT: Let’s All Talk About Race:

It’s 2013, Obama has just been re-elected, and The Republican Party finally realizes it has a problem with race. In an attempt to win the 2016 presidential election, it backs a candidate who is a mixture of every race on earth. A wild and surreal comedy that skewers all political parties to the point where it becomes indiscernible of what is satire and what is today’s frightening reality.

Tell me about your process and concept of this show.

The play was written in 2014, prior to the 2016 election. So in a way, the audience already knows the outcome. However, the play is painting an alternative version of the election, and I knew I had to transport the audience back in time to create that alternate timeline. We start the play in our current reality, watching footage of the 2016 election, which eventually gets paused and rewound so we can go to Obama’s re-election and tell our own version of the narrative. But, that doesn’t let us off the hook. I very specifically bring back real-life events at the end of the play because I want to remind everyone, this alternative version of our society which seems laughable, is not that far removed from our current circumstances. Additionally, I took a note directly from Christopher Chen the playwright, who talked about how we distract ourselves from engaging in real race conversations with the media and our phones, tablets, and other electronic devices. We don’t actually engage each other directly, and I think I leaned into that for this version of the play, hopefully, it’s less about distracting the audience and offers a clear point of view on how we distract ourselves in society.

How would you define your job description for this piece?

This play was a difficult challenge because it has four narratives that seem somewhat unrelated but come crashing into each other by the end. I had to make sure all the journeys were unique and clear, but craft how they came colliding together. The play also tackles really difficult subject matters, specifically around race. It’s my job to make sure the artists involved have a clear understanding on the play’s perspective on this subject matter, but that we all had a common language in discussing the play, and ability to both take risks, but also know when we’re going too far. At times I succeeded and other times I failed. But everyone learned, and if anything many of us leaned into the discomfort, which I felt was really important.

What else are you currently busy with?

Finishing Grad School! Ha! When the show comes to a close, I’ll be working on my thesis casebook, which will be a huge undertaking, but I’m excited about having a forced opportunity for reflection and analysis of my process. Aside from that, in the Spring I’ll be directing one of the playwright’s thesis, as well as shooting a short film.

Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a Director and/or as a person.

I specifically remember a story from I believe one of the Ramona Quimby books about how Ramona was on an Easter egg hunt with other kids, who all got to the eggs before her. In the end, she left with only one egg, and it was crushed. It’s my earliest memory of remembering a story that made me feel empathy. I knew that wasn’t fair, but nobody made any effort to notice this or help her.  When I think about the stories I’m passionate about, it leads me back to this memory. The moment I realized that through my work as an artist, I can get people to empathize, and recognize that they have the power to change things in life to better others.

What’s your favorite source of directorial inspiration? Why?

This changes based off the project, but often I’ll rely on my own visual instincts. I tend to see a play early on when I’m reading it. Initially, I tried to break myself out of this habit, because I would already dream of a way the play should happen and stick to making that happen, which wasn’t helpful. Now, I embrace this early vision but commit to its flexibility. I trust my eyes, ears, and heart to tell me where a play is going, but leave myself open to my collaborators, or any research or detail work that I find in the play that can shift where this production wants to go.

If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?

The pretense that because we are theatre people, we are extremely liberal and exempt from being oppressors. Quite honestly, I think many theatre people, including myself at times, can be some of the most elitist people I know. This also leads me to a struggle which is, I wish our industry figured out its economic circumstances. We can often become slaves to the capitalistic machine because we need money to pay rent, eat food, pay off student loans. This leads us to create a “sellable” product, in order to sell tickets, to pay everyone involved, only to create more “commercial” art that can lose sight of its purpose; which in my opinion, is to affect change for the greater good.

Who are or were your theatrical Heroes?

I do admire Bill Rauch and the amazing work he’s doing building a company of artists and also creating community with the audience. His initial work with Cornerstone theatre and current work at Oregon Shakespeare Festival have been inspiring to me. Artistically, I highly admire Chay Yew; he is sharp, direct, and takes massive risks to great effect. His personality and his work can hit you like a freight train, leaving you crushed with a lasting memory of the impact. I’m being blown away by some amazingly talented writers including Christopher Chen, Jackie Sibblies Drury, and Lauren Yee; who are unafraid of attacking complex issues with an air of theatrical whimsy that I just love.

What kind of theater excites you?

I love theatre that embraces its theatricality. It can be metatheatrical, utilizing tech in magical ways, or heightened language. Or on the opposite spectrum, puts the raw power of human interactions in front of an audience to bare group witness. I’m most compelled when the unnatural feels natural, or the natural feels unnatural.

What do you know now, that you wish you knew when you were just starting out? (What advice do you have for Directors just starting out?)

Patience and trust are so key. If you’ve done your work, and you have encouraged everyone around you to do their best work, amazing things will come out of that with time. In this thesis process, I’m asked to journal and reflect on every day of rehearsal. At times I felt like I needed to have something “new” as far as results, which actually reversed this process for me. When I embraced the moments that, “nothing exciting happened today, and that’s okay,” that was when I knew I could trust the work more. It’s a very scary feeling because you can find out too late that, actually, you were off track. But at the same time, you’ll never know if you’re on track if you’re constantly chasing after something that takes time to really show itself.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I think there are a lot of people who want to work on politically relevant art. But often we remove ourselves from those politics. We forget that social politics, and specifically inequities exist not just in our society or the content, but also in our process. In order for us to tell certain stories, I think we need to recognize how we’re involved in those stories, directly and indirectly, and how we perpetuate those stories or combat them in our process.

Shout out to the designers and stage crew.

Featuring Brett Bezad; Cai Shaotian; Katharine Chin; Rose Dolezal; Zach Lusk; and Jillian Macklin.

Set Designer Libby Stadstad
Costume Designer Rachel Rehome Dozier-Ezell
Lighting Designer Solomon Weisbard
Sound Designer Mark Van Hare
Projection Designer Sarah Martinez
Production Stage Manager Carolynn Richer
Associate Stage Manager Arielle Goldstein
Assistant Director Pauls Macs

Links, please:  https://www.facebook.com/events/113554519362697/

For more than 15 years, Peter has been creating theatre by and for marginalized communities. From the formation of Diversity University Irvine at UC Irvine, to serving on numerous Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committees for theatre initiatives across the country. He gives voice to communities through narrative, diverse casting, and cultural competency in the rehearsal process. Peter believes the future of the American theatre already exists in the U.S. population, it simply needs artists who are willing to embrace its diversity on the stage, in the rehearsal room, and in the community.