Margot Bordelon On Directing Mimesophobia

Company member Margot Bordelon talks to us about the experience of directing Mimesophobia.

What attracted you to Mimesophobia? What do you feel like is unique about the play?

There were a number of things that attracted me to Mimesophobia. Like many Chicago directors, I believe that theater is an event. I'm drawn to plays that embrace an awareness of their own performance, a category Mimesophobia most certainly falls into. There is no fourth wall, the actors speak directly to the audience, and Man and Woman (the two narrators), repeatedly remind us that the story we are watching is a "reenactment." This story can only function as a piece of theater.

Mimesophobia contains seven stage directions. Which, if you aren't a frequent reader of plays, you need to know isn’t very many. This openness to interpretation attracted me, along with the play’s rich, articulate language. Carlos writes theatrical poetry for the contemporary American tongue. Each of his characters has a distinct rhythm and vocabulary. Every "uhhh" and "ummm" is specifically written in, each pause and beat specifically marked. During auditions, the actors who soared were often the ones with significant classical experience. Mimesophobia demands that actors act on the lines, as opposed to in between them.

Most importantly, I was attracted to the themes this script explores. The play follows various people trying to make sense of a mysterious murder/suicide. I'm intrigued by that very human desire (that I think we all possess) to explain the inexplicable. But at what point does that desire overwhelm us, causing us to behave in ways that are morally questionable?


What has the experience of directing the show been like? How have things changed or evolved?

Directing Mimesophobia has been a wonderful challenge. Over the course of the process I came to realize that the "openness to interpretation" that first attracted me, was actually making it more challenging for me to determine whether or not I was making the most dramatic and textually supported choices. Luckily, Carlos was involved in the process and was very open to discussing specifics about the play.

The element of the production that changed the most was the set design concept. When I first began visualizing the world of the play, I imagined it would be made up of a labyrinth of curtains that Man and Woman would manipulate throughout the show. Everything would stay hidden from the audience’s view. Man and Woman would control when a scene would begin and end by pulling a curtain open or shut. Ultimately, John and I created something almost completely opposite: a space where nothing is hidden from the audience. They can see the costume rack, the actors sitting back stage etc. and despite the visual evidence that they are witnessing make-believe, they suspend their disbelief regardless.