In Conversation With Sarah Kitz
[Image Description: Sarah sits in front of a mixed media black and white illustration and in front of a plant. In the foreground you see a camera recording the conversation.]
Hi GCTC community! Taylor (Marketing Coordinator) here. Today I’m excited to share an interview with Artistic Director (and Director of Forever Young: A Ghetto Story) Sarah Kitz with you. We had a great chat about the show, their directing process, and what Canadian directors offer inspiration. I learned a lot during this conversation, and I hope you will too!
Taylor: What first drew you to this piece?
Sarah: What first drew me to this piece was working with Darrah Teitel on a new play. So a premier is always an exciting thing. And then secondarily, the untold story from within Holocaust narratives. This is not a story that we get to hear very often, if at all.
Taylor: So without giving any spoilers, what is your favorite moment of the show?
Sarah: My favourite moment is something that happens a number of times and it's the way we move between worlds. And that's all I'm gonna say about it for now, you'll have to come and see it.
Taylor: What does your process look like when you're preparing to start rehearsals?
Sarah: Mm-hmm. When I'm prepping for a show, I read the play repeatedly so that I know it at a deep level. And, uh, for a play like this, there's a lot of this historical research as well, and I like to go through a process where I lay out sort of all of the facts and then all of the things that are still questions about the play and then work through them so that when we get into the hall with the actors, we have things that we can rely on and we know exactly what questions we're asking as we work through.
Taylor: How does directing a new piece differ from directing a script that has been produced previously?
Sarah: That's a good question. It's a very different process in some regards. With a play like this one, we are still asking in rehearsal, how does this play work? So there's a certain amount of workshopping that's going on. Whereas if you are staging a previously produced show, you understand how the mechanisms of that play work already. And so there isn't that deeper level of dramaturgy happening, or in essence asking what are the constructs inside of the play that, uh, activate the action, and how do those things interrelate? So we're still asking in a process like this, those kind of foundational questions. So we are playmaking at the deepest level.
Taylor: What is something you want audiences to know before coming to the theatre?
Sarah: Ooh, for this show, I want them to know that they are allowed to laugh. I know that sounds impossible, but one of Darrah Teitel's greatest gifts is her ability to write comedy in a place where you would think comedy cannot exist and secretly or not so secretly this play is a comedy about political organizing set within the context of the Holocaust. So there is a lot of laughter.
Taylor: Which Canadian director are you inspired by and why?
Sarah: Ooh, so many. Uh, Peter Hinton for the depth of his research. Sarah Garton Stanley for her ingenuity, Chris Abraham for his ability to harness action. Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu for the depth of her embodied visuals. And Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster for her emotional sensitivity.