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Daniel: How do actors carry such big things (props) on stage? Who decides where they take them?
Nina: The carpenters make sure that they look big but are actually quite light. The boss (me, the director) decides who takes what and where.
Daniel: How do the actors know what to do with their parts? They only have their scripts for a second right?
Nina: It actually takes 30, 240 seconds for them to really really know their parts. That's why every day we practice and practice (like what you do with your school work) until the actors start remembering all the words the playwright has written and all the direction the director has given them. Practice makes perfect.
Daniel: Is the monster going to be scary? I think monsters look like dinosaurs with a tail and a spine. How did you decide what your monsters look like? I think they will be green.
Nina: Monsters are always scary at first until you get to know them. Once you are not afraid of them anymore they are actually really friendly and are just like us. They sleep and they get hungry. Like us they come in all shapes, colours and sizes. We decided that our monster will be...YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE SHOW TO FIND OUT!
Nina Lee Aquino is a director, dramaturge, and playwright. She is the artistic director of Cahoots Theatre Company, the outgoing artistic director of fu-GEN Asian-Canadian Theatre Company and an artistic associate of Factory Theatre. She is also the editor of Canada’s first Asian-Canadian drama anthology titled love & relasianships (Playwrights Canada Press, Spring 2009). Other credits include awards for directing (Ken McDougall Award 2004, Canada Council John Hirsch Prize 2008), and Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations for outstanding direction (Singkil, fu-GEN Theatre Company 2007; People Power, Carlos Bulosan Theatre 2008, lady in the red dress, fu-GEN Theatre Company 2009). Nina co-wrote Miss Orient(ed) and her monologues have been published in Beyond the Pale (Yvette Nolan, ed.) and She Speaks (Judith Thompson, ed.).
