Words and Pictures

Gideon Lester: Bob, who is Kate Whoriskey?

Robert Brustein: As a directing student at the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University, Kate demonstrated that she was one of the most extraordinary directors we had ever had the pleasure of working with. She has a very special visionary and symbolic imagination that isn’t rooted in any mundane reality . . .

Kate Whoriskey: Read between the lines!

RB: [laughs] . . . and she creates exquisite stage images.

GL: Have you ever given a student a professional credit so quickly?

RB: In 1980 we asked Peter Sellars, then a senior at Harvard, to direct one of our first four productions at the A.R.T. But he was an undergraduate, not a student of ours, so Kate is effectively the first for the Loeb Stage. We also invited Tina Landau, a 1989 Institute graduate, to return to direct at the Institute.

GL: Why are you co-directing The Master Builder with Kate?

RB: I thought it was appropriate, given the play, which is about an older man who forms a fateful association with a younger woman, leading to his death!

GL: Is this a self-fulfilling prophecy?

RB: No, we’re having a wonderful time together. My main responsibility is to do what Solness does; to ask for a firm foundation under the marvelous castles in the air that Kate builds. I bring a more prosaic, practiced eye to her imaginative creations. We complement each other well. As soon as Kate has established the necessary relationship with our acting company, I’ll back out.

GL: Kate, what attracts you to The Master Builder?

KW: Although when Ibsen wrote the play in 1892 he had no knowledge of the theories Sigmund Freud was developing in Vienna, there are remarkable parallels between their work. The Master Builder is an astonishingly accurate study of narcissism and hysteria, much more complex than almost anything being written in America today. Each character is drawn with several competing desires and objectives.

GL: The Master Builder is one of the first classical texts you’ve worked on.

KW: Yes, I’m usually drawn to contemporary material. I never used to be interested in the language of canonical plays; the words seemed to obstruct the imagery I create on stage. I’ve now learned that text is a crucial map, but I still use physical movement to externalize a character’s emotional and psychological life, which is the essence of my work.

GL: How has your understanding of the play changed through working with Bob?

KW: It’s changed enormously. I sometimes wander down eccentric paths, and Bob sets me straight. I wanted Hilde to make her first entrance from a coffin, and he said, “NO!”

GL: Has the collaboration been harmonious so far?

RB: Kate is very obstinate, and we argue a lot [Both laugh]. Casting was a prolonged process but we finally got who we wanted. Now that we have our actors, I feel exhilarated because I think we’ve made outstanding choices. It’s not an inevitable cast, and it’s going to reveal qualities in the play that a more obvious group of actors might not.

KW: The process has been tough, but it’s getting much better. We began very politely, then all we could think was, “Oh my God, how am I going to get my ideas across?” But we have always liked each other as people.

GL: And the journey is only just beginning; rehearsals don’t start for another week.

KW: It doesn’t feel like it’s beginning. It feels like we’ve been at it.

RB: We certainly have been at it, but we’re over the toughest hump. The work with the actors may be the easiest part, because we’ve gotten through so many of the problems already. Kate is very conscientious about looking at a text. She plans every moment of the production, which I haven’t yet done.

GL: So your disagreements have been fruitful?

RB: Absolutely. Two minds are better than one in this instance. For example, I had set my mind on a staging of the play’s final moments that would have been very expensive, but Kate was never keen on it, and when it proved a budgetary impossibility, she came up with a stunning solution. I added an idea of my own, and the combination will be very powerful.

KW: In this case, I supplied an overarching concept but it was Bob who was able to define the events necessary to drive the story forward.

GL: Kate, who have been your greatest artistic influences?

KW: Choreographers such as Pina Bausch and directors like Jerzy Grotowski, Elizabeth LeCompte, Robert Woodruff, and Kevin Kuhlke of the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University, where I was an undergraduate. François Rochaix, Marcus Stern, and Scott Zigler at the A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training were also enormously influential.

GL: Bob, does Kate’s work remind you of any other director?

RB: It really doesn’t. Each of her productions has been quite different, but they are united by a vocabulary of strong, enigmatic visual images that reverberate long after you’ve seen them. She creates stage poetry.

GL: Is there anything else you’d like to say?

KW: Just that it’s a tremendous honor to be here. It says a lot for Bob that he’s willing to take such a huge risk, and I appreciate it.

RB: It never occurs to me that it’s a risk until after the event. Identifying and giving a chance to genuine young talent is what I value most. It keeps the A.R.T. fresh and young, and it’s what I’m here for.

As this goes to press, Bob Brustein has turned complete directorial control over to Kate Whoriskey. He remains involved in the rehearsal process, overseeing any changes to his adaptation of the play.

Gideon Lester is the American Repertory Theater’s resident dramaturg.