Interview: Jason Chanos of 'OF MICE AND MEN' at Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Now directing his first major show for the Kansas City Repertory Theatre is Interim Artistic Director Jason Chanos. Chanos has been the Associate Artistic Director at the Rep since 2015 in addition to teaching acting at UMKC. He holds a BA from the University of Northern Colorado and an MFA from UMKC.

Opening on Friday, October 26 (after a week in previews) is the UMKC/KCRep co-production of Steinbeck's 1937 "Of Mice And Men" at the Copaken Theatre inside the H&R Block Building in downtown Kansas City.

Broadway World had the rare opportunity to speak with Jason, listen to his production style process, and hear many of the steps in bringing this classic of the stage and screen to life in 2018.

Chanos: My career in theater got started after I saw a production of "Of Mice and Men" at my high school. It was the first play I ever saw. It launched my interest. Then I auditioned for a production of "Death Of A Salesman" and got a role. The rest is history.

It is fun to circle back thirty years. There is no way I could have understood Steinbeck's symbolism at age 14, but I did take away a sort of emotional experience that was unique and never before felt. The acting bug bit me.

BWW: John Steinbeck wrote "Of Mice and Men" as both a novella and a play in 1937 during the "Great Depression." People from the most hard hit areas packed up their belongings and struck out for California. Steinbeck's people were already in California.

"Of Mice And Men" chronicles a story from Steinbeck's home area of Salinas California. Salinas is a breadbasket agricultural area midway between Monterey and Watsonville.

Steinbeck's father served as the treasurer of Monterey County and prospered enough to support his adult son's writing habit. The world these characters inhabit is the world Steinbeck grew up around. Please explain a bit of the story.

Chanos: The plot centers around two long-term companions. George and Lennie are migrant farm workers. George Milton is bright, if uneducated, guy. Lennie Small is a big, strapping man, but also a sufferer from mental disability. Lennie's language skills imply that he has the vocabulary of a five or six year old. The other characters refer to him as "nuts and crazy."

This world does not have a lot of tolerance for people like Lennie. He does not relate to people in ordinary ways. George and Lennie are on the run from their last job. Lennie's behavior has caused them to flee their last employment before they are caught, punished, or even killed.

George has promised Lennie's Aunt that he will look out for the big guy, but Lennie is a liability. They must find new jobs, and embrace a new reality. They must figure out how to survive in a world hostile to mental illness.

BWW: What would you like the audience to prepare before they see the KC Rep production of "Of Mice And Men?"

Chanos: "Of Mice And Men" recalls an Interesting time period from the "Great Depression" of the 1930s. Steinbeck managed to pluck from his world a disenfranchised group. This world was inspired by the playwright's own experiences. He shows us how prejudice and intolerance can bounce off each of his characters in a specific personified way.

These are high concepts. The symbolism Steinbeck uses and the allegorical message that he has crafted may require an audience to see the play and experience the emotional impact of the playwright's ideas. I think seeing the characters on stage deal with the questions that Steinbeck poses are beyond what could be thought academic or conceptual. The audience should feel how these circumstances impact these particular characters.

BWW: How do you prepare to direct this kind of huge project?

Chanos: In the beginning, I leaned a lot on my dramaturg, Calan Welder, so that I could get a grasp of what that part of the country was really like in that time period. I learned what the regional language from the play really meant...how they dressed...what the circumstances were... what the money exchange was...so I launched myself into the world of the characters. Then it came down to understanding the individual eccentricities of each character... What do they represent? What is their purpose in the overall telling of the story?

Then the team got the actors on their feet and staged some initial stuff. I'm very collaborative. We don't spend a lot of time doing table reads, but there are a lot of ideas being generated during the early stages from me, from my assistant director, and from a lot from the actors. We find out about the physical lives of the characters.

We got into the text for a basic understanding but quickly learned that the text takes on different shades of meaning reality when you put your text study into actor's own bodies. The team spent a lot of time learning about the individual qualities of these people. How do the other various actors react visually with each other? What do those reactions say?

As a director, you dance a fine line. You want to read between the lines in dialogue being said by characters and yet be cautious for what may be misinterpretation. It is important to allow the actors the freedom to answer most character questions for themselves.

Having been an actor, I lead actors into the process I've learned. I hope this has provided a doorway into story and allows for their self-discovery of their character arcs as rehearsals progress.

BWW: How will this production significantly vary from the 1937 stage production?

Chanos: The X factor in reviving classic theater is always the actors. Is this character or another driven by story and in what way. I allow the actors room to explore the characters and flesh them with as little interference a possible.

I would imagine that in 1937 when the play was originally produced there was kind of a heightened, theatrical style to it. I'm not putting any high concepts into the play design.

The physical design is simple, hopefully effective, while being unobtrusive within the Copaken space we have to work with. I have not turn our backs on the 1937 style, but we attempted to add a more modernistic and realistic mode to the performances.
The goal is to create more real moment-to-moment stuff that justifies the epic-ness of the piece.

The beauty of Steinbeck is that he was one of the few voices at the time that criticized American values. As our businesses have evolved, consideration for the disenfranchised among us has become almost non-existent. Steinbeck drags the disenfranchised among us back into the light and proclaims, "We can't forget about these people."

Steinbeck was very progressive and very controversial by pointing all this out in 1937.

BWW: Tell me about your support team.

Chanos: Our scene setting is suggestive rather than realistic mainly due to the size of the space. The scenic designer, Jack McGraw, is a genius in using the limited spaces. He has done a wonderful job with "Of Mice And Men." Walls do not surround the stage. They are instead minimalist suggestions with some realistic elements melded in. The audience is not going need much effort to understand stage geography.

Musical composer is Kevin Connelly. He creates a farm, environment that honors the sounds of the farm, and of the Pacific agri-area. Kevin has composed transitions between the scenes and helps set the entire mood for the piece.

Lighting is designed by Jeffrey Cady. Jeff and I go all the way back to graduate school together. I've never been in a position where I'm the director and he has been the designer. This project has been really fun for me because Jeff has a very specific and eclectic way of telling a story through light. Merging the lighting with the set and the music has created a very theatrical and yet very intimate audience experience.

Our Costume designer is UMKC Graduate student Maria Nieto. Assistant Director is Kim Martin-Cotton. Kelsey Brennen York is the stage manager.

Because "Of Mice And Men" is a coproduction with UMKC, all departments and directors will have a student assistant in their departments.

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Jason Chanos is an interesting guy, thoughtful, introspective, and collaborative for this Steinbeck classic. He is also a cooperative and pleasant interviewee. We wish him well with this production and for many yet to be announced into the future.

Tickets for "Of Mice And Men" are available online at www.kcrep.org, at the KC Rep box office, or by telephone at 816-235-2700.

Photos courtesy of Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Cory Weaver.