{"id":831,"date":"2013-10-23T14:42:23","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T14:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/?p=831"},"modified":"2014-11-14T23:55:16","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T23:55:16","slug":"a-fiendish-conversation-with-azeotropes-desdemona-chiang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/a-fiendish-conversation-with-azeotropes-desdemona-chiang\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Met: A Fiendish Conversation with Azeotrope’s Desdemona Chiang"},"content":{"rendered":"
The co-founder and director of the edgy theater company talks about\u00a0Red Light Winter<\/em>\u00a0and25 Saints<\/em>\u00a0at ACT and embracing ugly theater.<\/h5>\n

by Seth Sommerfeld<\/p>\n

Gutsy upstart theater company Azeotrope made waves last year with\u00a0Jesus Hopped the \u2018A\u2019 Train<\/em>, which earned the Gregory Award as the best production in Washington. The company returns to the ACT stage with two shows\u2014Red Light Winter<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a025 Saints\u2014<\/em>starting October 23.\u00a0Red Light Winter<\/em>follows a friendship that unravels when a trip to the Netherlands sparks a love triangle with a prostitute.\u00a025 Saints<\/em>\u00a0revolves around two Appalachian meth dealers hunted by crooked cops. Azeotrope, which debuted with a 2010 production of\u00a0Red Light Winter<\/em>, was co-founded by UW grads Desdemona Chiang and Richard Nguyen Sloniker and operates with a very loose model. Basically, the two only put on a play when they feel like it. If that means a year with no shows, so be it. As a result, any Azeotrope production carries a bit of extra weight, as audiences know the show wasn’t put on to merely to fill a calendar slot.<\/p>\n

For our latest\u00a0Fiendish Conversation<\/a>, we chatted with Chiang\u2014who also acts as the director for Azeotrope productions\u2014about the two shows at ACT, exploring theater’s ugly side, and gynecology.<\/p>\n

What are the elements of\u00a0Red Light Winter<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a025 Saints<\/em>\u00a0that really have you excited?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our company is really interested in doing plays about underrepresented people. So we\u2019re really excited about\u00a0Red Light Winter<\/em>\u00a0because it focuses on a kind of urban isolation that exists in people in New York City, and how people in really urban places struggle to connect. And then\u00a025 Saints<\/em>, it\u2019s about these kind of forgotten people who live in Appalachia; people who are out in the middle of nowhere, trying to survive. The rest of the country tends to ignore them and not care about them very much. So both plays have this sense of being separate from the world, whether it\u2019s out of a sense of willful isolationism or being neglected by others. That\u2019s something we\u2019re really interested in with both these pieces.<\/p>\n

What do you feel are the defining characteristics that set Azeotrope apart from the rest of the Seattle theater scene?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The joke we kind of make is that we do the plays that other folks are afraid to do. It\u2019s so funny; every play we announce we\u2019re doing and then I feel like I talk to all these other directors and they\u2019re like, \u201cOh my god! I love that play!\u201d And my response is, how come no one\u2019s doing that play? If everyone loves that play, why is no one chomping at the bit? So Azeotrope likes to look at work that\u2019s not just daring and risky, but kind of ugly. Like, uncomfortable. It\u2019s stuff that doesn\u2019t really appeal to a lot of regular theatergoers because it\u2019s not the safest kind of work, whether it\u2019s because it\u2019s just too dark for regular consumption or it\u2019s because there\u2019s naked people doing really perverse things. But this is part of being alive – the ugly bits.<\/p>\n

Since Azeotrope is still relatively new, what was your reaction when\u00a0Jesus Hopped on the \u2018A\u2019 Train<\/em>\u00a0won the Gregory Award?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was really exciting! It was definitely a big shock for us, because it was kind of us at the adult\u2019s table. It was really flattering to be in the same category as ACT and the Rep. If anything, it\u2019s just fuel for the fire to keep doing the good work. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s any indication that we\u2019re done doing what we do; we\u2019re still small, we\u2019re still scrappy.<\/p>\n

How do you feel like Seattle has influenced your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I feel like Seattle\u2019s been the most receptive to me. I think it\u2019s because it\u2019s where I cut my teeth, in a way, because I spent my years as a grad student (at UW). It\u2019s the place where I feel the most welcome, as a director. Even now, with Azeotrope going where it\u2019s going, there\u2019s enough activity to where I can feel like the work I do makes an impact.<\/p>\n

What are your general feelings towards critics and the role they play?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think critics are necessary because people need some kind of vouching for shows. You need a critic there because people don\u2019t want to throw down 40 bucks for something they\u2019re not sure about. Here\u2019s the thing: I would be so for the critics if their reviews didn\u2019t affect my box office. The unfortunate thing is that a critic\u2019s opinion is just one opinion. I just think we need more of them out there, so it\u2019s not just three people who have an oligarchy over what\u2019s good and what\u2019s bad. If there was a Yelp for theater, that\u2019d be great; a fuller, more realized ecosystem of reviews.<\/p>\n

If you weren\u2019t a director is there any other line of work you think you might\u2019ve pursued?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can totally say this without a doubt, if I was not directing theater I would\u2019ve been a gynecologist. I was actually on the path to being a doctor when I was an undergrad at UC Berkeley. I actually have a degree in human biology. My first semester freshman year I had to take an arts elective, which is a requirement that science kids have to do. So I took the easiest class I could take, which was this class called Intro to Acting. And everyone said \u2018This is the easiest A, just take it, it\u2019ll guarantee you to go to med school because it\u2019s an A on your report card.\u2019 So I took that class and that\u2019s how I started doing theater. Had I never taken that class, I would\u2019ve just gone through, gotten my degree in biology, gone to med school, and I would be a doctor somewhere. I start obsessing sometimes when I think about it. I\u2019m like, “Awww man, I could be a doctor somewhere! I\u2019m a theater director!\u2019<\/p>\n

Red Light Winter and 25 Saints<\/a>
\nOct 23\u2013Nov 24, ACT Theatre, $30<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.seattlemet.com\/arts-and-entertainment\/culture-fiend\/articles\/a-fiendish-conversation-with-azeotropes-desdemona-chiang-october-2013<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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