Sledge chief helms award-winning Globe comedy 'Jenny Chow'

By: BILL FARK - For the North County Times | Wednesday, June 9, 2004 12:41 PM PDT ∞

Do you ever have days when your workload is so great that you wish you were two people? That's similar to the situation of the heroine in "The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow," Rolin Jones' new play opening next week at the Old Globe's Cassius Carter Centre Stage.

The central character in this computer-age comedy is Jennifer Marcus, a 22-year-old with a genius-level IQ Jennifer is also an agoraphobic, whose contacts with the world outside her bedroom are those with whom she communicates via computer ---- her adoptive parents and an occasional visit from the pizza delivery man.

Curious about her biological parents, but unable to search for them, Jennifer builds a fully operational robot in her own image that she names "Jenny Chow." Through Jenny, she makes virtual connections with people who help her trace her birth mother and ultimately discover more about herself.

Kirsten Brandt, artistic director of San Diego's Sledgehammer Theatre, directs the play for the Old Globe. Brandt said several things attracted her to Jones' play.

"The most important is the character of the piece. It reminds me of a line from a Sondheim musical, 'You don't know what you want until you get it.' And then you may discover that you don't want it. The first thing you do if you want to connect with the real world, is to look at what's right in front of you," she said.

Another reason for accepting the directorial assignment, Brandt said, was that the play is a comedy.

"I love directing comedy. There's lots of joy in it. The joy of creation. Of reaching an audience. Finding love," she said.

Brandt is a multi-tasker. As artistic director for Sledgehammer, she has created 15 major dramatic events. These involved writing or co-writing scripts and producing and directing plays. She also established the company's first education program, STEP, that promotes literacy through drama in San Diego City schools. And she serves on the advisory board of the Coronado School of the Arts. Brandt is also in demand as a director for other theaters. This is her first assignment for the Old Globe, but she has directed for Diversionary Theatre, Fritz Theatre, 6th@Penn and UC San Diego's Master of Fine Arts program. And last year, she directed "The Burning Desk" in La Jolla Playhouse's Page-to-Stage project. She worked closely with New York-based playwright Sarah Schulman, who adapted the script from Honore de Balzac's 1846 novel "La Cousine Bette."

Brandt said she had never wished for a clone to share the responsibilities connected with her many and varied activities.

"It would be nice to have someone take over routine tasks ---- sleeping, eating, going to the bathroom, shopping ---- that would free me to concentrate on theater. But not for 24 hours every day. In the play one of Jennifer's aims in duplicating herself as Jenny is to do something she can't do," she said. "At Sledgehammer, I have a group of actors and creative people with whom I have worked for over six years. We all contribute ideas and discuss them, then choose what we think will work best."

"The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow" relates to a previous Brandt project. "I wrote and directed 'The Frankenstein Project,' about parents' responsibility in the creation of children. It focused on a mother-daughter relationship, an issue that resonates with me."

Brandt studied playwriting at the University of Birmingham, England, with David Edgar and Claire McIntyre. (Edgar will be in-residence at La Jolla Playhouse this month, where his two-play cycle "Continental Divide" opened Sunday). She studied directing at UCSD. She called her method in creating and directing a play cooperative.

"The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow" has won two major awards this year: the American Theatre Critics Association Elizabeth Osborne Award for an Emerging Playwright; and the Orange County Weekly's Best New Play Award. Author Rolin Jones is in his third year at the Yale School of Drama Master of Fine Arts playwriting program, where he received the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Scholarship. He is also the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communication Group Artist-in-Residence grant.

Brandt said it's been fascinating to watch actress Michelle Wong develop the character of Jenny Chow.

"She has to learn to be human in an accelerated program to mature. She begins very mechanically, and gradually develops a personality. But Jennifer is the only character who sees the transformation," Brandt said. "The entire cast is terrific, which is important. The right cast makes the process joyous and much easier."

Other cast members are: Seema Sueko as Jennifer and Jordan Baker, Steve Pickering, Kelly VanKirk and Zachary Quinto. The production team includes: Michelle Riel, scenic design; Mary Larson, costumes, David Cuthbert, lighting; and Paul Peterson, sound.