An Interview with Jeesun Choi

An interview with Jeesun Choi

When did you write your first play? What was it about & how do you feel about it now?

I’ve been writing and been devising & creating theatre for a while, but only decided to put those things together in 2016. Back then, I was making theatre via an ensemble- based devising process at Dell’Arte International (Blue Lake, CA). That method is great in so many ways, but I realized that it didn’t always allow a vision to be fully executed. That year, I was reading a biography of Georgia O’Keeffe and I was so struck by the years she spent in Texas before she found her art. I decided to transpose some of that story on Dahlia, a second-generation Korean American painter, who falls in love with a Mexican American rancher about to inherit her father’s farm. ‘Dahlia’ means so much to me because it helped me see that I am a playwright.

What are your main influences for your writing?

Broadly speaking, people are my biggest influences. Human beings are full of contradictions, unpredictable and hilariously complex. The fact that two irreconcilable things can be true in one person (or amongst people) just blows my mind. People are so mysterious and yet so obvious. They are right there in front of you and yet, they are totally ungraspable; that makes for great drama.

Do you have an established writing process or do you approach each project differently? 

The process varies from project to project. I write best in the morning so I carve out 3 hours at the start of the day when I start a new play. I also tend to write about things that I don’t yet know so I do a lot of research all throughout the writing process. Right now, I’m writing a play about Northern California (and in part about wildfires) so I’m reading a lot about the science of fires and how wildfires manifested throughout history.

What do you consider the major milestones of your artistic career?

I think the most important moment for me was back in the winter/spring of 2018. It was freezing cold in New York, I was dealing with a lot of difficult personal things and somehow, I kept working on ‘The Seekers.’ It’s easy to point to the big, shiny things as high points, but it’s important for me to recognize those possibly unpalatable moments as my milestones.

What has been your most ambitious undertaking as an artist?

To write and to complete plays. Starting a new play, every time, feels like a huge, exciting undertaking.

Which other playwrights have inspired you?

Federico Garcia Lorca. Young Jean Lee. Christopher Chen. Annie Baker. Sarah Kane.

What is your favorite play written by another playwright?

It’s hard to pick just one! A play that has had a huge impact on me is ‘Death and the Maiden’ by Ariel Dorfman. I recently saw ‘Passage’ by Christopher Chen and thought it was remarkable. Also, I don’t know if this counts, but I love Carlos Saura’s flamenco version of ‘Blood Wedding’ by Lorca. It may be a little strange for me to say this as a playwright, but I think words, although necessary and wonderful, are optional.

Where does your interest in real-life stories come from?

For me, there is nothing wilder than real-life stories. Things happen to people that no fiction writer could have ever concocted. Having lived a transnational life – as a Korean in all sorts of international and foreign environments – I saw how people with differing expectations, experiences, and values can coexist. And out of that cohabitation emerges really wild stories.

Which of your plays would you most like to see produced?

‘The Seekers.’

What was your catalyst for writing The Seekers?

I read a New Yorker article called ‘The Trauma of Facing Deportation’ by Rachel Aviv in 2017. The images in the article stayed with me for the whole year. I didn’t know what to do with it, but one day, it all came together in a young Somali girl called Ilhan, who starts having visions of Dika, the Romani refugee boy in Sweden. That was the very beginning of ‘The Seekers.’

What are you hoping to learn from The Seekers appearing in BAPF 2019?

Recently I saw a pie chart that showed that there are just so many things we don’t know that we don’t know. So the festival for me is finding out what those things I don’t yet know are.

What do you want audiences to take away from your work?

That not fully understanding a person is not a bad thing. That we should respect the mystery we hold in each other. Another thing is that we are a result of mass human migration and we will continue to migrate. The sooner we accept that, the better. This “securing of borders” business (which is happening on all continents) is quite nonsensical.

Which other #BAPF2019 play are you most excited to see? And why?

All of them! They all sound so different and intriguing.

Which of your plays would you most like to revisit?

‘Dahlia.’

What themes or ideas do you like to engage with?

Because of my transnational life experience, I like to engage with big, global themes. At the same time, I also love to engage with cultures that I do not hail from. Female writers, throughout history, have been pressured to write from their own experience. They weren’t allowed to take on a variety of stories and identities that male writers were. So it’s important to me, as a female identifying writer of color, that I write characters who don’t personally look or think like me. Of course, that comes with a huge responsibility; every material I handle, I try to give it the fullest human dimensions.

What’s a favorite memory of your time in theater?

In my first elementary school show, I played a lime green octopus that rapped about the ocean. The tentacles were the bomb.

What’s next?

I’m working on a new play set in Northern California and I’m hoping to finish the first draft before the end of the year. I was also selected as the Playwriting Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop for this coming season so I’m excited to continue my work there.