10 Questions
Take Ten: Jenny McConnell Frederick
As Artistic Director of Rorschach Theatre and director of Programs for CulturalDC, Jenny McConnell Frederick surely has her work cut out for her. She has directed the Helen Hayes Nominated Voices Underwater and God of Vengeance as well as Dead City, This Storm is What We Call Progress, Rough Magic, The Arabian Night, The Scarlet Letter, Master and Margarita, A Clearing in the Woods, The Illusion and the 2013 sold-out run of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere . For Theater J, she directed G_D’s Honest Truth and for Catholic University, she directed the world premiere of Fifi and Hunter Forever. At CulturalDC, she oversees the Mead Theatre Lab and Flashpoint Gallery Programs and serves as Artistic Director for the award-winning Source Festival. Jenny is a member of Young Playwrights Theatre Artistic Company and the Hub Theatre Advisory Board. She is currently collaborating with a number of other playwrights on new works and continues to collaborate daily with her husband on their interdisciplinary, improvised project, a preschooler named Thane.
1) What was the first show you ever saw, and what impact did it have?
This wasn't the first show I ever saw, but it's one that stands out when I think about young theatre experiences. Sometime in junior high I went on a field trip to see Stand-Up Tragedy at Arena. I remember being blown away by its visceral drama and its darkness--so different from the huge spectacle touring musicals I'd been exposed to before, though no less bold in its theatricality. I think the juxtaposition of those two forms has really shaped the kind of work I gravitate toward today.
2) What was your first involvement in a theatrical production?
I was the narrator in a ground-breaking 1st grade production of The Elves and the Shoemaker. Prior to that, I spent many years collaborating with my younger cousins to direct and devise original work based on Brady Bunch episodes.
3) What’s your favorite play or musical, and why do you like it so much?
I'm terrible at this question. I don't have favorite anythings. I like work that surprises me. I hate predictable theatrical experiences.
4) What’s the worst day job you ever took?
Not the worst, but the weirdest was definitely the two summers I spent working in interactive children's edutainment. My boss and I would act out two roles in a fairytale and pull children out of the audience to play all the other roles and we'd kind of gently push the kids through the telling of the stories. We performed at birthday parties too, so I have a really distinct memory of being at some neighborhood pool one very hot summer day, crouched down behind a cardboard castle wearing my previous year's prom dress and everything reeking of chlorine as I waited to emerge and perform poolside. Also, my boss legally changed his name to Christopher Robin that summer. #weirdstuff
5) What is your most embarrassing moment in the theatre?
On every single show I direct or produce, about midway through the process, I look around at what I've made one night and think: "Oh my God! This is terrible! How did anyone let me make this? What have I done?". Then the feeling passes and it turns out by and large, we make really beautiful amazing things...but there's always one point in the middle where it's all in doubt and that feels pretty embarrassing.
6) What have you enjoyed most about working on A Softer World?
I love the magic of discovering just the right thing among the source material. Emily and Joey (who created the comic) have this outstanding database of their 1200+ comics. We'll frequently be struggling with a moment in the play and we'll go to the database and search a word and somehow pull out exactly the right sentiment for the moment. It mirrors how I've always felt about the ASW comic in life. They always had a way of reflecting back essential truths.
7) Other than your significant other, who’s your dream date (living or dead) and why?
Probably some hybrid of the early 90's versions of Christian Slater and Johnny Depp? I'm sure there are more interesting people to have a conversation with, but if it's a proper date, 14-year-old Jenny would be really disappointed if I didn't request those guys.
8) What is your dream role/job?
Proof of my MTV-generation roots, I'd like to make music videos. (Like direct them...I can't sing. At all.)
9) If you could travel back in time, what famous production or performance would you choose to see?
I don't know about historically, but geographically I would love to see an opera at the Bregenz Festival in Austria. They build these phenomenally epic sets on the lake there. I keep a picture of one of the sets on my bulletin board as a reminder to never be afraid to think big.
10) What advice would you give to an 8 year-old smitten by theatre / for a graduating MFA student?
Live your life. It's really easy to get sucked into the work-all-the-time trap. There are always more plays to make--because you love it and you want to, but if you haven't lived your life outside of theatre, you'll have nothing to bring to it. Travel, read, play, love, experiment and test your boundaries in every way. Get outside the theatre experience the world.
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