TheaterScene Interview

Interview with Jason Tyne, Director of And That's The Way It Is (If Ya Think So)

By: Jason Tyne and Jeannie Lieberman
March 1, 2004

It's a very philosophical piece as well as a funny piece. While in the midst of war, I thought about doing a piece about war such as "Antigone" or "A Man's a Man", but I've started thinking that war is the symptom of the problem and not the disease. With so many variations of what's going on in the world, many Americans are left wondering "What is true?" and "If we cannot tell what is true, how can we live our lives?" This play tackles that question in a very farcical, fun way.

The play is about Senator Agazzi, who has suddenly unearthed evidence that his next door neighbor may be a terrorist. Besides a lease application that is fraught with discrepancies, her son-in-law has suddenly started working in his building. To protect his family, Senator Agazzi launches into an investigation with his Private Investigators Goose and Agazzi. The investigation reveals that she is not a terrorist, but unearths something much more sinister. The Agazzi's must come to realize that the truth is only what you make of it, and more than one truth can exist in the world.

TS: Had you seen other productions of it?

Yes, there are two translations out there: one very good and one very bad. The reason we chose to adapt it ourselves is that we couldn't get the rights to the good translation. I said to my artistic director, "I don't even speak Italian, and I could do a better translation!"

TS: How does yours differ?

Our main goal was to update the conventions of the play. The original version first published in 1925 was full of very dated theatrical elements such as the Joker character and a rex ex machine. We wanted to be careful, though because the themes and structure of the play are brilliant and couldn't stray to far from his intents. The plot would have to stay the same almost scene-by-scene or else Pirandello's masterful writing would be lost. We approached the whole piece as an experimental theatre piece, knowing what needed to be updated but not knowing where it would lead us.

The first step was to get rid of these characters and then see how the play holds up. Surprisingly even though the character of Laudisi (Pirandello's Joker) is usually considered the main character in the piece, the play stands without him. Suddenly without his presence and long preaching speeches, the play became a lot more fun and less pedantic. It was suddenly a comedy again!

Other changes were for ease of production and for the modern aesthetic. All of the scene changes were struck because I saw no reason that the scene could not take place in a single room of the apartment. The elimination of scene breaks soon followed as we believed the audience would (with a slight suspension of disbelief) believe that the play could take place in real-time. Once scene breaks were eliminated along with two major characters and intermissions, we were able to get the play down to an hour. We made 60-90 minutes our goal because I believe that's the best length for this kind of farce.

The only real "problem" with the original piece is that it tends to beat you over the head with philosophy. It's a pretty confusing play and there's a lot of meat to chew on. I think that the original plays often gives audiences so much that they can start to choke. We wanted to focus on keeping people entertained and let people work out the philosophy themselves if they see fit, if they just want to be entertained and walk away from it they can. The goal is to give people enough to work out that they can debate it over beers at the bar when they go out afterwards.

TS: What about the cast?

It's a great cast. The Rising Sun Performance Company has a core group of actors that they keep in rep. This cast has been supplemented by guest artists that are alumnae of my alma mater, NYU.

TS: What vision do you have for this production?

I said once that it's "kind of a Scooby-Doo meets Alan Watts kind of story". I guess it stuck because now it's on all of our promotional materials!

TS: How would you like it to be remembered?

That's a good question. The central idea of the play is confronting two coexisting contradictory truths, which is applicable to many fields of theory. In explaining the play to my brother, a physicist, he exclaimed " That's great! That's just like Schrödinger's Cat! It's great to have a Quantum physics allegory on stage!" I went and I read several books on Schrödinger, and it was indeed just like his theories. When I explained it to my friend who has a great interest in religion, she said "That's great! That's just like how Alan Watts explains how coexisting religions can support each other! We need more religious allegories on stage!" I went and I read Myth and Religion by Alan Watts, and it was indeed just like his theories. Just like the title says, this play is really about whatever you think it's about. That's where Pirandello's brilliance lies: in the specificity of this universal experience.

And That'S The Way It Is (If Ya Think It So)
The Producers Club II
616 9th Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets
March 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 9th 2004

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