A Geekier Direction: Rachel Klein

By Teresa Jusino

Part One

Rachel Klein, geek theater director extraordinaire, is originally from New Mexico, and yet the times I’ve spoken with her – all self-assurance and dark, trendy clothing – she seems more “New York” than I do, and I’m a native. So, it was only appropriate that we meet for an interview at the Waverly Diner in Greenwich Village to discuss how she is inspired by b-movies and genre literature, as well as her penchant for glitter, suspenders, and go-go girls.

I’d seen two of her shows before. The first, which I reviewed here on Pink Raygun, was Go-Go Killers, the story of a group of gang debs set in a world overrun by crime. The second was Hound, a retelling of the Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles as a vaudevillian farce. It doesn’t get much more different than go-go outfits and Victorian manners, and yet what the productions have in common is Klein’s command of movement and her singular fashion sense, at once modern and completely period. She also tends toward really geeky material. B-movies? Sherlock Holmes? Even her Halloween show, Stage Blood Is Never Enough, which opens today, is a series of vignettes inspired by 80’s horror movies, mostly written by playwright Sean Gill (Go-Go Killers), who Klein describes as “kind of like a low budget David Lynch meets….Argento. That’s it! He’s very visionary.” So, what’s the deal with her obsession with genre fare?

“I just think if you can be dark and fun at the same time, and figure out what that balance is, that’s a really amazing thing to watch when it’s done correctly. What appeals to me about these b-movies is…because they’re so sincere and their heart is in the right place, and at the time when they were making it you can tell that they mean every word of it, but you’re like Oh, God when you watch…I just think if I can use elements of that – the camp, fun, craziness – and blend it with this kind of dark undertone, that there’s something very appealing about that. Hopefully, they don’t clash. Hopefully, everything kind of works together. That’s my goal with it.”

Klein seems heartened by the increase of geekier theater options, and believes that they just might save live theater.

“We live in time when theater audiences are dwindling down, and if you want to talk about a generic theater term [like] “psychological realism”, let’s talk about that for a second. That appeals to theater people and theater people only. I feel like high school field trips ruined theater for people. If you saw a community theater production of Grease when you were 15, you probably hate theater….unless that really appealed to you, and then you loved musical theater. Or if you saw a bad production of a Shakespeare play…and it’s not Shakespeare’s fault, these productions, but once they see them they’re like “Theater’s boring. Theater’s long-winded” and I think that now, because we live in an age of freebie technology and TV, and movies on YouTube…there’s so much cultural reference. Like The Toxic Avenger, like Evil Dead: The Musical, these kind of things…yes, theater people and musical people, they come, but these shows aren’t successful because of them. They’re successful because of the audience that loves the movies and loves the comic books and loves all of that, and they’re like OH MY GOD! I GET TO SEE IT LIVE! And they’re so enthused about it.

I remember when I went to see Evil Dead: The Musical, I couldn’t get blood seats! The first two rows – it’s like a Gallagher show – the first two rows, the tickets are actually cheaper, but you have to wear a plastic sheet because all the blood spatters on you. You know, the snooty theater people don’t want to sit in the front row and get blood shot on ‘em! It’s the superfans that are screaming all the lines along with the Bruce Campbell character, and the whole audience erupts when he gets the chainsaw hand. That’s not theater people there doing that. So, I think it’s fantastic to get non-theater people in that theater. Any way you can do that, that’s great.”

The conversation about geek theater progressed, and I brought up the fact that her production of Hound seemed like a very steampunk play. Not only was it an adaptation of a veddy, veddy Victorian novel, but the look of the show: corsets and suspenders – most of which was grabbed from Klein’s closet – had a very steampunk feel. However, when I asked her if that was a conscious choice, she admitted to never having heard of steampunk. I explained it to the best of my ability – though I admittedly don’t understand it very well myself – and she was immediately intrigued: “I’m so happy that there’s subcultures emerging that I’ve never heard of! That’s fantastic! Because I’m so disappointed with our generation, that there’s nothing…so if they’re inventing things, great! That makes me happy.”

Costuming, in addition to movement, seems to be Klein’s M.O., and she brings a lot of her personal taste in attire to her shows, never allowing something as common as denim on stage. As she puts it, “If you ever need to do a circus/ballet/vaudeville show, I’ve got it all! Or a go-go show…I now have 15 pairs of fluorescent colored go-go boots.” This love of theatrical costuming started early. Klein directed her first production in high school, when she was 17, and she got into a bit of trouble with a teacher, not to mention her parents, because of her uncompromising vision.

“I went to the theater teacher saying ‘We need some costumes’, and he turned around and made an example out of me in class. He’s like ‘Oh Rachel thinks she needs costumes for her show. Rachel thinks that her show is more important than anything the rest of us need…’ And I was mortified. So I’m like, ‘OK…’ I know how to sew, and I went to the thrift store and the fabric store and got some spray paint and fabric and vintage dresses. And I just didn’t sleep at night. I remember I was 17 and my parents would be like ‘You have to go to sleep.’ And then I’d pretend to go to sleep….and I would sneak down – you know instead of sneaking out of the house like a teen rebel – I’d sneak down to make my costumes. And my costumes were awesome. They were so good! From that point forward I was like this is what I should be doing. I should be creating art.”

Stage Blood Is Never Enough opens tonight at The Duplex in NYC, and it promises to be fun, entertaining Halloween fare. According to Klein, “I’m a big fan of representing blood with, like, red glitter. And theaters love that, when you throw glitter all over their stage. That’s their favorite thing!” It may not make the theaters happy, but I happen to love the image of a glittery bloodbath!

TERESA JUSINO was born on the same day that Skylab fell. Coincidence? She doesn’t think so. As a writer, her work has appeared in Elmont Life newspaper, and on the sadly defunct website, CentralBooking.com. She is a founding member and editor of The Revolving Door Commune Blog, is currently at work on a collection of short stories, and is writing a web series for Pareidolia Films called The Pack, which is set to debut this fall! As a geek, Teresa loves all Star Trek, Lost, Fringe, comics, and anything Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, and Neil Gaiman ever touched. She is also an aspiring fangbanger. Get Twitterpated with Teresa, or visit her in The Red Room.

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