INTERVIEW: ‘Jack Was Kind’ makes successful jump from Zoom to the Irish Rep
Photo: Tracy Thorne wrote and stars in the one-woman show Jack Was Kind. Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg / Provided by official site.
The new play Jack Was Kind, written by and starring Tracy Thorne, emerged from the days of “Zoom theater” during the COVID-19 pandemic. When theater companies were experimenting with the digital medium, Thorne was tasked with creating a show that could be transmitted via laptop to theatergoers sitting comfortably at home. What she devised was an uncomfortable show about a woman who must confront the role she played in her husband’s illicit behavior, according to press notes. The monologue that is presented is an “imagined, painfully human backstory,” the shocking details of which should probably be revealed during the 80-minute performance.
Now Jack Was Kind, under the direction of Nicholas A. Cotz, has jumped mediums and can be experienced in person at the Irish Repertory Theatre’s W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre in New York City. Performances run through Sunday, Dec. 18.
“We thought the Zoom was it — over, done, dusted — and then when [producing director] Ciarán O’Reilly sent an email saying they wanted to do it live, we were like, OK, how great, how unexpected,” Thorne said in a recent phone interview.
The writer-performer was inspired to put pen to paper after reading a series of fictional novels that gave the impression they were memoirs. She found that central conceit provocative, that what she held in her hands was counterfeit — feeling real, yet fake. This feeling stayed with Thorne for quite some time, and Jack Was Kind began its creation in her mind.
“I thought, I wonder if I could do that, so I started to try and do that, write something that was fiction but made people think it really happened,” she said. “And I got pretty far with that, never expected it to be a one-person thing ever, just expecting Jack to show up, and he never showed up. I was shocked, but I created this thing that felt like a memoir. Then I thought, but so what? Then I looked at it, sort of stepped back, and I thought this feels like a very familiar story. So I decided to attach it to the idea of an American story, nothing specific. Obviously, I’m not writing about any real people or anything, but I dumped my fake memoir into the context of real American trauma. And I thought, oh, that’s a pretty good mix, and that’s how it came about. I added these two impulses, and it became one singular thing.”
When Jack Was Kind was presented on Zoom, courtesy of the All For One Theater, there was some basic staging, including her computer, an HD camera and some lighting that her friend in London helped her out with (it was 7 a.m. London time, and Thorne was up at 2 a.m. New York time to take the advice).
“My performance had to kind of fit in the computer camera world,” Thorne said. “Getting too emotional or getting too angry, it just didn’t translate, so I had to hold it all in. But now that I’m in 3D, it’s an entirely different emotional experience, for me and I think for the audience. Everyone I know who has seen it in both formats says it’s so different in real life. Frankly, they think it’s better, and why wouldn’t it be better? Real life is always better. It’s much more filled out — emotional, edgy, more shocking actually.”
In the beginning, Thorne anticipated that women similar to her character’s age would respond to the piece, but she has been delighted by younger theatergoers responding with their own unique takes. Her goal is to have audience members connect to this woman in some way, and then those in the crowd are forced to explore and interrogate their own thoughts on privilege and complicity.
“There is a theme about what people do in order to make stuff work, about how you fill in the gaps in order to just keep it moving forward,” she said. “I’ve had so many younger people say, ‘I get it. I get it. I’d like to think that I’m a whole new generation, Gen Z. We know what we’re doing, and yet we do so much to make up for what’s not there.’ And that’s been really provocative to me.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Jack Was Kind, written by and starring Tracy Thorne, continues through Sunday, Dec. 18 at the Irish Repertory Theatre’s W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
