AJ as Jimmy

Casting AJ as Jimmy was not necessarily the result of snap judgement; rather, I cast AJ because I knew that, physically, he is a skilled performer, and would be able to draw heavily from his background in dance for some of the scenes involving intricate blocking and choreography, and I conjectured that he might relate to certain themes within the piece, without having directly experienced those traumas of his character. However, I was not certain of his vocal abilities… and for a long time, it was a source of some concern. He seemed lackluster as his character. I did intense character-building exercises with him, and, once conditioned to access his character, he could sustain it for some time, but he would gradually lose it over the course of the rehearsal. It was not until a rehearsal of his second scene with Kristina in the first act (in which he delivers his “bee” monologue), and he uttered the line:

I’m already crowned faggot, Joanie. The world is burning here. And it’s only a matter of time before I’m scorched, too. (sighs) Go home, Joanie.

Suddenly, his faced was flushed with some sort of solidary recognition, and he said “I understand him now.” And from that moment forward, it was as if he wrote the character himself. Throughout the rehearsal process, I tried to limit my use of authority as the scriptwriter—drawing my authority from my role as director. I had an intrinsic understanding of the characters I’d created, but it was extremely important to me that each actor cultivated his own understanding of his character. I only gave limited analyses of character when asked, and, when charged with more subjective and penetrating questions, I was usually oblique; when asked if anything had actually happened between Jimmy and Will Hayes, I refused to answer when AJ and James were in the same room; separately, I asked AJ what he thought. He answered: “probably”. I pressed further, and AJ said “yes, but it was really nothing, they just—“ I cut him off, and said “don’t tell me…keep it for yourself.” When James asked me, I said “Well, you have to promise not to tell AJ, but yes. Except Jimmy initiated everything, and you were inebriated.” To the best of my knowledge, he never relayed this understanding of the events to AJ

With every rehearsal, it became clearer to me that the “Jimmy” character had been infused with so much of myself, and this became one of the challenges in directing the character. For this reason, I think that that character was malleable…this was partially purposeful, as I had no clear idea during the summer who could play the role. Conversely, though, I think that while writing I was afraid to completely insert myself into the narrative, and so this became necessary during character-building process with AJ.