Moxie Theatre Celebrates 15th Season With 'Dance Nation'

Speaker 1: 00:00 Moxie theaters strives to showcase women playwrights. And this weekend they opened Claire Barron's dance nation. KPBS arts reporter about doc Amando speaks with the plays director Jennifer Thorne. Jennifer, you have a new play opening this weekend dance nation. Tell me a little bit about what this plays about. Dance nation tells the story of a competitive dance team of 12 and 13 year old girls and one boy there from Liverpool, Ohio and they are climbing their way to the nationals competition. Okay. Now when you mentioned dance and that age, I always conjure up an image from Donnie Darko and sparkle nation. Is this the kind of world we're entering into? I think in a way that you sort of are, there's definitely a lot of sparkle and for anyone who may have ever seen the reality TV show dance moms, the playwright was sort of obsessed with that. And so that makes its way into some of the play for sure. Speaker 1: 00:56 Now it is sort of inspired by these reality, this reality TV show. But what is the play really about? Is it, what is it kind of, uh, trying to tackle by using this as kind of the core of the story? I think what Claire Barron, the playwright is really telling a story about is success, ambition and desire and specifically how we think about those things in women. And I think that the, the recent success of the women's us soccer team and how they were really shamed for celebrating their victory is sort of a great way to think about some of the, the things that are getting touched on in the play in a really fun way. The playwright included some instructions in terms of things that you need to be considering when you're putting on a production of this. What were some of the directives that she gave? Speaker 1: 01:45 So one of my favorite things that she requests is that all the 12 and 13 year old dancers are played by adult actors. And so our cast ranges in age from their twenties to their sixties and I think that she does that because it's sort of hard when you are 12 and 13 to have perspective about this horrible and powerful age. And something about the distance that these actors have from that age really gives us the chance to feel what it's like to be that age again. And was there also direction in terms of whether use dancers in this [inaudible] is called dance nation, but um, are you supposed to have talented and skilled dancers in this? I think it's really funny. She, she includes a note right at the end that says that that you could do the play with dancers, but that she thinks it's much more fun for the audience if the actors are not dancers. Speaker 1: 02:43 And so while some of our cast, like all actors has movement and some dance experience, they are not by trade dancers and she's the playwrights, right? It really makes it more fun to watch these people who have had to learn these extensive dance routines, uh, in the same way that you or I would have to learn if, as, as people who don't walk through life as dancers from scratch. And it makes it sort of powerful and joyful to watch them use their bodies and awaken that dancer inside of them. And why did you feel you wanted to stage this play? Right now it's Moxys 15th anniversary season and uh, this play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Uh, Claire Barron is an ob award winning playwright. And this play, while it sounds really fun and is really fun, is an incredible, powerful exploration of, of women's voices at such an important age. Speaker 1: 03:39 And it felt like the best way for us to celebrate such an important anniversary. And for people who may not be familiar with Moxie, what is kind of your mission statement? What fuels your passion for putting on plays? Our mission is to create more diverse and honest images of women for our culture. And one of the primary ways we do that is through the production of female playwrights. And we do that in part because there's a big disparity in a American theater, uh, still, uh, since, uh, even since our founding between the production of male and female playwrights. Uh, but also because by, by focusing on women's work, it allows us to explore the incredible breadth of what women are writing about. And so fans of ours know that when you come to a show, you don't know what you're going to see. You don't know if it's going to be wild, you don't know if it's going to be sweet, you don't know if it's going to be vulgar. Speaker 1: 04:32 It's always a surprise. But that's, that's what women are. We are, we're diverse and uh, unique. And so as their work. And for you, you're directing this, you're also the artistic director at Moxie. What about this particular play did you find most attractive and also most challenging? I think that the first thing that drew me to it is that I myself feel like 12 and 13 years old for me was just a train wreck. It was horrible. There's no age I would, I would, I would re-experience any part of my childhood or adult self if I could skip 12 and 13 and then at the same time I feel like that was also sort of the dawning of something really powerful that I've only now began, begun to understand. And I have a daughter who's 11 and going into junior high and I'm watching her start to see her power. Speaker 1: 05:28 And uh, so I was attracted to the story for that reason. And also because the play has these incredible artistic challenges. And you mentioned this is the 15 anniversary for Moxy, but it's also another kind of anniversary for you, a at your location on Oklahoma Boulevard. That's true. We've been there now for a decade in our space. Uh, we are one of San Diego's finest strip mall theaters, I like to say, but we're really proud of where we're located. Uh, part of our location means that we are really accessible, not just physically accessible. Our parking is free, which is great, but also financially accessible. We really pride ourselves on being financially accessible to people. And so our ticket prices, because of our location, we're able to keep them low. All right, well, I want to thank you very much for coming in and talking about dance nation. Thank you for having me. That was Beth AHCA. Mando speaking with Moxie theaters. Jennifer Thorn Dance Nation opens this weekend and runs through September 15th.