Meet Carla Neuss (Dramaturg)
This play takes place in multiple historical eras. If you could choose a specific time in history to be born, when would you choose?
I would probably choose ancient Greece.
Should Christians or non-Christians come see this play?
I think both Christians and non-Christians should come to the play—really, I think everyone should come. I think the experience watching will be very different for Christians and non-Christians but it will beautiful, challenging and engaging for both types of audience members. As a Christian, I think this play really captures the feeling of people throughout history trying to live their lives in tune with a larger universal story of purpose and redemption—sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing.
This play shifts from funny to emotional to funny again on a dime. How do you deal with those shifts?
The shifts in tone in Passion Play—from humor, to romance, to tragedy—do happen quickly and at times, unexpectedly. But I think that’s how so much of real life is. This play escapes falling into a clear convention of dramatic genre—I think that might be surprising and perhaps disorienting for theatre-aficionados but I think it’s how Sarah Ruhl’s writing effectively penetrates our lives and our emotions so deeply—her writing, characters and stories are as unpredictable as reality.
This play explores how you are perceived based on your looks versus who you really are. Can you personally relate to this theme?
I’m sure everyone can relate to the feeling of being “type cast” within their own life. But in some ways, I think the communities in this play are much more unified and these perceptions become part of the public sphere in a way that the contemporary, often disconnected communities of today don’t quite capture in the same way.
If you met any of these characters on the street, who would you share a pint with and who would make you turn and walk away? Why?
I actually am most fascinated by the character of Mary 2 in Part II of the play. She puts up such a strong front, sometimes in a callous, didactic way, and other times in a way that shows courage in the face of pain and death. Since she comes across as a bit closed and stoical, I’d love to get her to loosen up over a beer and find out what her secret dreams and hopes are.
What’s the biggest challenge for you in this production?
The biggest challenge for me (which is very much a product of my role as dramaturg) is making sense of the liberties Sarah Ruhl takes with the historicity of the three different eras and locations that are represented in the play. I hugely admire the freedom with which she creates her characters out of these very specific historical moments but it can be challenging to figure out why exactly she sometimes chooses to be accurate with the facts and other times to throw them out the window. It definitely keeps things lively.
What do you connect to in this story?
I connect to a lot in this story—particularly the interplay between religion, communities, and theatricality. I think I really relate to the way Sarah Ruhl openly says this play was a way for her to try to figure out her own religious upbringing as a Catholic. To the extent that theatre and art generally act as a mirror to reflect what we bring to it, this play for me is a profound meditation on how people try to enact their beliefs and how they deal with it when they fall short of their own ideals.
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