6 QUESTIONS: Alice Reagan

Director Alice Reagan chats about her latest project, Chiori Miyagawa's  I CAME TO LOOK FOR YOU ON TUESDAY, opening September 26th at La MaMa's First Floor Theater.

1. How did this project come to you?

My friend and colleague Chiori Miyagawa asked me to have tea with her in May, 2011. She said that in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March that she wanted to write a play about reunion. Interestingly, she didn't want to start with a script, but by gathering actors together to work on great reunion scenes by dead playwrights. So we did that: Shakespeare, Ibsen, Pinter, Chekhov, some Greeks... We made discoveries about how reunions function on stage, their characteristics, their surprises. We started there.

2. Have you learned anything from creating this show?

So much! Chiori is wonderful at gathering people together, and I have had the priviledge of working with many talented actors in the workshops we have had over the past two years at New Dramatists.

3. How does working on a new play differ than working on an existing text?

Well, there's the playwright! It's of course exciting to be part of the first group of artists to put a script on its feet, but in this case, many of the artists have been with the play for literally years. I feel this is a "reunion family," with a common history, and common goal, to bring I Came to Look for You on Tuesday to the audiences at La MaMa.

4. When did you know that you would that you wanted a career in the arts?

Always. I just didn't always know it was a possibility.

5. Who has inspired you?

My collaborators, first and foremost. If I widen the circle, the list would be far too long. We stand on the shoulders of giants.

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?

Dream Come True. I read about Ellen and La MaMa when I was in undergrad, far from New York City. East 4th Street might as well have been another planet, it seemed that far away and that hard to get to. Now that I'm here, rehearsing and getting ready to step in to tech, I find the buildings vibrate with stories, people, events from the past. It feels so right to have Chiori's play premiere here. We are reuniting with our own theatre history.

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I Came to Look for You on Tuesday
Written by Chiori Miyagawa
Directed by Alice Reagan

with
Alexis Camins*
Ugo Chukwu*
Amir Darvish*
Rachael Holmes*
Susan Hyon*
McKenna Kerrigan*
Meg MacCary*
Jens Rasmussen*

*Appearing Courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.

September 26 – October 13, 2013

La MaMa, ETC - First Floor Theatre
74A East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults; $15 Students/Seniors; A limited number of $10 tickets are available for each performance, in advance, as part of La MaMa's new 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative

For Tickets and Info: Click Here