Interview with the Director: Julia Gibson

Edited for Length and Clarity by Moira O’Sullivan

Moira O’Sullivan: How has it been returning to Tuna ten years after directing Greater Tuna here at Portland back in the 2012-2013 season?

Julia Gibson: I was here at Portland Stage just last year directing Searching for Mr. Moon, and I always really enjoy being here; the company and staff are all really kind and accessible and really, really good at what they do. As for returning to the Tuna series, ten years is a long time. It's sort of amazing both how much I remember about that production and how much I've completely forgotten. But this year we have Tom Ford in it again and then we have an actor that was not in the other one. The show is a tour de force for two actors. It's really all about the two of them, who each play 11 characters. I think it's safe to say that the character of Bertha is at the center of this play, and perhaps even more than Greater Tuna ten years ago, so having Tom come back and be that centerpiece, there is something that feels solid and familiar about it. And yet Nathaniel [P. Claridad] is this brand new spirit in the world of this play, so it's both reminiscent and brand new. Also, the world around us has changed a lot in ten years, so it'll be interesting to see how the audience responds, if it feels different to the audience than it did ten years ago.

MO: Though it’s set at Christmas, this isn’t a typical Christmas show. How does satire set this one apart?

JG: I think that with the traditional Christmas plays like It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol, we expect them to be warm and fuzzy and maybe kind of sentimental and feel-good. But both Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life are pretty dark; the characters sort of struggle through their circumstances to get to the warm and fuzzy. I think that's actually the same with this play, but in a different way. It being a satire, it is very silly, very ridiculous. And yet I think there's something

Julia giBson, direCtor. warm and fuzzy about laughing, and laughing in community with other people, which, of course, is what live theater is all about. [Also,] there's the expectation of one's life and the expectation of Christmas itself versus reality and there’s a lot of disappointment and heartbreak in there; when the expectation loosens up a little, that's when the hope shines through. That's definitely present in A Tuna Christmas.

MO: What are you hoping the audience will take away from the show?

JG: I think it is the hope and the heart. I also think there's a reminder to have a sense of humor. We're in a very serious time right now, and it's hard to find a sense of humor sometimes. I think it's the heart and the hope and the humanity at the center of even the most ridiculous stuff.

MO: You’ve worked with both of these actors before, and in Tuna they’re tasked with playing 22 roles. How do you help the actors go about building each unique character?

JG: I mean, that is at the core of how to work on this play, isn't it? They're both extraordinary actors, so that makes my job

so much easier. They bring in something new every day, they take huge steps forward in understanding the play for themselves. They didn't know each other before but they seem to have a great chemistry with one another and they're finding things together. I think they both work very differently. Nathaniel wants to feel the character in his body first, he wants to experiment with a voice and with how he walks and how he sits. Tom starts with a kernel of something inside and lets that grow; he starts with: what's at the core of this human being? What are they struggling with? What are their hopes? So my job is to let them both come at it from those two different directions and just respond to what they bring in. What I'm focused on is the whole story, and each specific story within the whole story. So what I'm responding to is, does this character help us tell this story? Or do we need to nudge the character in a slightly different direction?

MO: Yeah, I've seen you really building the relationships between the characters, which is what I think is so interesting about this world of Tuna. All the characters in this tiny town are connected and they all have different dynamics between each other.

JG: I think that's true, really, in any play. If you were to describe yourself as a character, you'd have to choose: what story am I telling? Because you could describe yourself [in] a lot of different ways. And so it becomes about how the character is in relationship to this other character? What's the part of the character that needs to come forward to tell this story or to be in relationship to this other human?

MO: How has your own experience of growing up near Texas influenced your work and perspective on this piece?

JG: I grew up in Oklahoma, and [while] Oklahoma and Texas are big rivals with one another, it is the same part of the world. Many of these characters are familiar to me, as crazy as that may sound, because they're larger than life and yet, they're not. I've seen real people just as large. They're real. So it's not a completely unfamiliar world to me at all.

Portland Stage’S atuna ChriStmaS

MO: Within the political and cultural satire of the piece, there are moments of real human connection. Is there a moment in particular that you feel goes beyond the joke and shows us something genuine?

JG: There are actually quite a few moments that I think go beyond the joke. There's a beautiful scene with Petey, the character in the town who collects all the stray animals. And each scene he has a new bandage or crutch or something because all these animals are biting him or whatever, but he loves the animals [so] he takes care of them all. He has a beautiful scene when he's out looking for the Christmas star, and there are similarities between what he's talking about and what we know of as the Christmas story. He talks about wishing on the star and he says, “Peace on earth, goodwill to everybody.” He takes this moment to bring his sheep and his coyote and his iguana out to look for this star and to talk about his hope for peace on earth for everybody. So that's definitely one of my very favorite moments.

direCtor Julia giBson in reHearsal witH tom Ford (aea), and natHaniel P. Claridad (aea) PHoto By moira o'sulliVan.