While it may
take a village to raise a child, it takes fourteen actors playing close to 40
characters in nearly two score of scenes to bring to life Chimerica, a
fictionalized dramatic look that starts with the premise that Tank Man may
still be alive and goes on to explore bigger issues including freedom of the
press, journalistic ethics, societal corruption and the effects of industrial pollution on the
global ecology.
If you’re old
enough to recall, the image of a Chinese youth (Tank Man) who stood valiantly
in front of a string of tanks during the Tienanmen Square demonstrations in
Beijing on June 4, 1989, spread throughout the world like wildfire, setting off
protests against the Chinese regime.
British
playwright, Lucy Kirkwood, fleshes out a play that spans two decades and
flashes back and forth between scenes set in Beijing and New York with warp
speed celerity. It’s no wonder that Quantum Theatre’s artistic director, Karla
Boos chooses, as part of a pre-curtain prelude, to show two players on either
end of a ping pong table volleying back and forth to establish the swift to and
fro movement from locale to locale and time period to time period.
This is one
show where you have to keep not only your eye on the ball but an attentive ear
to the dynamics of the dialogue as well.
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| Ariel Xiu (Liuli), Brian Kim (Zhang Wei) and Hansel Tan (Zhang Liu) |
What follows
is a Q&A with Quantum Theatre’s artistic director, Karla Boos, who also
directs the show that discusses some of the issues around this provocative
play.
Q: I read in the program forward that you saw the play in
London in 2013. What was it that drew you in so much to want to do it here in
Pittsburgh?
A: Well, I’m always attracted to plays that are sparky and
innovative in the way they communicate, and also look for plays that I think
will especially benefit from Quantum’s sensibilities, I guess I’d say we go for
big ideas and themes but present them very intimately… Chimerica checked those
boxes. But of course, I also felt its subject was relevant and important… what
I couldn’t know was that would grow so much due to world events between that
time I saw it in London and the year I finally got to present it.
Q: More relevant since the time you first saw it? Would you
like to explain how?
A: Oh, first we thought it was more relevant than ever as
Hong Kong activists seemed to be making serious headway in stopping suppressive
intervention from Mainland China. Then came terrible persecution of Asians in
America (or perhaps heightened awareness of what had been going on for a long
time.) Sadly of course the Hong Kong protests produced a crushing backlash and
now the play is more relevant because Xi Jinping has seen this as the moment to
flex all the control muscles he’s got. And it’s always a good moment to look at
how we’re complicit in what we criticize.
Q: With such an abundance of scene changes, how problematic
was this for set designer Noah Glaister?
A: We did need space, for the fluid movement of pieces, and a good smooth floor, and good proportions for our room, to tell this sweeping story! Noah worked hard to solve problems elegantly, and that was actually a whole team effort – light, sound, projections, props, costumes all elegantly move us through the many scenes lightning fast.
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| Kyle Haden (Joe) and Allison Weisgall (Tessa) Credit: Quantum Theatre |
Q: I was particularly impressed with your use of the Chinese
stringed instrument called the erhu, performed by Mimi Jong, who also composed
and adapted the music. I felt that it gave an appropriate atmospheric aura to
the play between scene changes. How did this idea come about? Did the
playwright suggest something similar or did this concept spring from your
creative team?
A: That was our idea… because we’re blessed in Pittsburgh
with Mimi Jong. We’d have been crazy not to want her and all she brings.
Q: I see that Susan Tsu is given credit for art direction.
What does this mean and how did she contribute to the production?
A: I wanted to collaborate in every way with this great artist and person, the minute I saw it I wanted to elevate her to be our fearless leader (as she’d actually been on many shows working under the title of Costume Designer in the past.) She inspires everyone with a million ideas, and she brings incredible personal experience of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, as well as the perspective of a Chinese American, with all its complexity.
Q: I understand that the actors were cast in January of 2020
and that the project was halted with the rise of covid. During the interval
between January of last year and now, was there any interaction between you and
the actors and creative team either by phone, Zoom or the Internet to discuss
the road going forward? If so, how much did it go toward sculpting the vision
of the play?
A: We had several points of very emotional contact – because
we cancelled, rescheduled the production twice. It’s very emotional that we are
all intact now, these 2 years later. But
we didn’t ‘work’ on the play… we were all working on all our pandemic projects,
reinventing ourselves time and again! And
maybe we were just holding our breaths… IF we were lucky enough to get to do
it, we’d come together with everything we had. And that’s what happened. The
actors knew all their lines on first day (that never happens). We shared our
personal ‘origin’ and ‘affiliation’ stories at Susan Tsu’s suggestion, and all
cried, and then we got to work.
Chimerica is at The Maverick (former East Liberty YMCA), 120South Whitfield St. Pittsburgh through December 19. Run Time: Act One 65 minutes, Act Two 65 minutes with a 15-minute intermission. For tickets and more information, phone 412-362-1713 or www.quantumtheatre.com/chimerica/
