Associate Professor of Directing Jesse Jou spent time this fall semester directing Leonard Madrid’s Cebollas at the Santa Fe Playhouse while also maintaining his teaching and service responsibilities with the School of Theatre & Dance. Jesse’s love and commitment to his art and his students is extraordinary, not only for the wealth of knowledge he brings to his students, but also for the compassion and understanding he shares with them as well. 

What inspired you to pursue a career in directing and how has the experience shaped your approach to teaching?

I started off as an actor and then I realized I didn't like acting. What I liked about making theatre was being a storyteller, not a performer, so I fell into directing because of that. I think my style of directing has informed my style of teaching, which is to meet people where they are, whatever their previous experiences, views about life, and what they want to say with their art. Often, my goal is to create a space where those interests can intersect with my own. Whether we’re making a show or coming together as a class, we are applying our different interests and skills towards exploring the questions that we've all agreed to consider.

Can you tell us about your most recent outside directing project and how it challenged and inspired you? 

The New Mexico premiere of Leonard Madrid’s Cebollas at Santa Fe Playhouse opened in October and just recently closed. It was a great experience. I started working on the play this past summer when Anna Hogan, the artistic director at Santa Fe Playhouse, approached me. Fortunately, Texas Tech and Dr. Charney have been very supportive of my taking on outside projects that speak to my creative research agenda, and this play really speaks to what I'm interested in--telling the stories of communities who aren’t necessarily represented often on American stages.

Cebollas is the story of three New Mexican sisters who get into some trouble when one of them must take the body of her dead lover back to his home in Denver, Colorado. It’s a road trip comedy, a wonderful exploration of family dynamics, repairing damaged relationships, and what we do for the people we love.

I was lucky to work with an extraordinary cast of actors, designers, and technicians in Santa Fe who brought a lot of heart and soul to the project. I didn’t know a lot about Norteño culture so I needed to approach my work with humility. The local cast and creative team generously welcomed me and helped me convey the story of the vibrant women in the play with respect, humor, and specificity. It was a beautiful production, and audiences really embraced it.

What is your approach to collaboration with actors, designers and other creative team members in a professional production like Cebollas?

The first is to trust people to know their work, right? One of the lessons I learned as a young director was to let go of my desire to control things and remain open to what other people brought into the room. When I’m working with professionals, my approach is about respecting my collaborators’ experience and ideas and recognizing that I’m there to help facilitate their work or help grow what they're doing. I still must lead--to make decisions about what best serves the needs of the work--but I also tell students that I hope I’m always the least talented, the least smart person in the room.

Have you found that your outside work as a director influences your teaching in any way? 

Things that I encounter in a professional rehearsal room and in professional production give me a good sense of what's happening in the field at any particular time. It helps to see how those philosophical conversations my colleagues have at conferences or in opinion pieces play out in actual spaces. I'm able to take that information back to my own teaching and conversations with students as they think about what it means for them to go out into the world and make theater.

What are your expectations for directing The Nerve of Minerva in the Spring?

I'm excited to work on The Nerva of Minerva. I adore Jaston Williams, a Texas Tech alum who is one of the creators of the show and who's done some really great things within his career. The piece is right for this moment in terms of being fun, while asking great questions about what it means to belong, and how to find our own voices and community with each other, no matter how imperfect we may be. Also, the music is wonderful.

Cebollas by Leonard Madrid
Santa Fe Playhouse 

Pictured: Sisters Celia (Vanessa Rios Y Valles), Yolie (Cristina Emily Vigil), and Tere (Christina Martos) transport the body of Mitchell back to Denver.

Scenic design and projection by Sandra Lopez
Costume design by Lila Martinez
Lighting design by Vittoria Orlando
Sound design by Saibi Khalsa

Stage management by Allison Goetzmann 

Photo courtesy of C. Stanley Photography.