5 minute read
Farce & The House
AN INTERVIEW WITH ANNIE TIPPE AND ANDREW BOYCE BY DAVID MENDIZÁBAL
Berkeley Rep’s Associate Artistic Director David Mendizábal sat down with POTUS director Annie Tippe and scenic designer Andrew Boyce to discuss their collaborative process bringing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to the Roda Theatre.
DAVID MENDIZÁBAL: Selina Fillinger’s POTUS calls for a world of heightened physical comedy. How did you approach the play’s needs and the spirit of satire?
ANNIE TIPPE: Selina said to me, “My intention for this play is that it could be done with four chairs and a couple of doorframes.” So, Andrew and I have tried to explore the most creative way to traverse all the locations of the White House in this play and honor Selina’s offering that simplicity and clarity allow more space for the humor and the wit to live and breathe. We were interested in how we can both lift the most potent comedic elements as well as the harriedness of people coming in and out of different doors.
ANDREW BOYCE: We’ve been on such a journey of wrestling with how to move from place to place within the world. I feel like we’ve maintained, in all the different iterations of the design, that kind of speed and fluidity moving back and forth between the various places. That sense that people are coming and going and could be around any corner.
Andrew, what’s it like designing the White House?
AB: It’s tricky to honor and think comprehensively about the multitude of perspectives that are going to be engaging with something that has as much baggage as the iconography of this place, institution, and symbol. There is an incredible amount of documentation about the White House’s aesthetics and the way it has been built and who it has been built for. We wanted to lean into that. We’ve also talked a lot about how this building has an institutional white supremacist history that has defined its architecture and the experience of people living in it and working from it. In that sense, we’re paying attention to the details of the decor and the paneling on the doors, but then we’re also trying to give a little bit more perspective on the design by subliminally and subtly acknowledging the troubling history of the institution. We’ve been in collaboration with Berkeley Rep’s wonderful props department to find bits and pieces of decor that might live in this space, but decor that points to its colonialist, patriarchal, white supremacist history that is inherently a part of everybody’s understanding of the institution.
Annie, what about Andrew made him the right match for you?
AT: I admire Andrew’s work, which is, above everything, elegant. I feel like you have clarity of ideas, and in all the work that I’ve seen, you let the play live and breathe on stage. This play is extremely hard to design, and you need someone with clarity of vision, flexibility, a willingness to be collaborative. Andrew has a great sense of humor, and he knows how to make magic happen. That is what this play requires to be successful – humor, elegance, and a little bit of cheekiness, which I think we have.
AB: That’s very generous of you. Thank you, Annie.
Andrew, how did your design process begin?
AB: I really love diving into research and exploring the world of the play, and trying to wrap my head empathetically around what the writer is saying with their work. Then we begin to have wonderful conversations where we layer in other folks’ points of view, and I begin to think about how to support that. That’s where Annie comes in, and she’s been extraordinary to work with. Then I do a lot of structural work in terms of making sure I really understand what the action on stage might need to be. From there, I eventually move into a three-dimensional form. But it always comes back to those preliminary conversations and the text. At the end of the day, I’m there to support other people doing the work that connects with an audience.
Annie, your roots are in design. How does this inform or shape the way you approach collaborations with designers?
AT: I grew up in the dressing room getting to watch fittings with iconic performers. The design is where, with the choice of a painting or a high-heeled Croc shoe, we get to say, “We have a point of view on this, and we’re not shy about it.”
We want the audience to feel intellectually and emotionally what they are receiving on stage. To me, clothing is an extension of the script. It is writing. The set is also an additional piece of writing that exists in conversation with the play.
Andrew, having designed for the Roda before, are there any peculiarities or tricks you’ve learned about the space?
AB: The Roda has a real breadth to it. It is an open space, and yet it’s a very present space. A lot of my time is spent thinking about how to focus the audience on the actors and on the action on stage. How do you dial in to the things you want people to pay attention to and the language and the action? I also acknowledge and give huge thanks to the wonderful production team there. It’s an incredible group of artists that have been extraordinarily generous with helping us think through certain problems and challenges and guide us through the process. There’s a strong sense of community there, which I love!
Any final words from you, Annie, about this design?
AT: Our intention is to surprise and delight the audience. I think people can expect bold gestures that lift the play’s messages about how we are both complicit in the system and how we can come together to change the way that our system works. That and get a bathroom on stage in under seven seconds!
