NOTES ON THE PROCESS:

With a much abbreviated process, only 11 rehearsals total, I requested actors come in 80% off-book so we could get to the depth this project required. They were true to their word and came in very close to off-book for that first rehearsal. This allowed us to dive very deep, very quickly.

Crafting complexity, while answering and raising new questions with each step, we began to use the mantra the audience doesn’t have to understand what is going on exactly, but we have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt, exactly. In the most surreal moments of the work, we sought to define how each line, each moment was loaded, not just literally but emotionally. We crafted levels 3 or 4 deep, which the audience certainly would never fully comprehend, but we did. And we came to crave the level of depth, clarity and intrigue that this kind of complexity afforded to Genet’s rich and absurdist work.

We began blocking much earlier in the process than I usually schedule, again because of the abbreviated process, but also because the content of The Maids is horrifying, and therefore at great risk for emotional and physical safety being violated if not tended to carefully. I wanted to give the actors the safety net of blocking and consensual moments from the jump, so they had structure holding them up, and were therefore free to go deeply and safely into their work.

For the actors playing Solange and Claire (the maids), I made the decision to remove the idea of gender early in the process. They were not to get fixated on ‘masculine’ vs. ‘feminine’ choices, but rather the most earnest reactions possible, without concern for what gender quality they, or an audience, might put upon it. In this way, we sought a raw and non-performative style in a highly performative playing space. Only in a conversation just before opening did we layer back in our discussion of the idea of gender.

In anticipation of taking the stage for an audience, I encouraged the maids to at last explore colors of gender performance. What could feminine rage look like, masculine rage? What are the shades of feminine tenderness, masculine tenderness? What are manifestations of feminine violence, masculine violence? We used the emotional complexity of the play as the spine, flesh, blood and limbs. The idea and construct of gender came only as the skin. My hope was this would create an evocative play where we observed beings struggling profoundly, where gendered responses trickled in as responses to their world, rather than anything inherent in them.

For Madame, we discussed the idea of gender early on, and that it was a mask she wore to protect or perhaps define herself. We discussed subtle moments when the façade would crumble or she voluntarily took the mask off. We created this as juxtaposition to the maids, who we crafted in the void of gender projections for the most part, and therefore void of, but desperate for, their masks.

There was such raw, vulnerability in these men’s work already, but the first time the gentlemen were in their costumes, bearing their beards and legs and backs and arms and souls in these dresses, something changed forever for the play. It was sensual and raw and beautiful and vulnerable. They were so exposed, not just emotionally but now also physically. And these men just leapt towards that rather than away. It was one of those rare and precious moments as a director where taking notes slides away and you are left simply in awe, completely speechless and profoundly grateful.

I would like to thank Rebekah Suellau, my co-collaborator and the originator of the idea for this project to present Genet’s Deathwatch and The Maids in rep. Without her vision, inquisitive mind, and thoughtful approach, none of this would have been possible. Seedling Project member Brandon, who pulled double and triple duty as stage manager, sound designer, lighting designer, tech crew and captain (and supportive boyfriend). Seedling member Mandi, who blew my mind with her ability to get shit done as producer, no questions asked -- could not have happened without her. My cast, Jayme Smith, Bill Webber, and Dan Ford, who I will be grateful for the rest of my days as an artist. They were creators and visionaries, and a whole hell of a lot of fun. And finally, the audience, who were small in numbers but consisted of amazing and fascinating people, whose ferociously supportive response to this painful and beautiful work has been nothing shy of extraordinary.

- Jennifer Alice Acker

Director