Written by Lisa Clair
Directed by Eugene Ma
November 29 – December 15
The Making of King Kong is an explosive and subversive fantasia ‘Making Of’ the original 1933 flick premiering in NYC this winter. Created by Lisa Clair Group, this new play takes a comedically brutal look inside the strangest adventure drama this thrill-mad world has ever seen and seeks to uncover the CULTURAL MONSTER BEHIND THE MONSTER.
Produced by Lisa Clair Group in association with Immediate Medium’s AGENCY and Commissioning programs
********
What was your appeal when deciding to look deeper into King Kong as a story?
Lisa Clair: I have always had a monster fetish. My first semester at Brooklyn College was spent in a ‘monster tutorial’ with Erin Courtney in which I was tasked to write something that scared me. I chose to examine King Kong in particular because of both my love and fear of the 1933 film. I think the movie is just so amazing in so many ways- but also deeply problematic especially in the context of today. Diving into those problems was really scary. The process became one of self examination as a white woman in America today. It made me think about the notion of fear and the monsters we create vs. the very real monsters that exist.
Eugene Ma: I actually was born in Canada and grew up in HK, but growing up in Asia I found so many King Kong toys and objects that my parents owned. I never had context that it’s a sign of how influential American Hollywood iconography is globally — but what ingrained messages do they send beyond the surface gloss? So while not totally familiar with the film when Lisa approached me, her angle in looking at all this was fascinating to me. To back track the forces that “affected” my upbringing even in another corner of the world — these powerful monster flix!
Why do you think the story of King Kong is important today? Why do audiences need to see it and understand it now?
LC: King Kong is ingrained in the mythology of America, the mythology of whiteness- of colonialism. It is a story that just keeps getting told again and again – without ever stopping to examine the many layered truths within. Our play is attempting to hold a magnifying glass up to these truths- to try and reconcile our 1933 selves with where we find ourselves in the mess of today.
EM: In a messed up way, we examine things less than, say 15 years ago nowadays, as we knee jerk through social media posts. And discomfort (in diving into very productive new understanding) is often misconstrued with a trigger that gets weaponized. Locating and portraying the elephant in the room — through the lens of the oppressors, or at least the top folks in the totem of privilege, we see where the fragility of people in power set in, and how their behaviors are capable of inflicting pain and trauma on so many. This play looks at the Making Of — the dark human story of how a monster is made through a pretty ridiculous lens. Somehow. That’s just our taste. Ha!
What kind of unique and visual elements do you think audiences will be surprised by or could look forward to when seeing King Kong onstage?
LC: Our design team is amazing. Caitlin Ayer our set designer has a gift for making everything she touches CUTE AF. Also- this show is HUGE; the size and scale of The Doxsee is perfect for the size and scale of the story telling and the visual choices being made. Aside from that- no spoilers but…LASERS!
EM: I want to withhold answers to this for now! You ought to come see this. We are attempting something way above our budget level, and when they align, it can be magic. I had the time of my life working with this design team – (set) Caitlin Ayer, (sound) Chad Raines, (lights) Samuel Chan, (media) David Pym, (costumes) Normandy Sherwood – all detail oriented geniuses who took my big ideas and ran with them and made even bigger ideas manifest.
How did you two find each other? Where did this project begin?
LC: We met 9 years ago while working on the International WOW show ‘Reconstruction’ at the old Ohio Theater- and it was love at first sight<3
EM: Yeah! It was. I was a baby directing Freshman at NYU when I did that show, and I had just worked with my clown teacher/yet-to-be friend-and-mentor Chris Bayes; he worked at Theater de la Jeune Leune in MN — I was fixated on playfulness in live performances. I found so many things I was watching so dead. And at Int’l WOW, Lisa often led warm ups in rehearsals and they were insane and I was obsessed (We actually started chanting “Namaste, I gotta go” in those warm-ups 9 years ago!) and I later found out Lisa had also worked at Jeune Leune – it’s a happy accidental full circle that I direct her post-grad school playwrighting debut in my directorial debut as we both grow into our grown-up-pants from our past lives as primarily performers in this show.
LC: Eugene directed the reading of the show at The Starr Reading Series last fall. I was ready to toss the play in the trash because the content was so scary to me- but then Eugene really pushed and believed in the project – we were actually set to develop a different play of mine- but it was Eugene’s insistence that this play was far more important at this moment in time. Eugene is also a dramaturgical genius and so it really has become our total collaboration. We are basically an old married couple at this point.
EM: Yeah! We were actually gonna do your other play that involves Marina Abramovic in this slot. I found the nature of tracing back white privilege in this piece so compelling based on the current air in this country — not via a preachy or debate-y lens, but actually one with curiosity and wonder in dealing with very heavy subject matter. And I think that’s what we need now. Furthermore, when I learned that we coincide King Kong Broadway in the same season, the conversation becomes even more unavoidable — a more “faithful” yet less re-examined adaptation of the source for easy reference as we deconstruct, imagine, and dive into themes that scare us a little. Voila! It’s now or never.
What is your irresistible beast? What is your Kong?
LC: David Commander is my irresistible beast.
EM: My not-so-tiger mom Evelyn is totally my beast.
LC: My Kong is the GOP.
EM: My Kong is fear. It fuels my bad decisions. It fuels most things that breed hatred. Again, the antidote is curiosity and wonder. Hope you find some of that in the show — even when examining our personal privileges.
LC: p.s. I also agree that fear is the ultimate KONG.
********
Lisa Clair (Playwright) is a playwright and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been presented at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, The Bushwick Starr Reading Series, The SFX Festival, The Performance Project at University Settlement, Cloud City, Ars Nova, Little Theater and CATCH performance series. She completed her MFA in playwriting at Brooklyn College under Mac Wellman and Erin Courtney.
Eugene Ma (Director) is a lopsided multi-disciplinary theater maker, and current resident director at the Flea. Directing credits include The Baltimore Waltz (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Imaginary Invalid; Childhood; and pool (no water). Acting credits include A Servant of Two Masters (Theater for a New Audience; Seattle Rep); Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Yale Rep & Berkeley Rep); Guys and Dolls (OSF & Wallis Annenberg Center, LA); and Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land (OSF). Eugene holds a Drama Desk nomination for The Man Who Laughs at Urban Stages, and is currently on faculty at the Graduate Acting Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. www.playwitheugene.com