Emily MacLeod, production dramaturg, interviews director Jessica Aimone to talk all things music, marriage and magical in Brave Spirits Theatre’s new production of As You Like It.
EM: So when did you first become interested in directing As You Like It?
JA: I had done AYLI before (and had played Phoebe twice), so I wanted to get to know the play better, not from the perspective of one character but as the director. I especially enjoyed the love tutorial Rosalind gives to Orlando…and as we’ve gone through the play, I’m finding so much richness to it that I never noticed before. One of the things I love about Rosalind is that she wants to be in a relationship but she requires Orlando to go into it equipped with emotional intelligence. You know, my parents got married three months after they met each other –
EM: Wow!
JA: Right? Which blows my mind, I mean, I thought [my husband and I] were going fast when we married two years after we met each other. But we’ve been together for fourteen years now so I guess it worked out! (laughs) There are so many ways that you can find love, not just with another person but with yourself, and to recognize what kind of standards and boundaries we set for ourselves when it comes to relationships is a huge key to happiness, I believe. Some of us discover those standards through the highs and lows of a relationship, but wouldn’t it be great if love came with a manual!
So I knew this play and wanted to explore it more thoroughly. And honestly I would do it again, because I keep finding incredible new nuggets of wisdom in rehearsal. I think it’s fun to take a romance like this apart and scrape off that top layer of fluff – it’s how you find the true heart of a play.
EM: Do you have any particular line in the play that stands out to you right now?
JA: There’s so much in AYLI that rings true in my life. When Duke Senior comes in and talks about how the brutality of nature and their situation are actually “counselors that persuade me what I am,” I relate to that, but in an unusual way. I practice mixed martial arts, and there is nothing that “persuades me what I am” like sparring for 3 lung-killing minutes. I want a T-shirt with that quote and a picture of boxing gloves!
EM: How did this particular collaboration with Zach Roberts (the composer and musical director for AYLI) come about?
JA: About three years ago, Charlene asked me what I wanted to do next…and I said, “you know what would be cool, is if we wrote our own music.” Just because it was something we never done before…I knew Zach from Midsummer [which I directed in 2014]…and I felt confident because he and I had worked together so well…so in September of last year we started meeting and writing…then the next step was casting, where we had to find actors who were singers and musicians. And that was huge, to be able to craft the songs for their specific abilities. It all worked out pretty magically.
EM: Why did you pick AYLI as the play to add original music to?
JA: There’s already so much music in it, and I’ll be frank with you, I hate the music that’s in it (laughs) I hate “ducdame”! But it is a musical play, so we wanted to take the characters who were, on the surface, kind of “stock characters” but had some potential layers to them, and build songs around them. For example, with Audrey, I knew we could write a song for her, because there is so little about her [in the text]. It also gave us an opportunity to layer in more of what we wanted to say with our art. So many productions I had done had been very “hey nonny nonny” and we are NOT doing “hey nonny nonny” (laughs). No matter what it takes. Those songs are very pretty, but I have to ask, what are they saying?
EM: How did you arrive at the concept for this production? Why the wedding theme?
JA: I really love interactive, immersive theater…and Brave Spirits already has that immersive element because of the way we honor Shakespeare’s original staging practices [like direct audience address], so I wanted to lean into that. And then I started thinking about the play as a gorgeous illustration of one couple’s wedding story. Or in this case, four couples!
EM: What are you most excited for audiences to see in this production?
JA: I think that I am most excited for them to walk into a show and not be able to think about anything else while they’re there…Zach has written some beautiful songs, and the performers are so talented, that the audience will be transported for two hours. The show is physical, funny and heartfelt…and I think it’s an incredible escape from all of the chaos in the world right now. The whole cast will be on stage through the show, so I’m excited for each audience member to have a subtly different experience. Maybe you’ll compare notes with your friends after the show and realize that they saw moments that you missed. Maybe you’ll want to come back and see it a second time!
I think weddings are one of the few times when people really come together and set aside their differences to celebrate love…There’s so much to enjoy: poetry, music, love, and art. There’s no better way to have some time to yourself, or have a great date night, or take a break from your life and explore the forest of Arden.