Written by Loela Dickey
Paige Rogers is a director and actor who recently visited Whitman to direct Harper Joy Theatre’s production of Rhinoceros, written by Eugène Ionesco. For our guest-artist interview series, I asked Paige some questions about her education, career, and experience as a guest director at Whitman.
Paige discovered her passion for theater early in life. At ages 13 and 14, she attended traditional school half the day and the Children’s Theatre School of Minneapolis half the day. As a high school senior embarking on her college search, Paige flew alone from her home city of Minneapolis, to Chicago to audition for Julliard. After presenting two monologues, the auditors were impressed with her audition and told her they would consider her for a class. However, they wanted to ask her one important question before continuing with the admittance process, “‘Can you truly be happy in a BFA program, focusing only and exclusively on studying acting?’” Though she was ecstatic to receive positive feedback for her audition, upon hearing this question, she says, “I’m sure my face drained of blood.” At that moment, she realized that how important a liberal arts education was to her. She says, “I wanted to study English and I wanted to take classes that hadn’t been offered at my very average public high school and I wanted to go on school excursions and live in a dorm with Biology and Engineering majors and just be a typical undergraduate.”
Deciding not to enter the program, she studied English at Princeton University. After graduating, she gained professional theater training at the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. Since then, she has directed and acted in numerous theater productions and, in 1999, she and her husband co-founded Cutting Ball Theatre in San Francisco. There, they once produced three Ionesco plays in a five-year period, allowing Paige to become well-acquainted with Ionesco’s work and develop a strong understanding of what constitutes a successful production of his plays. In addition, she has played Mrs. Smith in Ionesco’s Bald Soprano, in two separate productions.
Reflecting on her experience directing Rhinoceros, Paige gave nothing but acclamation for the students involved in the production, affirming, “the piece is difficult, even with a professional cast, so I’m super proud of the Whitman students and the way that they tackled the work with energy and intelligence” adding, “They totally pulled it off!” She continues by explaining that Ionesco’s plays can be particularly challenging as they “contain a specific kind of absurdity and the success or failure of delivering the underlying message is often dependent on a combination of rhythm and commitment.” She says, “It’s important not to aim for the laugh but to play the scene seriously, all without over-dramatizing the events. That is tricky.”
She points out that “What Ionesco is trying to get across is not apparent after the first read, at least not in the 21st century,” noting that she was glad to have worked on and seen several of Ionesco’s plays prior to directing Rhinoceros. Furthermore, she notes that she was grateful to have a “strong, non-realistic set” which was designed by Dan Schindler, explaining, “the set was important as it allowed the audience and especially the actors to understand that their environment was not literal.” She continues, “As a result, the actors had some freedom to veer away from naturalistic acting.” Echoing her praise for Whitman’s students, she says, “Because the cast and stage managers had read the play thoroughly, thanks to Dr. Hope’s required preparation, they came in with ideas and questions from the beginning of rehearsals and, as a result, the show felt like a real collaboration.” The production of Rhinoceros has finished, but we hope for Paige to return soon for future productions!