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“We don’t let the other one get away with anything. We challenge each other to be all that we can be.” Husband and wife team Jud and Christa of Theatre East |
The Booths, The Barrymores, The Lunts, … The Joneses? Theatrical dynasties often start with a pair of talented people who fall in love. Add drive and ambition and you’ve got potential history in the making. On the eve of their premiere production of Tim Blake Nelson’s Eye of God United Stages talked with Christa Kimlicko Jones and Judson Jones about their new company, Theatre East.
Hey congratulations you guys, on your new company, Theatre East! What inspired you to team up and make theater together?
Christa: Oh wow…well, honestly, if I really think back to the first time there was an impulse to put up a show, it was back in Tyler, TX, when we first got married (1997), even though we didn’t actually produce something until we moved to Austin. We didn’t think about whether or not we’d work well together.
Judson: Well, we originally produced our first show together in ’99 in an actual barn outside of Austin, Texas. It was a reconsideration of O’Neill’s Desire under the Elms. We didn’t know we were really starting something; it was simply something we wanted to do.
Christa: We had been in college together and worked well…best friends for years before. We had similar goals.
Judson: Desire under the Elms was a huge success and people started telling us to continue…so we, along with four other artists, formed the dirigo group and produced eight more shows over the next five years in Austin.
Christa: Wait. Actually, our wedding was our first production. And it was indeed a production. And how creative we were on a shoestring budget!
Judson: When we moved to New York we really felt like our days of producing were behind us. But in 2004 through a turn of events, the artistic director of Alchemy Theatre Company, Bob Saxner, asked us to come on board as associate directors. Over the next three years we would produce the premiere of Christopher Durang’s The Vietnamization of New Jersey and the premiere of David Crawford’s Harvest. Then, once again through another turn of events, we departed from Alchemy and really pondered whether or not we wanted to continue producing. The short answer? We put good people together. And we enjoy putting good people together.
Christa: What really inspired us, though…. I think the desire to do and experience something challenging. Challenging for ourselves. And challenging to our audience, which, interestingly, has stuck with us through the years. The same sort of need sparked us to produce in Austin and start a company there. And has truly sparked us in NYC as well.
Christa and Jud with playwright Christopher Durang at their premiere of The Vietnamization of New Jersey
What’s the biggest challenge of producing theatre in NYC?
Christa: Probably fundraising.
Judson: Is finding financial backing too short of an answer or just too obvious?
Christa: But that’s everywhere. Just more to raise in the city because it’s more expensive.
Judson: Theater rentals in NYC have a tendency to inflate budgets making it very difficult to put shows up. Keeping ticket prices affordable, and at the same time making rent and paying those involved competitively, can definitely be a struggle. At times it can feel like we’re serving two masters. Yes, as a non-profit we serve the public by making theater affordable and accessible to everyone, but we also have an obligation to artists in our community and know they deserve to be compensated, and compensated well.
Christa: Getting audiences is a challenge, and a very special situation in NYC. There are so many other things to do and see. We are always so incredibly thankful for those that choose to come to see our shows and, because of that, feel it important that a company member is always around at the front of house to greet our patrons. We strive for a true community experience. Aren’t we all? Oh, and another challenge: not having a truck to bring stuff to the theater.
How does being married affect the dynamics of working creatively together?
Christa: We’ve worked together a lot, actually, and really enjoy it.
Judson: While we have similar aesthetics, we don’t always think alike, and that’s something I’m thankful for.
Christa: I think being married is a huge asset. We’re a good team...in marriage and in working creatively together. We’re great at bouncing ideas off of each other.
Judson: We’re both opinionated as hell and are willing to vie for our positions and we can be extremely honest with one another.
Christa: We don’t let the other one get away with anything. We challenge each other to be all that we can be. And, well, yeah…sometimes that can be annoying.
Which of you is the boss of bosses?
Christa: I am. Hee hee. Really, though.
Judson: On paper I’m listed as the artistic director. I say again, on paper I’m listed as the artistic director, and Christa is the associate artistic director.
Christa: Jud has the final say. We set it up that way. And it works great.
Judson: And while it’s not necessarily a democracy, I heed and depend upon her counsel.
Christa: In this particular situation, he has the big picture vision and I am one hell of a soundboard and idea clarifier. I ask lots of questions. And Joseph Parks—
Judson: At times I think Joseph Parks, our associate director, is the boss of both of us; he keeps us on track.
The family that farms together…. The Joneses in David W. Crawford’s Harvest at Theatre Row. Photo by Trevor Oswalt
Tell me about your upcoming show Eye of God. What’s it about?
Judson: Oh goodness, I’ve been trying for over a year to come up with the short answer to that one.
Christa: Eye of God, simply put, is about extreme faith.
Judson: More specifically unswerving: blind faith. We seem to be surrounded by those willing to perpetrate violence on others based on their faith, and as a western culture we tend to look to the east at religious fanaticism without looking at our own here in the United States. We will quickly call a suicide bomber in Baghdad a terrorist, but an abortion clinic bomber or Dr. Tiller’s killer here in the U.S. we call an extremist. It’s a paradigm we’ve built that we’re comfortable with. We’re really hoping with Eye of God to foster a dialogue in hopes that we can find a way to discuss faith.
Christa: I think it’s a love story, actually. People looking for love and acceptance.
Judson: On a contextual level, Eye of God takes place in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and in many ways is a love story, yellow ribbons and all.
What about the play made you have to produce it as your official Theatre East inaugural show?
Judson: Well, we had lived with the play for about a decade and tried to find a home for it. When we were producing in Austin the timing didn’t seem right, and for whatever reason Alchemy wasn’t the right fit, but when looking for our first production, the script kind of flew off the bookshelf at us. It was a very short discussion. Christa played Ainsley in the first fully realized production of Eye of God in undergrad at University of Oklahoma under Lisa Devine’s direction. Lisa went on to direct it again in Chicago where it had a hugely successful Jeff Award-winning run, but it had never been produced in New York. The first thing we did was pick up the phone to call Lisa. She was on board and it was decided. We then reached out to Tim Blake Nelson who worked with Lisa on the OU production and he was on board for the process and all came together. Aside from it being a phenomenal script, we tend to lean towards shows that discuss social injustices and issues. Sadly, since we put Eye of God on the season it’s become even more topical with seemingly fanatical town hall meetings, Dr. Tiller’s assassination, the attack on the Holocaust Museum and the rise of violent militias; we feel that the debate Eye of God brings to the table is desperately needed.
Christa: In a time when extreme faith in our own country is in the news every day, we feel we need to talk about it. At least talk about it. Not sure that we’ll come up with any answers, but maybe, just maybe, together, we’ll find more tolerance.
