before you go - La Jolla Playhouse

KNOW
BEFORE YOU GO
FEBRUARY 2 – 28, 2016
Production Sponsors
Margret and Nevins McBride
Just Gypsy
BEFORE YOU GO
KNOW
We look forward to seeing you at La Jolla Playhouse at your
upcoming performance of Guards at the Taj. Below is some additional
information about the production and the venue to enhance your
theater-going experience.
PARKING
Parking is free for all subscribers. For all others parking is $2 (subject
to change), Mon-Fri. Upon arrival to campus, please purchase your
parking permit from one of the automated pay stations located next
to the information kiosk. Simply park, note your space number, and
pay $2 at the pay station. Pay stations accept Visa, MasterCard,
American Express or cash ($1 and $5), and do not give change. You
will not need to return to your car. Parking is free on the weekends.
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EVENTS
The Playhouse offers unique opportunities for audience members
to delve deeper into the play with these special performance
series options:
Foodie Friday: Buy a ticket to the performance and enjoy San
Diego’s finest food trucks, plus a complimentary microbrew
tasting from Stone Brewing Company.
- Friday, February 19 starting at 6:00 pm
Talkback Tuesdays: Participate in a lively discussion with actors
and Playhouse staff members after the performance.
- Tuesday, February 9 following the 7:30 pm performance
- Tuesday, February 16 following the 7:30 pm performance
Discovery Sunday: Special guest speakers engage audience
members in a moderated discussion exploring the issues and
themes in the play.
- Sunday, February 28 following the 2:00 pm performance
Insider Events: Join Playhouse staff for a special pre-performance
presentation that gives an insider’s view of the play.
- Wednesday, February 24 at 6:45 pm
- Saturday, February 27 at 1:15 pm
ACCESSIBILITY
A golf cart is available to assist patrons with accessibility issues to
and from the parking lot. Please notify Patron Services prior to your
performance if you are in need of this service; additionally, you may
pull into the five minute parking in front of the theatre, and a friendly
La Jolla Playhouse greeter will assist you.
ACCESS PERFORMANCES
Open Captioned Performance: This performance has open captioning for patrons who are deaf
or hard of hearing.
- Sunday, February 14 at 2:00 pm
ACCESS (ASL Interpreted & Audio Described) Performance: This performance has American
Sign Language interpretation for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing, and audio description
for patrons who are blind or have low vision.
- Saturday, February 20 at 2:00 pm
DINING
James’ Place is the Theatre District’s on-site restaurant.
Developed by renowned Sushi Master James Holder, the menu includes his signature sushi, as well as
delectable dishes created with Prime and Angus cuts of beef, locally and sustainably harvested seafood,
along with seasonal dishes. A lighter fare menu is also served at the newly-redesigned sushi/cocktail bar,
featuring craft beer and California wines. James’ Place is open daily.
Tuesday – Friday: Happy Hour: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm | Dinner: 5:00 pm – Close
Saturday – Sunday: Happy Hour: 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm | Dinner: 5:00 pm – Close
For reservations, please call (858) 638-7778.
We also recommend the following nearby restaurants:
Adobe El Restaurante
(breakfast and lunch) and
Mustangs & Burros
(dinner and weekend lunch)
at Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa
9700 N. Torrey Pines Road
La Jolla, CA 92037
estancialajolla.com
Café la Rue and
The Med
at La Valencia Hotel
1132 Prospect Street
La Jolla, CA 92037
lavalencia.com
Cusp Restaurant and
Hiatus Poolside Lounge
at Hotel La Jolla
7955 La Jolla Shores Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037
cusprestaurant.com
Dolce Pane e Vino
16081 San Dieguito Road
Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067
dolcepaneevino.com
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse
& Wine Bar
8970 University Center Lane
San Diego, CA 92122
flemingssteakhouse.com
Giuseppe Restaurants
& Fine Catering
700 Prospect Street
San Diego, CA 92037
giuseppecatering.com
Pamplemousse Grille
514 Via de la Valle, Suite 100
Solana Beach, CA 92075
pgrille.com
Rock Bottom
Restaurant & Brewery
Playhouse Patrons Get 20% Off
8980 Villa La Jolla Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037
rockbottom.com
Children under the age of 6 are not permitted in the theatre during performances unless otherwise posted.
A MESSAGE FROM THE
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
MISSION STATEMENT:
La Jolla Playhouse advances
theatre as an art form and as a
vital social, moral and political
platform by providing unfettered
creative opportunities for the
leading artists of today and
tomorrow. With our youthful
spirit and eclectic, artist-driven
Welcome to Guards at the Taj, the
final show of our 2015/2016 season.
In keeping with the rest of our
subscription shows this past year,
Rajiv Joseph’s play examines how we
behave when our communities are in
moments of crisis.
Unlike the townspeople of Gander in
Come From Away or Bayard Rustin
© Howard Lipin/U-T San Diego/ZUMA Wire
in Blueprints to Freedom, however,
the two characters at the center of Rajiv Joseph’s play come from the
imagined footnotes of a much older era. Guards at the Taj presents
us with two humble friends assigned to stand guard outside a newlyerected, sweeping symbol of imperial power: the Taj Mahal.
approach, we will continue to
cultivate a local and national
following with an insatiable
appetite for audacious and
diverse work. In the future,
San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse
will be considered singularly
indispensable to the worldwide
theatre landscape, as we become
a permanent safe harbor for the
unsafe and surprising. The day
will come when it will be essential
to enter the La Jolla Playhouse
village in order to get a glimpse
It’s that intriguing contrast – the miniscule in the shadow of the mighty –
that provides Guards with both its wicked humor and its heartbreaking
empathy. Humayun and Babur are Everymen on the outermost fringes of
the Mughal court, bearing the weight of a capricious and temperamental
emperor’s whims. It’s a time when daring to question one’s own meaning,
or wondering whether something larger than the Empire exists, constitutes
sedition. Under such circumstances, how are they – and we – to
comprehend beauty without recognizing the ugliness that hides beneath?
The end of our season also brings us the first production directed by
our Associate Artistic Director, Jaime Castañeda. In his first few days at
the Playhouse, when we discussed what show he wanted to direct this
season, Jaime immediately proposed Guards. It’s a choice that made
perfect sense; Rajiv and Jaime are both artists that gravitate to the bold,
the muscular, the immediate. I can’t think of a better play with which to
introduce our audiences to Jaime as a director.
of what is about to happen in
American theatre.
Thank you for all of your support throughout this past season.
Enjoy the show.
CHRISTOPHER
ASHLEY
La Jolla Playhouse has received
La Jolla Playhouse has received the
the highest rating from Charity
highest rating from Charity Navigator,
Navigator, the nation’s premier
the nation’s premier charity evaluator.
charity evaluator.
P4 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS
Michael S. Rosenberg
Managing Director
Christopher Ashley
Artistic Director
BY
RAJIV JOSEPH
DIRECTED BY
JAIME CASTAÑEDA
FEATURING
MANU NARAYAN* AND BABAK TAFTI*
SCENIC DESIGNER
COSTUME DESIGNER
LIGHTING AND PROJECTION DESIGNER
SOUND DESIGNER
FIGHT DIRECTOR
DRAMATURG
CASTING
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
PRODUCTION MANAGER
TAKESHI KATA
SUE MAKKOO
THOMAS ONTIVEROS
CRICKET S. MYERS
STEVE RANKIN
GABRIEL GREENE
TELSEY + CO; KAREN CASL, C.S.A.
ANNETTE ELENA NIXON*
KENDRA STOCKTON*
AUDREY HOO
Guards at the Taj was developed at the Lark Play Development Center, New York City.
World Premiere presented by Atlantic Theater Company, New York City, 2015.
THE CAST
(in alphabetical order)
Manu Narayan..................................................................................................Humayun
Babak Tafti.............................................................................................................. Babur
Setting: Agra, India in 1648
Guards at the Taj is performed without an intermission.
Run time is approximately 75 minutes.
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION STAFF
Assistant Director.................................................................................................... Jacole Kitchen
Assistant Lighting Designer...............................................................................Kimberlee E. Winters
Video Programmer......................................................................................................Justin Humphres
Dresser................................................................................................................................Debbie Allen
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Joe Fiala and Liz Fiala
Rich Gilles
* Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage
Managers in the United States. The theatre operates under an agreement between the
League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association.
This theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres
and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an independent national labor union.
This theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres
and United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.
La Jolla Playhouse is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and a
constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization
for the nonprofit professional theatre.
THE COMPANY
MANU NARAYAN, Humayun
La Jolla Playhouse: Glengarry Glen Ross (Ricky Roma – 2012
San Diego Critics Circle Award nom). Broadway: Andrew
Lloyd Webber/A.R. Rahman musical Bombay Dreams, Akaash
(NY Drama League nom). Off-Broadway: Second Stage:
subUrbia (revival); Getting Home (world premiere); NYSF/
Public Theater: Suzan-Lori Parks’ F*cking A (world premiere); NY Fringe
Fest: La MaMa: Yeast Nation (New York premiere). Tour: Miss Saigon (2nd
Nat’l); Regional: Kennedy Center: The Lisbon Traviata; Shakespeare &
Company: Romeo and Juliet (Romeo), Love’s Labour’s Lost; Wilma Theatre:
Indian Ink; Baltimore Center Stage: Rostand’s Cyrano (Cyrano), The Rivals
(Jack Absolute), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Boys from Syracuse
(Antipholus); Yale Rep: The People Next Door; Cincinnati Playhouse:
Metamorphoses; Missouri Rep: The Winter’s Tale; St. Louis MUNY: Les
Misérables. Film: 99 Homes, Mike Myers’ The Love Guru, Good Night |
Good Morning, Walkaway, A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, The
Last Airbender, Quarterlife Crisis. TV: Grey’s Anatomy, The Following,
Deception, Unforgettable, Rubicon, Nurse Jackie, The Sopranos, Law
& Order: SVU, Cashmere Mafia, Lipstick Jungle. Mr. Narayan is the lead
singer of his band DARUNAM and frequently collaborates with Grammy
award-winning Klezmer musician Frank London. He is an alumnus of
Carnegie Mellon University for which he currently serves as a trustee.
TAKESHI KATA, Scenic Designer
La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. LA: The Night Alive, American Buffalo,
The Seafarer, Boston Marriage, Ruth Draper Monologues and Slowgirl
(Geffen); November, Other Desert Cities (Taper); Throw Me on a
Burnpile..., Forever (Kirk Douglas); Happy Days (Boston Court). NY:
Through a Glass Darkly, Storefront Church, The Intelligent Design of
Jenny Chow (Atlantic Theater Company); Adding Machine (Minetta
Lane). Regional: Alley, American Players Theatre, Dallas Theater Center,
Goodman Theatre, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, The Old Globe,
Steppenwolf, Yale Rep. Mr. Kata has won an Obie Award and has been
nominated for Drama Desk, Ovation and Barrymore awards. He is an
Assistant Professor at USC, School of Dramatic Arts.
BABAK TAFTI, Babur
played “Saeed” in La Jolla Playhouse’s recent production
of Blood and Gifts. His New York credits include: The
Bachelors (Rattlestick); Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova);
The North Pool (Vineyard Theatre) and The In-Between
(Noor Theatre). Regional credits include Scorched (ACT);
The North Pool and Much Ado About Nothing (Barrington Stage);
O.P.C. (ART); Arabian Nights and The Winter’s Tale (Hudson Valley
Shakespeare Festival). His television appearances include: Blue Bloods,
Nurse Jackie and Orange Is the New Black. He received his M.F.A. at
Yale School of Drama.
TOM ONTIVEROS, Lighting Designer
La Jolla Playhouse: Most Wanted. He is currently designing pe-Lo–ta
for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, @thespeedofJake for Playwrights’
Arena and They Don’t Talk Back for Native Voices. Other credits include:
Seven Spots on the Sun, Shiv, My Barking Dog and Happy Days (Boston
Court); Completeness (nominated for Best Lighting Design – Ovation and
Ticket Holders Awards); Figaro ¡90210! (LA Opera); The Exonerated (NYC
premiere); The Tune In Festival (Park Avenue Armory); Schick Machine
(Hong Kong Cultural Centre); Garden of Deadly Sound (Hungarian
National Theatre Festival); Slide (Ojai Music Festival); Enemy Slayer
(Phoenix Symphony); Fast Company and Motherf**ker with the Hat
(South Coast Rep). He is an Assistant Professor at USC.
RAJIV JOSEPH, Playwright
Mr. Joseph's plays include Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (a 2010
finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), Gruesome Playground Injuries, Animals
Out of Paper, The North Pool, The Lake Effect and Mr. Wolf. He is
the librettist and co-lyricist for the musical Fly. Joseph also wrote for
the Showtime series Nurse Jackie for its third and fourth seasons and
was the co-screenwriter of the film Draft Day, which was released last
year, starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner. Mr. Joseph received
his B.A. in Creative Writing from Miami University and his M.F.A. in
Playwriting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He served for three
years in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa.
JAIME CASTAÑEDA, Director
is currently the Associate Artistic Director at La Jolla Playhouse. Credits
include: The Royale (American Theater Company); The Royal Society of
Antarctica (Portland Center Stage JAW festival); The Elaborate Entrance
of Chad Deity (Dallas Theater Center); Chimichangas and Zoloft (Atlantic
Theater Company); How We Got On (Cleveland Play House); Welcome
to Arroyo’s (The Old Globe); Red Light Winter (Perseverance Theatre);
The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Kitchen Dog Theater); A Funny Thing
Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (Stella Adler); Biggest A**hole Ever Born
(INTAR); Timberbrit (Ontological-Hysteric Theater); This Is How It Goes
(Amphibian Stage Productions); Sonnets for an Old Century (FireStarter
Productions). He has developed new plays with the O’Neill, Rattlestick
Theater, Space on Ryder Farm, Summer Play Festival, The Kennedy
Center and the Atlantic Theater Company, where he spent five seasons
as Artistic Associate. Mr. Castañeda is a Drama League fellow, has
received the Princess Grace Award and the TCG New Generations Grant.
He received his M.F.A. in Directing from University of Texas at Austin.
SUE MAKKOO, Costume Designer
Ms. Makkoo is very excited to finally be making her La Jolla Playhouse
debut as a Costume Designer. She is honored to have spent 11 years
at the Playhouse developing new work for the stage as the Costume
Director. Other regional design work includes: As You Like It, Twelfth
Night, Julius Caesar, Taming of the Shrew (Kentucky Shakespeare); What
Women Want, Dracula (Center in Vancouver); Measure for Measure,
Machinal, Trip to Bountiful, Romeo and Juliet, and so many more. Love
to Addy, Harry and Noah.
CRICKET S. MYERS, Sound Designer
La Jolla Playhouse: Sideways, The Nightingale. On Broadway, she
earned a Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk Award for her
design of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Off-Broadway designs
include The Marvelous Wonderettes. She has also designed regionally
at The Ahmanson, The Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Rep, Arena Stage,
South Coast Rep, The Kirk Douglas Theater, Pasadena Playhouse
and the Geffen Theater. Other selected LA designs include NoHo
Arts Center, Ghost Road Theater Company, The Celebration Theater,
Ford Amphitheater, The Colony Theatre and Circle X. She has earned
17 Ovation nominations, as well as winning The Kinetic Award for
Outstanding Achievements in Theatrical Design, an LADCC and a
Garland Award. www.cricketsmyers.com
STEVE RANKIN, Fight Director
La Jolla Playhouse: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Yoshimi Battles the
Pink Robots; Bonnie & Clyde; Memphis; The Farnsworth Invention; The
Wiz; Zhivago; Palm Beach; Jersey Boys; Dracula, The Musical; The Who’s
Tommy; Elmer Gantry; The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. Broadway:
Doctor Zhivago; Memphis; Bonnie & Clyde; Guys and Dolls; The
Farnsworth Invention; Jersey Boys; Dracula; Henry IV, Parts I and II; The
Who’s Tommy; Twelfth Night; Two Shakespearean Actors; Getting Away
with Murder; Anna Christie. Off-Broadway: The Third Story, Pig Farm,
The Real Inspector Hound, The Night Hank Williams Died and Below
the Belt. Stratford Shakespeare Festival: Romeo and Juliet, Caesar and
Cleopatra, Macbeth and Henry V. Metropolitan Opera: Rodelinda, Boris
Godenov, Faust and Iphegenie at Tauride. Hartford Stage: Rear Window.
Mr. Rankin plays mandolin with the New Folk Artist Susie Glaze and the
HiLonesome Band.
THE COMPANY
GABRIEL GREENE, Dramaturg
joined La Jolla Playhouse’s artistic staff in 2007, and currently serves
as their Director of New Play Development. In addition to curating
and producing the Playhouse’s annual DNA New Work Series, he has
dramaturged nearly twenty new plays and musicals for the Playhouse,
including Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin, Robert
Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez's Up Here, The Darrell Hammond
Project, Sheri Wilner’s Kingdom City, Herbert Siguenza’s El Henry, Ayad
Akhtar’s The Who & The What, Des McAnuff and The Flaming Lips’
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar
(Off-Broadway transfer; OBIE Award) and Joe DiPietro and David Bryan’s
Memphis (Broadway transfer; four Tony Awards). Other dramaturgy:
UCSD’s Wagner New Play Festival (eight years), Steppenwolf, Playwrights
Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, South Coast Rep’s Pacific
Playwrights Festival and TimeLine Theatre, among others. He is a
graduate of University of Michigan and Trinity College, Dublin.
TELSEY & CO.; KAREN CASL, C.S.A., Casting
La Jolla Playhouse: Blueprints to Freedom, Come From Away, Chasing
the Song, Hands on a Hardbody, Blood and Gifts, Glengarry Glen Ross,
Milk Like Sugar, Little Miss Sunshine, Limelight, Bonnie & Clyde, 33
Variations and Memphis, among others. Broadway/Tours: Fiddler on the
Roof, The Color Purple, Allegiance, On Your Feet!, Hamilton, Something
Rotten!, An American in Paris, Finding Neverland, The King and I, Hand
to God, Kinky Boots, Wicked, If/Then, The Sound of Music, Newsies,
Pippin, Motown, Rock of Ages, Million Dollar Quartet. Off-Broadway:
New York Spring Spectacular, Atlantic, MCC, Second Stage, Signature.
Regional: A.R.T., Goodspeed, New York Stage and Film, Paper Mill,
Williamstown. Film: Fun House, Ithaca, The Intern, Ricki and the Flash,
Focus, The Last Five Years, Song One, A Most Violent Year, Into the
Woods. TV: Flesh and Bone, Peter Pan Live!, Penny Dreadful, Masters of
Sex, commercials. www.telseyandco.com
ANNETTE ELENA NIXON, Production Stage Manager
La Jolla Playhouse: Salsalandia (Assistant Stage Manager), Peter and the
Starcatchers, Tobacco Road. The Old Globe: Full Gallop, Ken Ludwig’s
Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Arms and the Man, The Royale,
Quartet, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Few, Pygmalion,
God of Carnage, Anna Christie, Groundswell and the 2010 production
of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Her other Globe credits
include A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Dr. Seuss’ How
the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2011-2014), Boeing-Boeing, The First
Wives Club, Opus, Dancing in the Dark, Hay Fever and the Summer
Shakespeare Festivals 2008 and 2010-2013.
KENDRA STOCKTON, Assistant Stage Manager
Ms. Stockton has previously assistant stage managed The Orphan of
Zhao, The Who & The What (La Jolla Playhouse); White Snake, Bright Star
and Dog and Pony (Old Globe Theatre). Additional Production Assistant
credits include: Come From Away, The Darrell Hammond Project,
Sideways, Memphis (La Jolla Playhouse); The Few, 2013 Shakespeare
Festival (The Old Globe). She also stage managed San Diego Musical
Theatre's production of White Christmas and Lamb’s Players Theatre’s
production of MiXtape.
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE
IS A PROUD PARTICIPANT
HAVE A PLAY DATE!
FEBRUARY 22 – 28, 2016
SanDiegoTheatreWeek.com
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE LEADERSHIP
CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY, Artistic Director
has served as Artistic Director at La Jolla Playhouse since
2007. During his tenure, he helmed the world premieres of
Come From Away, The Darrell Hammond Project, Claudia
Shear’s Restoration and Arthur Kopit and Anton Dudley’s A
Dram of Drummhicit, as well as John Guare’s adaptation of
His Girl Friday, Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, and the musicals Xanadu and Memphis, which went on
to Broadway, winning four 2010 Tony Awards including Best Musical. In
addition, he spearheaded the Playhouse’s Without Walls site-specific theatre
series, the Resident Theatre program and the DNA New Work Series. Prior
to joining the Playhouse, Mr. Ashley directed the Broadway productions
of Xanadu (Drama Desk nomination), All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror
Show (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), as
well as The Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration productions of Merrily
We Roll Along and Sweeney Todd (Helen Hayes Award for Direction). Other
New York credits include: Leap of Faith, Blown Sideways Through Life,
Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and OBIE Awards), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told,
Valhalla, Regrets Only, Wonder of the World, Bunny Bunny, Communicating
Doors, The Night Hank Williams Died and Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel
Award). He also directed the feature films Jeffrey, Blown Sideways Through
Life for PBS, and Lucky Stiff, released July 2015. Mr. Ashley is the recipient
of the Princess Grace Award, the Drama League Director Fellowship and an
NEA/TCG Director Fellowship.
DEBBY BUCHHOLZ, General Manager
has served as general manager of La Jolla Playhouse
since 2002. She is the Secretary of the League of Resident
Theaters (LORT) and a member of its Executive Committee.
In 2009, she received a San Diego Women Who Mean
Business Award from The San Diego Business Journal.
Previously she served as Counsel to The John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington,
D.C. She was a faculty member of the Smithsonian Institution’s program
on Legal Problems of Museum Administration. Prior to The Kennedy
Center, she served as a corporate attorney in New York City and
Washington, D.C. She is a graduate of UC San Diego and Harvard Law
School. Ms. Buchholz and her husband, noted author and White House
economic policy advisor Todd Buchholz, live in Solana Beach and are the
proud parents of Victoria, Katherine and Alexia.
MICHAEL S. ROSENBERG, Managing Director
has served as the Managing Director of La Jolla Playhouse
since April, 2009. Working in partnership with Artistic
Director Christopher Ashley, he has developed and
produced new work by Ayad Akhtar, Trey Anastasio, Amanda
Green, John Leguizamo, Carey Perloff, Jay Scheib, Herbert
Siguenza, Basil Twist, Michael Benjamin Washington, Sheri Wilner, Doug
Wright and The Flaming Lips. Playhouse collaborations have included
projects with UC San Diego, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego,
The New Children’s Museum, San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego
Rep, Tectonic Theatre Project, the I.D.E.A. District and the cities of
Escondido and Chula Vista. Additionally, he fostered the growth of the
Playhouse’s award-winning Performance Outreach Program (POP) Tour,
achieving the most performances at local schools in Playhouse history.
Previously, Mr. Rosenberg was Co-Founder and Executive Director
of Drama Dept., a New York non-profit theatre company, where he
produced new works by the likes of Douglas Carter Beane, Warren
Leight, Isaac Mizrahi, Paul Rudnick and David & Amy Sedaris. His early
work included stints at The Kennedy Center, Kaiser Permanente, National
Dance Institute and an Atlantic City casino. As a Theatre Communications
Group Board member, he is proud to be on the Global and Diversity &
Inclusion Committees.
DES McANUFF, Director Emeritus
served as La Jolla Playhouse’s Artistic Director from 1983
through 1994, and from 2001 through April, 2007. Under
his leadership, the Playhouse garnered more than 300
awards, including the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional
Theatre. Playhouse to Broadway credits: Jersey Boys (four
Tony Awards); Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays (Tony Award); How to Succeed
in Business Without Really Trying (five Tony nominations); director and
co-author with Pete Townshend on The Who’s Tommy (Tony and Olivier
Awards for Best Director) and Big River (seven Tony Awards), among
others. Film credits: Quills, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, The
Iron Giant (9 Animation Society awards) and Cousin Bette. Recipient of
the Drama League’s 2006 Julia Hansen Award, Mr. McAnuff served as
Artistic Director at Canada’s Stratford Festival from 2007 through 2012.
He recently directed the hit productions of Sideways, Yoshimi Battles the
Pink Robots and Jesus Christ Superstar at the Playhouse.
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PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P9
THE ARCHITECT
PLAYWRIGHT RAJIV JOSEPH AND THE PLAYHOUSE’S
DIRECTOR OF NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT GABRIEL GREENE
TALK ABOUT HOW GUARDS AT THE TAJ WAS BUILT
Gabriel Greene: How did the idea for Guards at the Taj
first come to you?
Rajiv Joseph: The idea came to me a long time ago. Prior
to writing the play, I had been to the Taj Mahal twice,
when I was 10 and then when I was 22. Both times I went
with family; my dad’s from India. I was told of a lot of the
legends and myths that surround the building of the Taj
Mahal and about Shah Jahan, the emperor who built it. I
was always drawn to that place and those stories, so I think
it has been gestating in me for quite some time.
I started writing a different version of the play a long time
ago, but I didn’t like it. It took a while to get there, but
when I finally found my way in to the current mode of
storytelling, it happened fairly quickly.
GG: How did that first false start differ from the current play?
RJ: I started off by writing a play that dealt directly with
the emperor Shah Jahan, the architect Ustad Isa.... It was
a larger, sweeping play that took course over many years,
many generations, and there was a lot of information in
there; it was a big mess. I abandoned it at one point, and
then realized that the only two characters I liked were the
two smallest characters: these two guards. Then I restarted
with that idea in mind.
GG: Once you hit on the conception of a much more
intimate story, did the play continue to evolve throughout the
development process and the first couple of productions?
RJ: Yes, I developed this play through the Lark Play
Development Center in New York, which is where I do most
of my work. I was working in the playwright’s workshop
with the two actors who originated the roles in New York.
As I wrote that play, it started out much different as well;
there was a draft of this play that jumped, like, ten years
forward in time with each scene. As I went back and looked
at it, I shrunk it down and compressed it even more to what
it is now, which is just a few days, really.
GG: One of the more striking things about Guards is the
way in which you blend this centuries-old story with a very
modern parlance and sensibility. How did you decide on
that route?
RJ: Essentially, this is a story about two friends, and the
relationship that they share. When you’re writing about
a different time and culture, you start to embrace the
theatricality of writing a play like this – which is to say,
you’re not writing something realistic. If you’re writing
it realistically, these guys would be speaking Urdu. Well,
you’re not going to write that, so if they’re speaking
English, the question is, “am I writing this in some kind of
dialect, and is that realistic?”
I realized that what I’m really writing is how two guys, two
friends, would talk to each other, so I purposefully used a
modern dialect and cadence. I think that throughout time
and place, friends talk to each other the same way, so we
are just hearing it the way they would be talking. That’s
how it opened up for me.
GG: Over your different visits to the Taj Mahal, has your
perception of it changed based on how old you were or
where you were in your life?
RJ: Yeah, I think so. I’ve seen it three times now, because I
went again when I was 40 [during the writing of Guards].
Every time I see it, it gets better – more astounding in its
grandeur and its beauty. I can’t believe it was made; I still have
no concept of how this thing was built. I don’t know what that
says about getting older or whatever, but it becomes more
unbelievable for me each time I see it. There is no real way of
describing it or overhyping it; it seems immune to that. It’s the
most beautiful man-made thing I have ever seen.
GG: How much did the history of the era influence the
story? Were there things you felt bound to, or could you
grant yourself creative license from the start?
RJ: It was always about creative license for me. I did a
lot of research after I started writing the play. There are
several volumes of these wonderful books by the historian
Abraham Eraly, and I found a few things that came into
my writing a lot. Historical fact played a great deal in the
detailing of the play, but the driving force was my own
fantasy about how it was.
One of the guiding plot points of the play, which I won’t
really get into, is based more in myth than reality. There
are a lot of myths associated with the Taj that are not
necessarily historically accurate, but they linger, as
legends and myths do.
GG: The play smartly juxtaposes this immense, grandiose
structure with two humble, low-level guards, and capitalizes on
the tension created by that dichotomy. How much did you try to
rhyme the action of the play with the issue of income inequality?
RJ: I tend to think of the situation and characters first, and
let them out the gate and see where it takes me. It doesn’t
start with, “I want to write a play about ‘XYZ’ and I want to
do it from the perspective of Mughal guards in India.” It
starts with, “I want to write a play about two Mughal guards
in India at the completion of the Taj Mahal,” and then I find
myself talking about things that are, hopefully, relevant
and important to an audience today.
GG: Another primary juxtaposition in the play is between
the grandeur and mythology of the Taj and the violence
and darkness that lie just underneath its façade. Really, the
darkness that underlies any national narrative or mythology.
RJ: This is a big part of what inspired the play, and when I
was there last year, it really became apparent. When I see
the Taj Mahal – when I see any ancient work of architecture
– what goes through my mind is, “My god, how did they do
this, in that time, without the use of modern engineering?”
And the answer is usually quite simple: they had slaves, or
people who would die working on it, and that would be fine.
There were no laws or restrictions to get in the way of that,
so that opens up a provocative relationship between beauty
and suffering. The idea that you can’t create that kind of
beauty anymore because we’re not willing to let people suffer
for that sort of vision any longer.
THE ILLUMINED TOMB
The rule of Shah Jahan (1592-1666; r. 1627-1658), the fifth Mughal Emperor, was
marked by – among other things – an extravagant ostentation. Through years
of conquest and expansion, the empire that he inherited was extraordinarily
wealthy, and Shah Jahan was not shy about displaying it.
It has been written that he had a different throne for each day of the week,
and one of them – the “Peacock Throne,” built over the course of seven years
to commemorate his ascension – was bedecked with diamonds, emeralds and
other gems, and was ascended via a silver staircase. Royal residences had ceilings
of solid gold; daggers were encrusted with jewels.
Yet nowhere is the wealth and ambition of Shah Jahan’s court more evident
than in the structures he left behind. Characterized by exquisite symmetry and
epic grandeur, Shah Jahan’s forts, palaces and mosques comprise a golden age
of architecture in India. But his finest creation – one of the finest man-made
creations ever – was a tomb.
Shah Jahan had three wives, but Arjumand Banu Begum – whom he married
in 1612 – was his favorite, as shown by the title he gave her: Mumtaz Mahal (or
“Chosen One of the Palace”). They had fourteen children together; in 1631, while
giving birth to the last, a daughter, Mumtaz died.
As legend has it, the emperor entered a two-year period of deep grief. He
went into seclusion. He eschewed his typically flamboyant garments for white
mourning clothes. His beard turned white. And he became consumed with
fulfilling the dying request of his wife: a resting place that resembled paradise.
Over the course of sixteen years, twenty thousand laborers brought Shah Jahan’s
vision to life: an unparalleled monument of sandstone and marble, inlaid with
jewels, inscribed with verses from the Quran, surrounded by four minarets from
which the call to prayer issued. Vast symmetrical gardens separated the domed
building from the gates. The emperor described the Taj Mahal with these words:
“Should guilty seek asylum here,
Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be washed away.
The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has been made;
To display thereby the creator’s glory.”
The Taj Mahal was unveiled in 1648, though additional work continued for
approximately another five years. In 1657, Shah Jahan’s apparently failing health
sparked a power struggle between his four surviving sons. Though the emperor’s
condition improved, the battle was already underway. Through pursuit and
betrayal, Shah Jahan’s son Aurangzeb vanquished his brothers in particularly
bloody fashion, then removed his father from power in 1658. Shah Jahan spent
the last eight years of his life sequestered in his Agra palace, the Red Fort – from
which he had an unobstructed view of the monument to his beloved wife.