Theatrical Fusion

Rabiah Rowther discusses directing, Annie Baker's new film JANET PLANET, and Eastern theatre

Rabiah Rowther. Photo by Darnell Bennett.

Josh Feye: Hi, Rabiah!

Rabiah Rowther: Hi, Josh!

JF: How are you?

RR: I'm good, how are you?

JF: I’m doing well. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. I'm excited to speak about directing with you because I’ve seen some of your work and want to know more about your process and inspiration. A friend once told me that to be a director is like knowing when to be earth and when to be water, so I'm curious how you balance having a strong vision for the play while also allowing the play to be bigger than yourself and your vision for it.

RR: Yeah. So what I love doing before getting any other people into the room is looking at the context, looking at the play itself. I feel like I'm a playwright’s director and I pay attention to the words. I think it’s important to honor the text itself and figure out where the playwright is coming from and getting all that history, you know, other versions, like what has been done of this play before. So, then I also have my little vision. Whenever I read a play, I read it several times, and every time I pick up on different things, I have aesthetics that pop into my head. I have movie scenes that pop into my head. So it's just like collecting all of those ideas and having my own idea of the play and then when it comes to the table read and introducing actors and um a tech team into it, I love the collaboration. I know I have my ideas for the play, but other people are going to bring a very interesting outlook to this play as well. Something that I would have totally missed. Some things that I would not catch because of my background that other people are able to catch because of their background. I also really love hearing the actors’ takes on plays or their characters. Um. So yeah, I feel like allowing for that collaboration creates a play that is gonna be much bigger than me and my vision and something that's gonna speak more to an audience.

JF: Oh, that’s great. And when you're in the rehearsal room, what rituals do you do with your cast members to help honor the work and guide them through that energy?

RR: It really depends on what I'm working on because I feel like with a comedy, I love starting by playing like games, for instance, um you know, bringing that sort of like fun, playful energy into the room is so important and having everyone in a good mood is so important, especially for a piece where you want the actors to have a good time. I want to have a good time and we want the audience to have a good time. So that, for instance, is like, you know, it's playing like Park Bench or, you know, something like that where it's just improv, it allows them to be silly. It gets like everyone giggling in the room and we start off really well. For drama, It's a little different. It depends on the people in the room. In the past, I've done a, you know, “okay, let's sit ourselves, like, where are we, what are we feeling?” Letting the setting of the piece and the mood, the tone that we've selected for this piece feed into the actors and get them to settle into the play, and bring the world of the play into their bodies. I always love to change it up.

JF: You mentioned drawing from inspiration and doing research to find that context. So how do you stay open to inspiration?

RR: Somebody said this and I can't remember who it is and it's just like, I think it was about books. And it was just like, read everything you can: read the good books, read the bad books, read books that make you wanna throw it against the wall, read books that keep you up all night. And I feel that way about, like, generally anything. I'm a very open person. I love to watch, you know, movies, TV shows, plays whatever it'd be like, even though I'm like, this is not my jam or I feel like this is not something that I gravitate towards. I like to keep myself open in that way because I mean, inspiration can come from anything. I have my iPad or my phone next to me at night. So if anything pops into my mind, I can like wake up at 2 a.m. and write it down. It's letting these things land with me, let me like, if I process it and if it's like, sticks with me, that's when I know that it's like, got something to it and then. if, and, you know, sometimes I'll let it go, sometimes I'll keep, like, picking at it and sometimes it gives into something. But other times it may just be like, ok, well, that was like a nice little, one-time idea. But, you know, the things that I've, like, let go and eventually, if it does ever come back, that's when I know that that's like something that's gonna stick. But yeah, I feel like I'm very open to inspiration and I feel like it does come from a variety of places and I just love how it can affect me, and I love it when inspiration does take hold and it won't let go. That's when I feel like those are the best ideas and, yeah, and then I have to find a way to find a way to work that into something.

JF: And we had talked before that you moved around a lot growing up. And you’re from Singapore, right?

RR: Yes!

JF: Which playwrights are popular in Singapore?

RR: I mean, it's really interesting because there is such a big British culture in Singapore. So it's, it's like a lot of the classics that you think, like, Shakespeare's super popular. They have like Shakespeare in the Park every year and it's like, you know, something that gets sold out and that is the most popular event. I remember seeing The Woman In Black in Singapore and they generally bring a lot of European theater companies to travel and tour there too. Beijing opera, Butoh and Noh theatre are very popular. But it’s very selective, like culturally specific communities that gravitate towards that. I feel like the more popular things that you do here in the theaters are all coming from abroad, and if it is something more local, it's gonna be like Shakespeare with a cast and elements from Singapore, or like an adaptation of Miss Julie that takes place in Colonial Singapore. Or another piece that will infuse a little bit of Eastern influence to it, but has a Western foundation.

JF: Are you hoping to bring more Eastern influence into your work on Western plays?

RR: Yeah, absolutely. Like with my theatre education in Singapore, I went to an international school. It was a British International school. So it was a lot of the Western Canon, but at the very same time, because we were in this very international region, we were exposed to a lot of different theater traditions from Asia, Australia, and Europe. So it was like a lovely blend of things and what they emphasized was integrating elements and creating a piece based on fusion. I'm glad that I picked that up from Singapore. It brings such a universality to any piece that I was working on. And then from that, I was like, “oh, these are the kind of stories that I want focus on and like, you know, productions that I really enjoy, or things where I'm like, oh, I totally recognize that from like Butoh or whatever, right? It’s like picking up on these different elements and infusing something different from you know, traditional naturalism. Stanislavski is like realism. I feel like it's, it's just important to start opening up, I guess, like, the, the fact that the theater world is so much bigger than just Broadway musicals and realistic plays on stage. I think Singapore opened me up to see this whole other side of theatre and theatrical traditions.

JF: I totally believe a fusion of the East and Western tradition is the future of theatre. You can kind of see it in a lot of our contemporary playwrights. Just in how they're presenting time on stage and playing around with archetypes. It really excites me. Is there a play that you could see yourself fusing with an Eastern concept?

RR: Oh my God. So, I love the movie Moulin Rouge. I think the stage musical did a lot of fun things and I was like, it was crazy to see that much spectacle on stage and it was a wild time. But something that the movie did really well was because Baz Luhrmann was influenced by Indian cinema for that film he got a lot of the theatrical styles into the film that the stage musical cut out and I mean, fair enough, I feel like they were a little like, “OK, we're gonna get canceled if we, like, you know, if we put this on stage,” but it totally missed out on, like, keeping that fun, hyper energy of the film. So, for a pitch project, I reconceptualized Moulin Rouge for the stage, because India was colonized by the French. So the pitch set the show in India and then infused all these different styles of classic Indian theater traditions, but then also had this Western colonial power influence throughout.

JF: Oh, that’s interesting. I had a great time when I saw Moulin Rouge, but yeah I did miss the speed at which the film moves. I was also curious about which playwrights you’re drawn to most.

RR: It depends. I feel like, because I've had classical training, I love Ibsen and Chekhov. However, I was exposed to so many more American playwrights since I moved to the States and started studying theatre. I love picking up on the different styles. I'm influenced by quite a lot, like Annie Baker and Suzan-Lori Parks. Their writing styles speak to me. Tom Stoppard is another playwright I love. Dance Nation was something that warped my mind, in the sense of like, oh my God, this is what you can do with writing.

JF: Oh, yeah. That play is haunting.

RR: Yeah, but it's also just how it's presented on paper, right? It's like, yeah, so I feel like Claire Baron has done a lot for changing that perspective for me, as well as similar playwrights to her.

JF: Well, and speaking of Annie Baker, have you seen Janet Planet?

RR: Yes. Oh, my God.

JF: Okay! What did you think?

RR: So I got to see Janet Planet at the New York Film Festival last year and, oh my God, it, it is so quintessentially Annie Baker because it's got that like, lovely, like pacing to it and you know that you're just going to have to settle into the work. It’s such a beautiful exploration of this mother-daughter relationship. And while it's a little slow, and there's not like a huge plot to it, it’s such a wonderful exploration of humanity, childhood innocence, and being a mother. And it's just like wow! It is stunning. It’s just a lovely film. Like I was just like, oh my God, I'm like under a warm blanket. It’s giving those feels. And the bathroom scene when she has like a tick or something in her hair, is locked into my mind.

JF: Yeah! I’m still thinking about the dancing at the end with the mom and the daughter is just observing her. It’s a great film for looking at characters in space. Like, it's so beautiful to see Julianne Nicholson just come alive throughout that movie.

RR: It's just like, so wonderful to see this child seeing how her mother is perceived in this world, and realizing that her mom is not just her mom, too. You know, it's like, it's, it's. Just such a, it's, it's, it's incredible. I'm so glad that she [Annie Baker] made the transition to film.

JF: I was listening to Julianne Nicholson on the Back to One podcast and she was talking about how she trusted Annie Baker so much that no matter what Annie Baker asked her to do, even if she didn't fully understand what she was asking her to do, she would do it. And so like, how do you build that trust with your actors?

RR: Oh, it's tough. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but I think it's normally just connecting with the actors and listening to what they have to say about their characters. I love doing character interviews or just talking to the actors about their characters in one-on-one meetings before we start rehearsals. That helps me see and understand what they think about the character, and what they have questions about. And then once that communication begins it allows like this whole other part of our relationship to open up. And in that way, I think that's where the trust starts and it gets stronger throughout the process. It's important for directors to also listen to what their actors are saying. William Ball has this wonderful thing where instead of when an actor asks the question, he says that a director should just say, “well, what do you think about it?” Because most likely an actor will have the answer to that question. And I feel like that has completely changed the way I direct in a room. I love keeping it open. I love throwing it back to the actors. They're bringing it up for a reason. And so with that, I feel like there are little stepping stones here and there that they'll trust. And in the end, I feel like they are more open to what I'm giving them. But then they know that I am also open to receiving what they're saying too

JF: Who has influenced you the most as a director?

RR: I mean, Peter Brook. It's all from this Singapore upbringing and this sort of international exposure to the theatre because watching his production of The Mahabharata was just like the most influential moment in my theatre background. Just seeing how he created such a universal piece from one culturally specific text and used actors from different nationalities and backgrounds, but then putting them into the story and creating this sort of like epic, universally, touching piece was truly remarkable. And what he does with theater is just crazy. It's wild and it's what I want to do.

JF: What do you love most about theatre in New York City?

RR: Well, you can literally find anything which is truly remarkable. Having lived in a lot of places like, sure you can get a lot of theater and a lot of like, you know, very niche specific things, but here it's like, truly just everything, everything times 10. Of course, you have the popular Broadway musicals, big plays with the big stars, but then you find like a 10-seat audience experience. You’ll find living room theatre, you’ll find theatre in Central Park. One of my friends told me about this piece where they wore headphones and followed this jogger around. It's crazy, the different levels of what art and theater can be specifically here. And that's exciting because I hope it's something that takes off and spreads eventually. I've gotten to experience a lot of theater in New York and whenever I tell my friends abroad it's like, whoah, what, like you saw this play? Like, what, what is that? And it's like, yeah. Oh my God. It was like the most amazing experience.

JF: My final question is: what are you most proud of?

RR: I'm proud of being open to opportunities and saying, yes. I feel like before I would have been a little more cautious about what I was getting myself into or, you know, some of the work or being a little shy and like, oh, these are people, I don't know or whatever this is a situation, this is something I've never done before, but I feel like, you know, having been exposed to the theatre in New York and learning and living in New York has changed the way I approach things.

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